Heidi Kraak
Latrobe City councillor Kellie O’Callaghan is calling for the community to donate blankets to keep the lost animals of the Latrobe Valley warm and comfortable in the pound.
Cr O’Callaghan said the donation request came out of a notice of motion at a Latrobe City Council meeting on Monday night which called for a review into the way the pound operates.
“The notice of motion was looking into an entire review of the way we manage and rescue abandoned animals, including the pound,” she said.
“But one of the lingering concerns I’ve had over a period of time is the level of comfort of those animals that we actually have at the pound, particularly those that are having a stay that is more than just a day until their owners turn up.”
Cr O’Callaghan said that animals didn’t have easy access to blankets, and other comforting items, due to the “nature of our pound set up and nature of the current processes”.
“There needed to be a change to the way we did that and introducing new processes immediately was necessary to make sure the animals had that level of comfort,” she said.
“Having successfully achieved that at the council chamber on Monday, with a unanimous decision … we then needed to get blankets.”
Cr O’Callaghan said she would like to see a change in the model of service delivered by council’s animal management services.
“I think the model of service [change] will probably result in more interaction with the community and volunteers,” she said.
“That in itself will see an ongoing donation process of a range of things that will add further comfort and amenity to the pound service.”
Cr O’Callaghan said blankets could be delivered to council customer service centres.
“People are welcome to drop them off there,” she said.
“We’ll make sure that we gather up those and take them up to the pound itself.”
