Highlights
- To adopt a pet you can either check out Adopt a Pet website or go directly to your closest RSPCA shelter or check with your local animal rescue centre.
- Anyone can become a foster carer, there are no requirements, but suitability will be assessed, and the animal will be carefully picked to match your lifestyle.
- Pet owners need to consider pet insurance or save up money as there are instances that animals are to be put down simply because the owners could not afford the medical bills.
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By adopting or fostering an animal from a shelter, not only will you be able to enjoy their companionship, you are also giving them a second chance in life.
Kieran Watson from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (better known as the RSPCA), says around 30,000 animals enter their NSW shelter alone every year, with cats being the highest at 15,000, followed by dogs at 10,000.
Other animals include livestock such as horses, pigs, roosters, as well as rabbits, birds, and fish. At the RSPCA, like most pet rescue organisations, the animals are medically and behaviourally assessed, vaccinated, microchipped, and desexed before they are put up for adoption at a low fee.
“For a great low price, you are getting a great quality animal that’s going to love you unconditionally. If you were to buy a pet online or a pet store, you might not know where that pet has come from, you might not know what issues it has long term, you don’t know how it's been bred, what condition it has been living in before you adopt it. So, it’s really hard to know a) if you’re getting an animal in good health and b) if you’re getting an animal that is being treated right.”
Animals in the shelter are looking for routine and stability Source: Getty Images/Capuski
March is PETstock Assist’s National Pet Adoption Month, which aims to educate and raise awareness of pet adoption and foster care placement.
