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Mobile cat desexing event a success on Phillip Island

The program enables The Lost Dogs’ Home to travel to communities across Victoria to ensure cat desexing is accessible and affordable for those who need it most.

By Portal Admin - 10th June 2018 - Back to News

Bass Coast’s first mobile cat desexing event was an outstanding success, with 66 cats and kittens desexed. The Lost Dogs’ Home, in partnership with Bass Coast Shire Council and Phillip Island Nature Parks, visited Cowes from 17-19 April, offering low-cost cat desexing through its mobile clinic.

The program enables The Lost Dogs’ Home to travel to communities across Victoria to ensure cat desexing is accessible and affordable for those who need it most. Partnering with local councils and groups, their mobile desexing program helps to improve the well-being of pet cats and prevents them from contributing to the number of homeless or feral animals in the community.

The Lost Dogs’ Home General Manager of Shelter and Outreach Services, Ben Pocock, said he was happy with the community participation which turned out to be quite memorable for his organisation as they achieved a significant milestone.

"We were thrilled to be invited to Bass Coast as part of our mobile desexing program, and pleased to receive such a warm welcome from the local community," Mr Pocock said.

"Demand for affordable desexing proved very high, with almost all appointments booked out across the three days. Not only was it our first time visiting Bass Coast Shire, but we also reached the milestone of 2,000 cats and kittens desexed through our mobile desexing program since its launch in 2016."

Mr Pocock said he found the event not only to be successful, but that the participants were genuinely grateful for the service.

"We received a lot of feedback during the event about the positive impact the program will have on the Island. Furthermore, it was a fantastic community engagement opportunity as we had a lot of traffic and interest from people who had general pet care questions, and the location was ideal for being central and visible."

Bass Coast Shire Council Mayor, Cr Pamela Rothfield, shared Mr Pocock’s enthusiasm, echoing Council’s commitment to increasing the number of desexed cats in Bass Coast and reducing the number of unwanted cats being surrendered to Council.

"We recognise that many cats are bred by accident and some of these cats end up running wild or becoming feral, and killing native wildlife. I was really pleased with the number of people who accessed the service as it is a great start towards reducing cat overpopulation," Cr Rothfield said.

A major contributing factor in cat overpopulation is people feeding unowned cats but not taking full ownership or responsibility for them. These cats may not be desexed, vaccinated or microchipped. Feeding unowned cats helps cat colonies remain strong enough to reproduce more kittens. If you have cats visiting you that you are feeding or coming on to your property, contact Council who will work with you to trap these cats to reduce nuisance and overpopulation issues.

Cat owners are reminded that you must contain cats on your property between sunset and sunrise. During the daytime, cats outside of their owner’s property may still be trapped on other people’s property if they are causing a nuisance for the property owner.

For more information on responsible cat ownership in Bass Coast please contact Council’s Community Safety Team by calling 1300 BCOAST (226 278) or (03) 5671 2211.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: support@gippsland.com