Animal Management Centre reaches milestone

It has been one year since a rehomeable cat has had to be euthanised, with 422 cats rehomed and 38 cats returned to their owners in the last financial year.

This month also marks three years since a rehomeable dog has needed to be euthanised. Over the last three years, council has rehomed 1052 dogs and returned 1159 to their owners.

Community and Client Services director Angela Hays said this was a fantastic result for the community.

“Our health and regulatory team is committed to promoting the responsible pet ownership message and over the last few years we have made significant progress towards reducing our euthanasia rates,” she said.

“This has been a combination of actively advertising abandoned pets for rehoming and developing strong working relationships with the region’s rescue groups.

“Each week we advertise the pound pets that are available for adoption on our social media pages, which attracts plenty of community interest.

“When we can’t find a home for an abandoned pet, we engage with the region’s rescue groups.

“They are integral to the rehoming process when our facility reaches capacity and we could not have achieved this result without them.”

Council promotes responsible pet ownership and residents are encouraged to register and microchip their pets to ensure they can be safely returned to them if they are ever collected by staff at the AMC.

Desexing is also important as it reduces animals’ desire to wander and residents can save 20 per cent on desexing fees at vets participating in RSPCA’s Operation Wanted until the end of August.

If you would like to adopt a pound pet, visit council’s website mackay.qld.gov.au for a full list of available animals.