SPCA expands out in the west

Auckland’s second SPCA centre will have a doggy daycare able to take care of up to 56 pups a day.

SPCA Auckland’s chief executive Andrea Midgen says its sole Mangere site could no longer keep up with the volume of injured, neglected and abused animals it dealt with daily.

Midgen says serving a population of 1.5 million people, and reaching animals in such a large area was ‘‘proving difficult’’.

She says 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.

It cares for about 15,000 animals a year.

Nine inspectors were out on the road picking up animals each day, Midgen says in a press release.

The need to expand was urgent, she says.

‘‘We can no longer effectively from one location.’’

Construction of the Hobsonville work centre could begin in October of this year.

It will have the facilities to house animals for adoption and provide a base for inspectors in north Auckland.

There will be a space for SPCA’s second doggy daycare facility in the country.

Midgen says fundraising is getting ‘‘more and more difficult’’ and a daycare facility will help fund the centre.

She says she hopes the daycare will cover operational and leasing costs. It will have up to 56 dogs a day, separated by size with fully-trained staff.

Measures would be put in place to minimise the likelihood of accidents, such as a death.

It follows a dog found dead in a pond at a doggy daycare in West Auckland on May 9.

More people would consider adopting a pet from the SPCA if they were more accessible, she says.

‘‘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 says.

Another $1.5 million to build the centre was needed. About $4.5m had been raised, the press release says.