The Lismore Animal Rights and Rescue Group (ARRG) on Three Chain Road, South Lismore is a safe haven for abandoned or surrendered dogs and cats. This time of the year always presents an increase in the amount of animals looking for care.

The Lismore App spoke with Lani Moore, Centre Manager about the problems ARRG are seeing in this season.

“The main issue around Christmas time is surrenders. We get a lot of surrenders this time of year because people are going away and they don't want to have to deal with the responsibility of finding a pet sitter or somewhere for the animal to go.”

The floods in 2022 also were, and still are, a factor in the amount of surrendered animals.

“We got two dogs because the owner lost everything in the floods and became homeless.” Lani explained, “And then we've had a lot of surrenders from people that own their homes but who are not back in because their homes are still being renovated. They've ended up in rentals. So a lot of people still surrendering because of the floods.”

The centre is currently operating over capacity and is still having to turn away many animals needing sanctuary.

“At the moment we’ve got a cat in the bathroom, because we just don't have any space. But we didn't want to leave it without a place to go. It puts us in a really difficult position,” Lani said.

Various factors such as cat vaccine shortages, COVID and an ageing volunteer demographic have resulted in many similar organisations in the region closing down, putting even more pressure on ARRG to facilitate the homing of animals in need.

The shortage of cat vaccinations is an issue that poses a real problem. Since COVID the vaccines have been hard to get, and there are a lot of highly contagious and deadly viruses that cats can spread. The likelihood of a virus spreading quickly at the shelter if a cat brings it in is high, and there is a serious risk to kittens and older cats. The shelter has a lot of kittens in care, who are too young to be vaccinated. The expected timeframe for more vaccines is February 2024.

The solution to the lack of capacity at ARRG is the adoption or foster care of the animals. The floods played a part in a decrease of people fostering, causing further strain. The preference is to have animals fostered into homes, as a home environment and more individual care is better for an animal's well-being.

ARRG cover all costs of an animal placed into foster care - all veterinary bills, food and bedding costs, so it is a wonderful way for people to have contact with animals without the financial pressure or long-term commitment. And as soon as an animal heads out to a new home, ARRG can take in another.

So what is the process for fostering or adopting an animal from ARRG?

If you are interested in adopting or fostering an animal from ARRG you can contact them either by phone or email or call into the centre during opening hours to fill in an application.

The main criteria is to either own your own home or, if you're renting, to have written approval from your real estate. If you are in town, you will need a fenced yard for dogs. With an adoption, ARRG appreciates you to have a backup plan in place for the care of the animal if something goes wrong.

You can also assist by volunteering at the centre, as ARRG is mostly volunteer-run, and is always looking for more help. Even when the centre has capacity to take on more animals, they need to be mindful of whether they have the volunteers available. 

“Some weeks are really good and we have a few volunteers on every day and then other weeks there’s none. So yeah, we are always on the lookout,” Lani said.

ARRG is funded purely by donation, along with proceeds from the op shop. Some good exposure and a boost in donations has come recently from ARRG getting coverage from The Living Room doing an episode on them, and assisting with creating an ‘enrichment’ area for the dogs to play. Dr. Chris Brown has also helped by setting up a GoFundMe for ARRG. But ongoing costs are high, with the improvement of the animal pens much needed but currently out of the picture.

“We don't have any government government funding. It's a lot of pressure when we are trying to help as many as we can with what little we have.”

If you would like to help financially, ARRG’s website (https://www.animalrights.org.au/cats.php) has a reoccurring donation option, or you can make a one-off contributions. Every dollar will go towards the care and homing of an animal much in need.