In short:
The RSPCA has announced its Port Lincoln branch will cease operations on August 31 due to reduced numbers of stray animals in its care.
Local animal rescue volunteers say the regional city is overrun with stray cats.
What’s next?
Port Lincoln Council will now be solely responsible for managing and rehoming stray animals in its facility, which has capacity for 12 dogs and 12 cats.
Animal rescue volunteers say the shock closure of the only RSPCA shelter in the region will worsen Port Lincoln’s abandoned cat problem.
The only RSPCA on the Lower Eyre Peninsula will close its doors at the end of August due to reduced numbers of animals in its care, despite locals saying the area was overrun with unwanted cats and kittens.
Making a Difference Cat Rescue volunteer Rosie Steer said the group was already struggling with the high cost of feeding, desexing and housing the animals.
The problem was driven by the number of people abandoning their pets, she added.
“They’re not feral cats. They are abandoned suburban cats,” Ms Steer said.
“There been a problem with desexing because it’s so expensive.”
Management of stray dogs and cats is a local council responsibility and Port Lincoln Council had contracted RSPCA for the rights to use their services for this purpose.
RSPCA said it took in just eight cats last financial year via the council, compared to 273 the year before.
“It will be a big impact, there’s no doubt about that,” Port Lincoln Council chief executive Eric Brown said.
“We’re not 100 per cent sure exactly how much of an impact this will have, because we’re really dealing with quite a number of animals ourselves, moving them through the process to being rehomed.”
The council has capacity for 12 dogs and 12 cats in its facility.
Other than the RSPCA and Making a Difference Cat Rescue, Port Lincoln has no other animal rescue organisations, with no dedicated volunteer group for dogs.
Stray animal numbers ‘negligible’ after policy change
The RSPCA said the drop in cat numbers at the shelter did not reflect a drop in the regional city’s stray cat population.
“The council’s negligible demand for our stray animal care and rehoming service has made the operation of a shelter in Port Lincoln financially unviable,” RSPCA SA chief executive Marcus Gehrig said.
“This closure enables us to redirect our charity’s limited resources to areas where they can have the greatest impact for animal welfare across the Eyre Peninsula and regions.”
The RSPCA no longer accepts pet surrenders from the public and relies on Port Lincoln Council to refer animals to it.
The news came as a surprise to Making a Difference Cat Rescue volunteer Rosemary Hunt, who said the city was overrun with colonies resulting from abandoned cats having litters.
“We are constantly being called,” she said.
“There are quite a few hot spots where people have moved out and abandoned their pregnant cats.
“So we need to get to those people and get that cat desexed before they abandon it.”
Colonies of strays create cycle
Several hotspots are home to these “cat colonies” and often result in kittens starving.
Ms Hunt said it was not uncommon for residents to find dead kittens in the street and had heard horror stories about them being eaten by rats.
Port Lincoln resident Melinda Channon said she had been dealing with stray cats on her property for several years and was constantly awoken by cats activating her security lights and disturbing her dogs.
“They urinate on our front verandah. So our front verandah smells like cat pee,” she said.
“They defecate in our garden. We can’t walk on the grass outside without making sure that there’s no cat poo on the grass.
“There’s stray cats in the area that are not being desexed, and the cycle just continues with them having kittens.
“It’s a vicious cycle.”
She said the RSPCA would be missed.
“We feel like we’re so far away as it is from metro areas that losing a service like that just feels like we’ve been left out,” she said.
Pressure as services withdraw from country areas
In the absence of the local RSPCA in Port Lincoln, stray cats and dogs brought to council will be transferred to the Whyalla RSPCA Animal Care Centre or the organisation’s main centre in Adelaide.
Cat trapping takes place around the city as part of the council’s animal management obligations, where any unidentified or unmicrochipped cat will be humanely euthanased.
Ms Steer said the withdrawal of the RSPCA from the area would have a significant impact on the community.
“They do a fantastic job,” she said.
The original Port Lincoln RSPCA was established in March 2000 when local animal advocate Marjorie Broad donated a property to house the centre.
Ms Steer said Mrs Broad would be devastated to see the RSPCA leaving town.
“Pulling the pin and leaving us country people to have to fight again, it feels like we have been shafted,” she said.
The Port Lincoln RSPCA cared for 2,000 animals in the last five years.
