SPCA<\/a> by a member of the public on behalf of their owners, who moved overseas. <\/p>\nThe kittens were about 5 weeks old and \u201cfairly healthy\u201d. <\/p>\n
But the centre was \u201cso full\u201d, and Robb had no idea where to put them.<\/p>\n
Luckily, a few cats were adopted the same day, and the feline-family of five were able to stick together. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut if we hadn\u2019t had those adoptions, I really don\u2019t know what we would have done,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Being at full capacity is a constant dilemma at the centre, because while SPCA\u2019s duty is to care for sick, injured, and stray animals, they\u2019re often left dealing with unwanted pets who already have homes.<\/p>\n
Although animals can sometimes be transferred elsewhere, most SPCA centres nationwide are also jam-packed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe assumption is that because we\u2019re SPCA, we deal with everything. We don\u2019t deal with everything, even when it comes to cats,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can only deal with the sick, injured, and stray animals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robb emphasised that people need to call ahead before turning up with unwanted animals. <\/p>\n
She said there were alternative options the SPCA helped with, such as other rescue agencies, advice, sometimes temporary support during hard times, and food. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are other things we can do to keep animals happy and safe out in the community without bringing them into the centre,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
![\"SPCA]()
SPCA head of animal care operations Selina Francisco. Photo \/ Supplied <\/p>\n
SPCA head of animal care operations Selina Francisco echoed the message, asking the public to contact their nearest SPCA centre first before taking an animal anywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis allows our teams to gather pertinent information from you about the animal(s), so we can make the best plan to manage their care and needs,\u201c she said.<\/p>\n
Francisco said all SPCA centres nationwide were at \u201cvery high capacity\u201d during kitten season, and stressed the importance of responsible pet ownership, including desexing and vaccinating.<\/p>\n
The SPCA worked with its entire network nationwide, including volunteer fosterers and local councils, to find the best possible outcome for animals in need. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to manage incoming animals very carefully, to ensure the health and safety of the animals, staff, as well as volunteers looking after them.”<\/p>\n
Robb said the SPCA was \u201creliant\u201d on fostering and adoptions as the \u201cnumber one way to make space\u201d, but they needed to actually have space to begin with. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe really struggle with playing Tetris … just trying to squeeze everyone and then move everyone around to make it [fit] the best we can,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She asks that the public call first, \u201cdon\u2019t be angry at us, don\u2019t be abusing us, and don\u2019t drag cats around the countryside\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because there\u2019s a cat, doesn\u2019t mean SPCA can take it, fix it, and solve the issue. We\u2019re quite limited with our resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foster parents were vital for the organisation at this time of year, and if anyone wanted to apply, they could head to the SPCA website. <\/p>\n
Malisha Kumar is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined the Waikato Herald in 2023 after working for Radio 1XX in Whakat\u0101ne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In one recent case, an adult cat and her five kittens were dumped at the centre, in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[152030,95,17517,8688,4527,2082,152029,42,702,5511,88503,29391,43,3367,6926,15039,35836,199,4504,40,38,41,39,1524],"class_list":["post-267128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-adoptions","tag-and","tag-because","tag-cat","tag-doesnt","tag-for","tag-fosterers","tag-headlines","tag-it","tag-just","tag-kitten","tag-mean","tag-news","tag-pleads","tag-season","tag-spca","tag-strain","tag-take","tag-theres","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-waikato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}