By Romy Stephens
While Covid-19 has not brought much joy recently, the pandemic may have helped influence one positive outcome for a local animal refuge.
Animal Aid’s Coldstream Cattery announced on 17 April that it was cleared out for the first time ever.
And it’s understood to be a result of more people staying at home, without plans for the foreseeable future.
The organisation’s events and media manager, Elle Ammann, said Animal Aid has been “absolutely chokers” recently with numerous people looking to adopt.
But she said the spike was likely a result of good timing rather than people spontaneously deciding they want to adopt.
“The amount of demand hasn’t changed, these are people that have wanted to adopt for a very long time and everything has aligned for them,” she said.
“Everyone’s best case scenario has come together at once. Usually we’ll have people who are planning a holiday in June so don’t want to adopt until around September.
“Or you might have people that are waiting until after school holidays.”
Animal Aid is currently in the middle of kitten season and typically hosts 20-50 cats at any given time.
The average length of stay for cats at this time of year is about 40 days.
But Ms Ammann said so far, things have looked very different this year.
“At the moment we just can’t keep the pens full, we’ve had so many people come through,” she said.
“We’ve never had the cattery completely cleared out before.”
When asked if there was concern cats might be returned once the Covid-19 situation was over, Ms Ammann said there is an element of trust that goes into the adoption process.
She said staff work very hard to find suitable homes for pets which reduces the likelihood of them being returned.
“We don’t have application forms and we don’t try to make it about the paperwork, we want to get to know the people who are adopting,” she said.
“We want to get an understanding of the lifestyle and the understanding of how good a fit it will be.”
Animal Aid is still offering pet adoptions for a range of animals, all of which can be found on the website at animalaid.org.au.
With the rapidly changing Covid-19 environment, it is recommended to call before visiting a shelter.
