9 Lives Cat Rescue had the privilage of being asked to do a presentation on our organisation and our views on the new proposed cat legislation for WA at the Cat Welfare and Managment Symposium on Sept 18th here in Perth.
Despite a lack of attendance by many who said they would be there, the important welfare groups were present and a wonderful series of presentations were heard. We had the opportunity to meet and network with so many fabulous people in the cat welfare industry. Pat Anderson of the Toodyay Trap Neuter Release program, Michelle Williamson from Pet Rescue and Eric Yeoh from Noahs Ark were our biggest inspirations.
Pat through alot of hard work and support has created a successful TNR program in Toodyay to help tackle the feral cat problems in rural areas and is now working in Northam. She showed us just how much one person can achieve!
Michelle gave us an inspirational presentation on thinking outside of the square when it comes to advertising and adopting out shelter animals. Too often we rely on the guilt trips and sob stories to appeal to the public when trying to re home shelter animals when in fact it is these very things that is turning them off adopting rescue companions. Needless to say we are rethinking our approach to rehoming our cats and will be looking at people friendly, positive language and campaign's in order to appeal to the public in the future.
Eric Yeoh was someone we were extrememly keen on meeting as he has a wealth of information on Trap Neuter Release programs and did a wonderful presentation on the much anticipated Spay Station being created for HighVolume /Low Cost Spey/Neuter of animals in Perth. This project will assist with stemming the over population of animals we currently have in this city. Eric provided us with much information and research on TNR and how we can start influencing the change from 'kill all feral cats' to 'looking at alternatives'. Its an uphill battle we are willing to take on.
Of course there were the bigger organisations present also such as Cat Haven and RSPCA but the main focus seemed to be on the smaller, newer and more progressive groups who are willing to look at alternatives to the usual methods being employed to handle cats in this city instead of the outdated methods that are clearly not working.
We were informed by many that our presentation was refreshing and well recieved which is encouraging for us to hear. It was wonderful for us to have the opportunity to present ourselves and hear from others who are like minded and who also challanged our views which is always of benefit as an open mind is the only way to learn.
The general consensis on the day seemed to be that only parts of the proposed cat legislation were acceptable to welfare groups but that they would be passed as is regardless of our opinions. This means we will just have to deal with them as they come and hope they dont do too much damage for the cats of Perth.
Overall we feel it was an informative and positive day and we would like to thank everyone who organised the event and all those who participated. It was a joy to meet all of you and we hope to keep liasing with everyone for the benefit of the cats.
Natalie Mason
President
9 Lives Cat Rescue
No comments:
Post a Comment