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Give a Dog a Home
Animal Active’s Give a Dog a Home Scheme has been giving all dogs the chance
they deserve to become loving and loved companions since 1999.
Since Animal Active established the first Australian “no kill” foster care-based animal rescue program there has been a welcome increase in the number of groups rescuing and providing forever homes to so-called “death row” dogs. In response our Give a Dog a Home Scheme, continuing with the same tried and true principles, has turned its attention to rehabilitating and finding permanent homes for greyhounds considered “too slow” or “excess to requirements” by a cynical and profit-driven breeding and racing industry to for which dogs are “waste products”unless they can win on the racetrack. Thanks to our rescue efforts through direct engagement with greyhound breeders beautiful dogs like “Tommy”, "Ella" and “Astro” are finding hope and a future in loving forever homes”.
Read more on the “no kill” approach to saving stray and abandoned companion animals here and here.
Give a Mog a Home
Our foster-care based cat rehoming scheme operates on the same no-kill principles as for dog rehoming. Our scheme maintains lifelong contact with all rehomed animals, even after they are permanently placed.
Companion Animal Crisis Care
Animal Active’s rescue and rehoming program has extended to include respite care for animal victims of domestic violence. Many crisis shelters do not accept animals and women will sometimes stay longer than is safe in a domestic violence setting for fear of leaving their companion animals behind at the mercy of a violent partner. If future funds permit we will extend our crisis foster care program to include the companion animals of the homeless and people undertaking substance-abuse rehabilitation programs.
Please help to give a dog or mog a home. Open your door and invite a new friend in by adopting a rescued dog or cat. Open your heart and offer your home for the temporary foster care of a dog or cat in need. Open your wallet and donate generously to help us to rescue and rehome.
Humane Population Management for Free-Living Colony Cats
'Desex and Return' or 'Trap, Neuter and Return' (TNR), as the program’s name suggests, refers to
an effective and humane 'no kill' strategy for managing populations of stray cat colonies.
The usual practice of trapping and killing stray, free-living cats is cruel. Often mother cats are caught
and removed from the colony leaving their young kittens to starve. Caught cats are left in traps for
many hours without water, food or shelter until council staff or contracted trappers return to
collect the terrified animals and deliver them for euthanasia.
Not only is trap and kill cruel but it is also ineffective. The trap and kill approach creates habitat
vacuums that are soon filled by another of the endless stray and abandoned cat colonies.
TNR overcomes this cycle by maintaining a strong and healthy desexed colony within the habitat, their territorial instincts ensuring no new undesexed individuals can gain entry. With no population growth through breeding, there is a gradual decrease of numbers over time as older cats die.
The community value of 'Desex and Return' should not be undervalued. It is an indictment of our society’s 'disposable' approach to companion animals that stray cats exist. To turn away from their plight, collecting and disposing of them in the same manner as with household rubbish, promotes an apathetic society that is not encouraged to maturely face the outcome of irresponsible and selfish choices. 'Desex and Return', by encouraging community involvement, also educates in caring and responsibility.
Animal Active has been working closely with Councils, schools, and local communities with a determination to fulfill our vision of building a 'no kill' city by demonstrating not only that 'trap, neuter and release' works but that it is the only humane option for long term free-living feline population control. We are already involved in a number of successful pilot programs in Melbourne; two of our programs are of five years' duration during which time there have been no new kittens or additional adult members added to the colony. We have also assisted a number of community groups and individual animal rights advocates set up successful programs in other cities.
If you live close to an established colony of free-living cats, contact us for an information pack on establishing a 'Desex and Return' program in your local area. Our experienced activists can help you with hands-on training and support.
Resources:
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Australia’s vicious war on cats has gone global with responses from animal advocacy groups world-wide including an Action Alert from In Defense of Animals USA
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Find out more about humane alternatives to the ineffective and cruel cat “catch and kill” approach here
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Read more about TNR by downloading our fact sheets:
