Mount Gambier City Council last week resolved to continue to operate its own animal pound and partner with other animal welfare providers to foster, assess and re-home stray animals.
This followed the review of an Expression of Interest process for animal pound and re-homing services, with no suitable applications received.
Earlier this year City Council and Grant District Council decided to jointly commence the expression of interest process to better understand costs associated with animal welfare/rescue services and inform a procurement approach to deal with lost or abandoned dogs found in the city and outlying area.
The tripartite agreement between the councils and the South East Animal Welfare League ceased at the start of July, with the councils opting not to use the SEAWL’s pound services.
City Council chief executive Sarah Philpott said since July 1, while the expression of interest process has been under way, council has been using its existing kennel facility to operate its own pound for the mandatory 72-hour holding period.
“If a dog is not reclaimed within this timeframe, the animals are transferred to either a volunteer-run animal rescue organisation or a local council that has an established re-homing program,” she said.
“This approach has proven to be highly effective in facilitating the safe return of dogs to their owners and finding new loving homes for those not reunited.”
“At this point in time 45 dogs have been found wandering at large and of those, 42 were returned to their families without having to be impounded. Five dogs have been impounded, two were returned home, two were fostered and one has been adopted. No dogs have been euthanised.
“Council has a high reclaim rate for dogs, with 90% being reclaimed by their owners within 72 hours and of those, 85% are returned to their owner within 12 hours.”
Council has a service agreement in place with Wet Noses Animal Rescue, which had fostered Jack Russell cross puppy ‘Hector’ in July, the first dog that required impoundment at the holding facility since council started using its kennels as a pound at the start of the month.”
Wet Noses Animal Rescue director Marke Dukalskis said Hector was doing very well.
“He is proving to be very intelligent and has been going through puppy training in his foster home,” she said.
“He learned to sit extremely quickly! Hector has been vaccinated, microchipped and desexed and is looking for a new home through the Pet Rescue website.”
Ms Philpott said City and Grant District councils received one submission as part of the expression of interest process which was evaluated by a panel of officers from both councils.
“The submission did not meet the proposed service requirements outlined for animal pound and re-homing services, and the procurement process will not progress further,’ she said.
“Instead, council is in the process of establishing multiple agreements with animal rescue/re-homing organisations to effectively manage the capacity for fostering and re-homing services after the 72-hour legislated mandatory holding period under the Dog and Cat Management Act 1995.
“In addition to providing our own short-stay holding facilities, council’s preferred operating model for pound and re-homing services is to work in partnership with volunteer-run animal rescue organisations that utilise foster carers to care for the animals until they are ready for adoption, private pet boarding operators and other local councils that have established re-homing programs.
“Doing this will help address situations when these smaller organisations reach capacity and are unable to accommodate any more animals. Additionally, Council is exploring the possibility of re-homing some dogs internally.”
Ms Philpott said council was also investigating additional modifications to the holding kennel facility (which houses four dogs at a time) to allow for isolation or long-term holds when required.
“Council will establish panel arrangements with suppliers who assist with the provision of animal pound and re-homing services, including veterinarians, animal behaviour trainers, boarding kennels and animal re-homing providers,” she said.
“These arrangements will be on a fee-for service basis and therefore an expense will be incurred when the service is provided, rather than providing an up-front lump sum payment.
“Based on impound figures from last financial year, we estimate the cost to council this financial year will be about $10,000 less than our former agreement for animal impounding and re-homing services, but the final costs will be based on the number of animals and their specific needs.”
Council also adopted an Animal Management Unclaimed Dog Policy at last week’s meeting.
