Sometimes the reasons why we (as an animal sanctuary) do some of the things we do isn’t very clear if you’re not privy to how we run, things we’ve learned, etc.
We’re pretty keen to be as open and transparent as possible so we thought we’d answer a few questions and explain a few things on here! This post is really building upon Michelle’s previous blog post, where she began to explain a few things that people had been wondering.
So why do we…
Do so much fundraising? At the moment we are in the process of both fundraising for, and building our new quarantine area, cattery and kennels. Unfortunately for us as we go we keep finding more things that need doing – ah, the joys of renovating existing buildings. As the sanctuary is quite young in the scheme of things, we don’t have these structures in place already – and the lack of them affects how many animals we can take in. The good news is we’ve raised a lot of the required money, and have started making moves on our building. Huzzah! We will continue to fund raise for these projects and future ones, but not as intensely as we have been the last few months – and we thank you so, SO much for your current and continued support!
Ask people to donate food? At present a lot of money spent on food, kitty litter etc is actually coming out of the pockets of Michelle and our fosters. We would desperately love it if we didn’t have to do this. The less money we have to spend on food/kitty litter/etc the more we have to spend on our rescue efforts! So all of your donations are hugely appreciated, and even the smallest donation is appreciated ❤
Refuse (politely!) to take you up on it when you offer to be a drop off point for donations? Michelle touched on this one on the Facebook page where she said we didn’t “feel that it is a safe thing to do as I personally don’t want to put people or their homes at risk by having people they don’t know drop things off to their homes.” We aren’t comfortable giving out peoples personal information such as home address, and should anything terrible happen we’d feel AWFUL. For this reason, we consider it safer to have donation drop off points in public spaces.
Charge what we do for the animals? This one is mathematically straight forward – it works out cheaper with the majority of vets in Tasmania to adopt from us then it does to pick up a free kitten and pay for the neutering, micro-chipping, initial vaccination, worm and flea treatment yourself. This is especially applicable when you adopt an older kitten who has had all three vaccination boosters done prior to you adopting.
Not help people who need help rehoming pets from outside Dorset or Break O’Day municipalities? With so many animals – especially cats and kittens – needing homes in the two municipalities we work in, it would be irresponsible of us to take in animals from outside of these areas, at the expense of the ones here. In a perfect world we would rehome ALL animals needing homes within our municipalities, and be able to help others but… until that day comes, we’re quite restricted. 😦
Sometimes have to say no to taking in animals within our municipalities? We are currently restricted to how many animals we can take in due to an accommodation shortage, and this especially applies to dogs. Ideally we prefer dogs to go into foster care so that they can be a part of family life, that and until our kennels are complete and we can secure some more dog foster parents, we’re really restricted.
Only take visitors by appointment only? The sanctuary is actually located on Michelle’s own private land where she lives with her (mostly) fur family. Michelle also runs her own business and isn’t available all the time, and strangers wandering in when she isn’t home causes great upset to her furkids! For this reason, we take visitors by appointment only – we LOVE seeing our supporters and we’re super keen for you to pop in and meet our pets available for adoption (and even adopt one) but please, contact us first!
Why does it sometimes take so long to get a reply to my message or phone call? We here at NEAST have many other commitments outside of the sanctuary – jobs, families etc. These things quite rightly take up much of our time! And of course, we have the daily duties of taking care of our furry residents such as feeding, providing a hygienic environment, health care (vet visits) and their psychological/emotional well being. And at present, on top of these daily chores there is also the cattery and quarantine area work too! Phew! We’re a pretty busy crew, but never too busy for our NEASTers. So please, you ARE important, and we try to respond to calls/messages as quickly as possible but please be patient and we WILL get back to you!
(As the sanctuary is located in a rural area so our phone signal is not terribly good 😦 this is why we prefer messages/emails and texts as preferred mode of communication)
We hope this clears up a few things NEASTers… and remember, IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION FEEL FREE TO SEND US A MESSAGE 🙂
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