[Update] Kate Hoelter is not among the more than 550 people who have Like’d this post on Facebook! We’re still waiting for her to come back with a figure for the number of animals they fostered out last year.
An animal pound contractor in Australia has discovered that selling themselves as a loving protector of animals can bring millions in donations. The problem is, their business model is based around adopting out a few of the unclaimed animals and killing the rest.
Management at The Lost Dogs Home must be fans of the TV series Mad Men, which featured 50′s ad men trying to sell people on cigarettes in the wake of a Reader’s Digest report that smoking will lead to various health issues including lung cancer.
The following comment was made by Lost Dogs’ Home fundraising staffer Kate Hoelter on the public Facebook Page of one of their ‘Ambassadors’, comedian Claire Hooper. I doubt Claire was ever told the organisation using her face killed 13,594 cats and dogs while reporting a $2.7 mil profit in 2010. Kate’s comment was posted in response to me pointing this fact out to Claire.
Let’s Break It Down Shall We?
- Comment from LDH fundraiser on Claire Hooper’s Facebook Page
The Lost Dogs’ Home does a lot of good work for dogs and cats.
You kill most of them Kate.
The Lost Dogs Home killed 13,594 cats and dogs in 2009-2010
We work hard to reunite lost pets with their owners
You refuse to put photos of lost pets on the Internet to make it easier for owners to find them.
and find loving new homes for those who are not claimed.
You killed 6 out of 10 unclaimed dogs last year without ever making them available for adoption.
You close at lunchtime on Sundays even though weekends are the busiest time for adoption.
The Lost Dogs Home killed 6 out of 10 unclaimed dogs in 2009-2010
We run an extensive foster care program
I asked you how many animals were fostered in 2010 and you had no idea. I’ve offered to donate $100 if you disclose the figure within the week. We’re still waiting.
Mike Bailey bets $100 LDH won't reveal number of animals cared for by their 'extensive foster care program' in 2010..
and a behaviour modification program for dogs so they can be rehomed.
How many dogs that failed your temperament test passed after being placed in this program in 2010?
The surplus income was spent on building new facilities
You ended the 2010 financial year with $9.3 mil cash and cash equivalents. In that same year you killed 13,594 cats and dogs while adopting out just 3101 animals.
such as The Lost Cats’ Home,
This is a warehouse next door that doesn’t even have an adoption section.
Sick and Injured Shelter
Indoor kennels…
and Training and Education Centre.
you mean to say you’ve been killing pets to save money to build a classroom?
Plans are under way to further improve facilities that will increase our ability to care for and rehome more pets.
What is the point of improving facilities when you close at lunchtime on Sundays and public holidays?
These are some of the busiest days for adoption and pet stores are certainly open to take advantage of it.
Questions are being asked about why you are pursuing more pound contracts when you already have such a high kill rate.
The Home runs many proactive services such as the National Pet Register which is responsible for reuniting over 19,000 lost dogs and cats with their owners every year through their microchip and free tag service.
Central Animal Records also run a microchip registry, as do Australasian Animal Registry. How does running an entirely separate business change that fact that you provide high kill pound services to Councils?
Online pet Licence helps educate new pet owners.
Once again, this has nothing to do with your decision to kill so many of the animals entrusted to your care.
The Home is run by a team of compassionate and dedicated people.
Motherhood statements like this mean nothing. Claiming to care does not equate to caring.
The Lost Dogs Home has a business model built around killing. The current leadership have been in control for more than two decades and refuse to make meaningful changes.
Statistics taken from The Lost Dogs Home Annual Report 2010
See also:
Pound Kill Rate Sparks Concern, The Sunday Age [May 1, 2011]
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It is shameful, it is disgraceful, it has to be stopped. These shelters and pounds have to listen to the public outcry and start making changes.
The old school regimes are not capable of running the facilities in a manner that is acceptable today.
It seems to be a common theme in Victoria. Yet another institution that refuses to change, that has had the same people at the helm for a very long time, has a similar disturbingly high killing rate, is the one in Geelong.
Keep the pressure on them, this disgusting mass killing of homeless, helpless pets has to be stopped.
well said Mike!
There is a lot of indications that LDH is about take over the Brisbane City Council Pounds.
I sure hope that this is making its way to those making the decision as whether to finalise the tender.
This is appalling.
The reality is that something needs to be done with these poor animals that can’t be found a home. The issue here is not the lost dogs home but the owners that have their pets end up there in the first place.
The majority of the cats and dogs killed by The Lost Dogs’ Home are never offered for adoption. They limit supply as they ‘lose money on every animal sold’.
Regardless of why an animal ends up in the pound there is an expectation that everything possible will be done to get it back into a home – by reuniting it with it’s family or else finding them a new one.
Other organisations have a much lower kill rate than The Lost Dogs’ Home. There is simply no excuse to be killing so many.
Years ago I adopted a dalmation x wolfhound from the Lost Dogs Home. The Lost Dogs Home described it as a Dalmation X. I already had a Long Haired Shepherd and was given another german shepherd – so three large dogs in all. One day, after bathing them and removing collars they ran off. I reported the dogs as lost to Lort Smith & Lost Dogs Home. They were subsequently found by a lady in the next suburb. She rang Lort Smith Hospital who rang me to inform me the dogs were at Lost Dogs Home. I rang Lost Dogs Home and they said they DID NOT have them. I then went in and there they were. When I queried them, they said, “We have a male shepherd, a female shepherd and a wolfhound x. You told us you lost a dalmation x.” I have ever since then had no time for the Lost Dogs Home. I would have expected a call if ONE german shepherd had been found, in this case it was all three and the LDH was not able to put the pieces together – even tho they had all the dogs. Lort Smith had only a phone call to go on and they were able to work out who owned the dogs!
Also the socialisation test does not take into account that some animals can be retrained – witness Greyhound Adoption Program.
So much for them “working hard to reunite lost pets with their owners”.
Why do they steadfastly refuse to put pictures of lost dogs on the internet? They already have the software in use for listing animals for adoption. Surely it’s worth the trouble of uploading a photo if it could help get them back home.
Hi Mike,
the statistics you’ve mentioned are fairly shocking. I’d like to see a source for the figures you’ve quoted though, if possible. I am sure you haven’t made them up, but when they’re this extreme it is always good to see them backed up with a source, so that I feel reassured that they are accurate.
Cheers,
Chris
I like your thinking Chris. All figures were taken from The Lost Dogs’ Home 2010 Annual Report
that is shocking. i really cant believe this.
I had trouble believing that the government stole children from mothers in the 50′s. I hope our grandchildren have trouble believing we ever let them do this to our cats and dogs.
Thank you for bringing these issues into the public domain. Now all we need is a 4Corners style take down and this should get enough attention that commercial media outlets will pick this up. This simply must stop!
There’s a lot more where that came from Andrew. As with Live Exports to Indonesia, this has been going on for many years and it may take a while for us to make the public aware. Please keep spreading the word.
Well done Mike. Something needs to be done about the Lost Dogs Home. Everything you’ve said is spot-on, it’s so sad.
The saddest part is that they won’t refute what I’ve said because they know it’s true.
Well done Mike….. I applaude your persistence and determination. What I find incomprehensible, is Pounds like LDH and GAWS in Geelong, are offered assistance and provided with incredible models throughout Australia and Internationally, and yet, they prefer to fight tooth and nail to hang on to their backward, inadequate systems that only go to highlight their short sigthedness and lack of vision! It’s time these pounds upadated their systems, their culture and hence their management!
Unfortunately those controlling LDH appear to have their eye on a different prize, empire building.
This so called home for dogs is one gigantic and deliberate fraud.The sorry and disgraceful farce needs to be shut down and the conmen behind it processed through Court!!!!