UlsterNet.co.uk

Caring animal shelter facing new year influx of unwanted pets

Thursday, 12 January 2012

Lynda Hill, left, proprietor of Grovehill Animal Shelter, and Lisa Mullin, with three of the unwanted dogs received from the local council pound at which strays and unwanted dogs are taken in.

A LOCAL animal shelter has once again made an impassioned plea for animal owners to take responsibility for their pets, after staff at the premises witnessed a large influx of unwanted pets just one week into the new year.
Describing the continuing number of unwanted pets as 'unbelievable', the owner of Grovehill Animal Shelter in Omagh, Mrs Linda Hill, revealed that up to 20 animals - mainly dogs, were expected to arrive at the shelter this week.
Speaking to the Tyrone Constitution, Mrs Hill said that over the Christmas and New Year period the shelter had received several calls regarding unwanted pets, as well as a number of stray dogs from the local council pound.
Expressing her concern at the 'irresponsible actions' of some pet owners, Mrs Hill said that among the unwanted pets being taken in at the shelter, were two female Jack Russell-cross dogs, one of which was carrying a litter of pups.
“These two particular dogs were the result of their owners buying a male and a female dog sometime ago to breed. After they had bred a litter they decided to keep these two females from it, but now one of them is carrying a litter, so they have now decided to get rid of both of them," she said.
“I really cannot stress enough the importance of getting animals neutered. Irresponsible breeding is just so unnecessary and avoidable. There is no need to keep bringing unwanted litters of pups into the world when there is so much readily available advice and help on neutering animals.
“It is this sort of thing that takes up so much of our financial resources and we will be working with the Dogs Trust to highlight further the need to neuter animals."
‘Unwanted'
Commenting on the other unwanted and stray animals which are to be re-homed at the shelter, she continued: "There is quite an influx this week. They are mainly dogs with the exception of one or two cats. In total there will be up to 20 animals coming to us this week and around 14 of those are unwanted dogs. We were asked to take them over the Christmas and New Year period. However, because we stop the re-homing process over the holidays, we were unable to take them until now because we just did not have any room for them.
“Now that the re-homing applications of the other animals already at the shelter have been processed within the past week or so, we are able to take in these latest ones and they are being staggered in this week.
“On Tuesday (yesterday) we took in the two female Jack Russell-cross dogs, as well as six stray dogs from the pound, including a Pom pup, two labradors, a terrier, and two Jack Russells.
“The number of unwanted dogs from owners is unbelievable and it is not getting any better. Over the past 14 years that I have been doing this, I have appealed to people to always think before they take on a pet, to think of the responsibility they are taking on and make sure they do their homework and are sure they are able to do it. But regardless of that advice, there are still irresponsible owners out there whose dogs soon end up being unwanted.
“While this hasn't changed much over the years, thankfully the support and kindness of the public has. The help of these good people is just unreal and it's these people that enable us take on and look after the unwanted pets of others."
Meanwhile, commenting on the latest fundraising efforts at the shelter, Mrs Hill added: "We recently held a Tinsel Walk in the town (featured in last week's issue) to raise funds for the shelter. It raised £1,041 and there was a great turnout with quite a few past dogs from the shelter there with their new owners. It was great to see them again doing so well - that's what it's all about after all.
“I would like to thank everybody who supported the shelter throughout the past year, I couldn't do a fraction of this if I didn't have the support of the people who help me."

Subscribe to read full newspaper »

Send this page to a friend »