We’re investing in surrender intervention, starting with the problem of drop boxes Surrendering a pet is always a difficult decision. We have learned a lot about the reasons why people choose to surrender their pets. In fact, most people love their pets and would prefer to keep them. Surrendering them is usually a last resort. At RSPCA NSW, helping people to help animals is what we do. For us to provide better care for animals in need, and promote responsible pet ownership in the community, we need to rethink surrender intervention. To start, we’re removing overnight cages or ‘drop boxes’ from our shelters. What are drop boxes? Drop boxes were introduced as a strategy to deal with unwanted animals. The idea was to give people the opportunity to ‘drop’ unwanted animals at a shelter without shame, and without breaking the law, outside of shelter open hours, giving the animal a place to stay overnight. In NSW under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, abandoning an animal is a cruelty offence and anyone who does this can be charged. What’s the problem with drop boxes? While the idea was to address the issue of animal abandonment,…
