Pet euthanasia spikes during holidays

The summer holidays are a tough time for the cats and dogs of travelling families with many people opting to surrender their pets to shelters and some even deciding to euthanise them, according to Bunbury animal rescue groups.

As an alternative to splashing out big bucks for expensive kennels, Saving Animals from Euthanasia secretary Lisa Townsend said it was not uncommon for people to take their animals to the vet to be euthanised before they went on holidays.

“People want to travel and can’t take their pets, ” she said.

“It’s been busier than normal this year and we’re expecting it to get even busier around March.”

Mrs Townsend said their focus was on taking care of the animals in the pound “on death row” rather than pets surrendered by the public because they were only given seven days to live.

“Foster carers are vital to us being able to save as many animals as possible, especially since our shelter in Busselton has closed down, ” she said.

South West Animal Rescue coordinator Tanya Adams said it had an unusually high number of inquiries from people wanting to surrender their pets in the lead-up to Christmas.

“It seems strange that in the three to four weeks before Christmas, the numbers in the pound go up, ” she said.

“I always think this is pre-Christmas related because people go away and can’t take their pets.”

Mrs Adams said unprepared and unwilling new owners in the post-Christmas period also produced a busy time for animal rescuers.

“Usually in the first couple of weeks after Christmas and when school goes back, people realise they’re unsuited to the pet, ” Mrs Adams said. “They might not know how big the dog is going to get because they don’t do any research and often don’t know exactly what they’re getting.”

Mrs Adams said sterilisation was crucial in reducing the number of pets that ended up in the pound system each year.

“Backyard breeding is a big issue because after two or three years people might end up with a big dog that they never knew they were getting, ” she said.