After rehoming almost 1000 pets, the SPCA Ashburton Centre on Seafield Rd will close on October 31.<\/p>\n
It will result in the loss of 2.2 full-time equivalent positions from the centre.<\/p>\n
However, a new position is also being created as the nationwide charity moves to a community-focused model of delivering animal welfare services in the area.<\/p>\n
In a statement last week, general manager animal services Corey Regnerus-Kell said the decision would ensure the charitable organisation could continue to provide \u2018\u2018the best possible care to animals in the Ashburton area for the foreseeable future\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018SPCA is focused on animal welfare, which is more than a building. By reallocating resources, we can deliver more targeted, flexible support to animals in need beyond traditional methods with high overheads retaining a fully operational shelter.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
SPCA had seen good results from this approach in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Westport, moving away from a physical centre allowed us to increase desexing, outreach, and community engagement, helping more animals,\u201d Regnerus-Kell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect similar positive outcomes in Ashburton.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to\u00a0The Ashburton Courier\u00a0this week, Regnerus-Kell said the Ashburton centre had rehomed 954 cats and kittens since its establishment at its current site in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We will continue to support adoptions into the local community via our Christchurch and Timaru Centres, and are exploring pop-up adoption events in the future,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
The centre had operated with 2.2 full-time equivalents when in full operation.<\/p>\n
However, one of these positions was vacant, and the other full-time staff member had been promoted to animal care lead at the SPCA Christchurch Centre.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Our remaining part-time staff member chose to not apply for other roles available and has resigned.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
SPCA would appoint a dedicated community support officer (CSO) based locally, by November 1.<\/p>\n
The CSO would provide foster support, animal transfers to Timaru and Christchurch centres, and community education.<\/p>\n
The SPCA in Mid Canterbury would provide:<\/p>\n
* ongoing care for sick, injured, abused, and vulnerable animals through SPCA\u2019s longterm partners at Vetlife.<\/p>\n
* continuation of inspectorate services to respond to urgent animal welfare concerns in the region.<\/p>\n
* increased investment in desexing programmes, preventing unwanted litters and supporting long-term animal welfare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After rehoming almost 1000 pets, the SPCA Ashburton Centre on Seafield Rd will close on October 31. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-50193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50193","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=50193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}