‘Blatant lie’: Animal rescue says it was ready to pick up dogs killed over COVID-19 - Sydney Morning Herald

An animal shelter volunteer who was due to pick up several dogs before they were killed over COVID-19 restrictions said a rural NSW council lied about trying to arrange rehoming them multiple times.

Lorraine Knezevic, of Cobar-based Rural Outback Animal Respite/Rescue (ROAR), said she had arranged with Bourke Shire Council to pick up the 15 dogs, including 10 newborn puppies, last week before being told that due to pandemic restrictions she wasn’t allowed.

An animal rescue volunteer says her organisation still wants to work with Bourke Shire to keep rehoming dogs.Credit:AP

Ms Knezevic said the council had contacted ROAR on the Monday and agreed the dogs could be picked up later that week.

She said the council then phoned again on Thursday morning, and she told them that shelter volunteers could collect them in the evening. However, she was refused shortly after because of COVID-19. Later that morning the shelter heard the dogs had been shot.

“For them to say that we were contacted several times, is a blatant lie,” Ms Knezevic said, adding her organisation then had to break the news to other rehoming outfits lined up to take the dogs.

“So we had to tell them, ‘these dogs that you thought you were getting, are getting killed’.”

The empty streets of Bourke as people stay at home to reduce the spread of the Delta strain. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Ms Knezevic said ROAR had initially decided not to comment, however were prompted to weigh in after the council, in the state’s north-west, released a statement saying the administration had contacted its regular re-homer on two occasions to find it was unavailable.

“When they start putting the blame on us, and we start getting people thinking it’s our fault the dogs were killed when we spent have spent the last four days virtually in tears because we couldn’t save these dogs ... this is the first lot of dogs in the six years since we’ve started that have been killed,” she said.

The council said it had only five holding pens, and had five dogs in the pound in early August, with one having a litter of 14, four of which died. Two dogs surrendered to the council had shown aggression towards staff and three dogs were picked up while roaming the streets. None were registered or chipped.

Ms Knezevic said much of the outrage was misdirected at the fact the dogs were shot: “Out here in regional country, a lot of them are because there’s no vets.”

“But the issue is that they were killed regardless of whether they were euthanised at the vet or shot. They should not have been killed,” she said.

The RSPCA and the Office of Local Government, which has encouraged councils to keep rehoming impounded animals during the NSW outbreak, are looking into the matter.

In a statement issued yesterday, Bourke Shire said the area was in a “tenuous situation” due to the Delta strain reaching the regions.

“Positive cases are on the increase. Council is being very careful with people entering Bourke. The majority of council staff have been stood down to avoid the virus spreading further in the community,” the statement said.

Ms Knezevic said she was worried this incident would cost the lives of other dogs and that she wanted to continue working with Bourke Shire.

“We’re not going to say we’re not working with you because you did this, that’s just stupid, that’s defying everything that we stand for,” she said.

The council statement said Bourke had supported rehoming animals in the past and would continue to into the future, saying its euthanising rates had dropped from 95 per cent in recent years to nearly zero, “such that it is now approaching nearly 100 per cent of dogs being rehomed, up until this required action”.

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2021-08-24 00:23:38Z
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