Pound Pups are aplenty seeking forever homes
ANIMAL MANAGEMENT
When you are in dire need and your pet is becoming a destroyer-in-chief, there are solutions … at least in the Cook Shire.
Boris Yelpin is soft and fluffy, loves kids and other dogs and is easily trained – and he is a pound puppy.
But he has one unforgiveable flaw – he is a plant destroyer – and his owners were unable to train him out of his several-pot plants-a-day habit.
After having no luck finding Boris a new home locally, the desperate owners approached Cook Shire Council and so Boris’s journey as a pound puppy began.
Council’s animal control team – Animal Management Officer Brook Fawcett and Compliance Officer Kylie McAllister – help re-home dogs like Boris on a regular basis.
“There is a misconception that Council only deals with stray dogs, but we often have people who want to do the right thing surrendering pets to us for a range of reasons,” Mr Fawcett said.
“Council doesn’t have the resources to keep animals for a long period of time and re-home them here in the shire, but we do have a great working relationship with the animal shelters in our region and regularly drive to Cairns and Mareeba to drop off our pound puppies.”
Mr Fawcett said that was another common misconception, that Council regularly euthanized dogs in the pound.
“Euthanasia is generally a last resort. Sometimes for the animal’s welfare, it needs to be put to sleep, if it is injured or diseased, and sometimes if it’s a danger to other animals or people, we also have no option but euthanasia.
“But 90 per cent of the time we are able to rehome unwanted pets.”
And so Boris was put up for adoption, first locally, and then with North Queensland Animal Rescue in Cairns.
While Boris has yet to find his forever home, he is not stuck in a cage at a shelter, but is living at home with a foster carer and fur brothers while he waits for Mr or Mrs Right.
“If you are looking for a pet, we really urge you to check out the adoption page on our website (which is regularly updated) or come and see us, and also look at the shelters in your region,” Mr Fawcett said.
Adoption fees for Cook Shire Council pound puppies are $150, plus registration, and the dogs come vet-checked, vaccinated and microchipped.
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