By CATHY BEER, Founder of Pets4Life
Australians love their pets but when I adopted my doggies in 2008, I discovered there is a dark side to pet ownership in Australia. I was appalled to learn that around 60,000 cats and dogs are euthanised every year in NSW alone.
At this time of the year, I receive even more pleas for donations from animal shelters as they brace themselves for the holiday season. Christmas is not a time of joy but a time of crisis for animal shelters around Australia who are inundated with surrendered and abandoned animals. The animal surrender rate increases during the holiday season because people are going away and they don’t want to pay the boarding costs.
I wanted to do something about this, so I embarked on a journey to better understand why this is happening. After three years of gathering information and conversations with animal welfare leaders, I created www.Pets4Life.com.au, a new community resource for pet owners and those who are thinking of adding a dog or cat to the family. The purpose of Pets4Life is to help people to make good choices regarding pet ownership and enjoy a lifelong bond with their pet.
Pets4Life explains about animal surrender. It is a complex social issue but put simply, a broken bond between owner and pet; and irresponsible breeding are the main causes. Here are a just few reasons why the bond can break between owner and pet: