Amid fears of a perfect storm due to the pandemic's impact on animal carers, RSPCA South Australia is calling on the community to help take the pressure off by providing homes to animals that have passed all the checks and are now available to adopt.
This week the organisation is running a three-day Adopt-a-thon, in a bid to clear the soaring numbers of animals in care at the Lonsdale shelter. A free Pet GPS Tracker will be included with each dog adopted, while those taking home a cat will receive free treats and a cat toy. The Adopt-a-thon begins at 10 am this Friday, February 11, and will end at 7:30 pm on Sunday, February 13 (or when all available animals are adopted).
Today there are more than 1100 animals in RSPCA SA care across the state, with 500 of them are being accommodated at the Lonsdale shelter. Covid-isolating staff and volunteers have meant greater pressure on remaining animal carers this summer, which is already the busiest time of the year for RSPCA.
"We've had three members of our veterinary team and 26 members of our animal care team having to isolate, which has caused major disruption including a reduction to our surgery schedule," said Jodie Summer, RSPCA SA Head of Animal Operations.
"We recently had a full day when we did not have the capacity for any surgery, and two days of reduced surgery which meant 84 animals had to have their operations postponed.
"This has the knock-on impact of foster carers having to hold on to animals waiting to be desexed, while other animals in need of foster care have to stay at the shelter.
"We can't just increase the number of surgery days to catch up because we don't have space at the shelter to house animals coming back from foster carers all at once."
"What we need more than anything at this time is for all animals ready to adopt to be cleared out of the shelter as quickly as possible, and for anyone unsure about adopting an animal to consider giving it a trialrun by fostering one instead," Ms Summer said.
"We need our community to step up for us over this three-day Adopt-a-thon - if we hit our target of rapidly rehoming 200 animals, it will make a world of difference not only for those animals but also for our currently over-stretched team."
From Friday to Sunday, Lonsdale shelter's trading hours will be extended to 10 am to 7:30 pm. Opening hours at PetVille, PetBarn stores, Port Lincoln and Whyalla shelters will remain unchanged. Adoptathon is a COVID safe event - where masks and bookings are essential.
ALL animals available to adopt from RSPCA are desexed, fully vaccinated, been given parasite-protection treatment and vet-checked.
