Hobsonville gets SPCA doggy daycare
Auckland’s second SPCA centre will have a doggy daycare able to take care of up to 56 pups a day.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Auckland’s chief executive Andrea Midgen said its sole South Auckland site could no longer keep up with the volume of injured, neglected and abused animals it dealt with daily.
Midgen said serving a population of 1.5 million people, and reaching animals in such a large area was ‘‘proving difficult’’.
She said the SCPA had been looking for a new site on the other side of the Auckland Harbour Bridge and the 674 square metre Hobsonville site ‘‘seems brilliant’’.
The satellite site was located on Rawiri Place, near Hobsonville Primary School and the Upper Harbour Motorway. It would not have a hospital.
The Auckland welfare group cared for about 15,000 animals a year. Nine inspectors were out on the road picking up animals each day, Midgen said in a press release.
Midgen said the expand was urgent.
‘‘We can no longer work effectively from one location,’’ she said.
The Mangere SPCA facility opened in 1983. Construction of the Hobsonville centre could begin in October of this year.
It would have facilities to house animals to be adopted, and provide a base for SPCA inspectorate services in north Auckland. need to
It would also have a 500sqm doggy daycare facility with inside and outside space.
She said fundraising was getting ‘‘more and more difficult’’ and a daycare facility would help fund the centre.
She said she hoped the daycare would cover operational and leasing costs.
It would have up to 56 dogs a day, separated by size with fullytrained staff.
Measures would be put in place to minimise the likelihood of accidents, such as a death.
Midgen said more people would consider adopting a pet from the SPCA if they were more accessible.
‘‘A second centre will also give more people the opportunity to give an SPCA animal a forever home, or provide a temporary foster home,’’ Midgen said.
Another $1.5 million was needed to build the centre, about $4.5m had been raised.