How often are we hearing the mantra “Adopt, don’t shop” when we are looking to add a furry friend to our family? Generally, this means that it is becoming somewhat “fashionable” to source our new pets from a pound, a shelter, or a privately run rescue organisation/group, rather than from a breeder – registered (with a governing body such as Master Dog Breeders Association, DogsVic, NSW Cat Fanciers Association, etc) and reputable – or not registered and mostly just a pair of dogs that got together in a suburban back yard and produced puppies that now need to find homes – or even a commercial breeder (often mis-labelled as “puppy farms” by animal rights groups).
Generally when one sources a puppy or kitten from a registered and reputable breeder, they are receiving a pet with a traceable genetic line, some guarantees of health and temperament (due to various tests for genetic faults prior to selecting a breeding match), and many also include post adoption support for new puppy/kitten owners, and/or a return to breeder guarantee if the pup/kitten can no longer stay with the new family for whatever reason. Registered breeders are also subject to keeping meticulous records of all their animals, spot checks by their governing body or other authorities (such as RSPCA) and may also be held to account by other breeders in their breed group if their standards fall short of optimum.
So, let’s consider what we are getting when adopting a puppy/dog or cat/kitten from a rescue source – be that a pound, shelter, or rescue organisation…
- The rescue industry in Australia is NOT regulated in any way by ANY authority, except basic oversight by the RSPCA – but only if they are alerted to an animal welfare issue by a member of the public. This leaves it open to a myriad of possible animal welfare related problems – from foster carers taking in more animals than they can care for to a high (or even decent) standard, sloppy or non-existent paperwork detailing such things as parasite control, vaccinations, puppy weight gains, etc, haphazard re-homing practices designed to turn over numbers in order to “save” more… the list goes on of the possible issues that could arise from the lack of regulation or reporting to any regulating authority.
- Stray animals are actually a government responsibility under every state law in Australia. Stray animals should be presented to the local pound in case their owners are looking for them. Private rescue groups often have partnerships with pounds to take excess animals to remove the pressure from those pounds once animals have finished their mandated hold times (varies by state). Once a pound has reached full capacity, some of the longer-term animals may be euthanised to make space for more strays to come in – this is not optimal but is often the only recourse if there are no other options available. Rescues are increasingly being relied upon to move animals out of pounds – effectively outsourcing the responsibility to an unfunded and unregulated industry of big hearted people who have the best intentions but may not be adequately resourced to do the job to the highest standard.
- Pounds and registered shelters (RSPCA, AWL, etc) are actually regulated to some extent, and must follow specific codes of practice, record keeping, and other animal welfare related procedures. They must report their activities to a government body at least annually. In some states, some rescues (based on an opt-in process) may need to report to a government body, but the records required to be reported are fairly superficial, and don’t actually give a good insight into the day-to-day workings of each group. This leaves the vast majority of private rescues not regulated in any way at all.
All of the above considered, the issues go further when rescue groups are left to operate in whatever way they see fit with essentially no boundaries.
When rescues take in a homeless animal, they have no history about that animal, and no 100% idea of breed mix, long term temperament or health problems, etc. Everything they know about any given animal is what presents in front of them while they have that animal in their care. The longer they have the animal in care, the more they might understand about that animal, but there will be no absolute certainty about the animal’s history, breeding, genetic traits, long term temperament, triggers, or possible health issues that may present as that animal ages. This also applies to puppies/kittens born in rescue care – the only thing truly known about those puppies/kittens is what presented during their time with the rescue (foster carer), and thus, long term guarantees of health or temperament, or even such things as adult size cannot be given.
Some rescues are registered as charities and fundraise to continue their business – and let’s face it, it IS a business, no matter what spin you want to put on it. Selling an animal, no matter from what source is a business transaction, and if that is what you do day in day out, then you are effectively an animal re-homing business. Regardless the financial sources or amounts, many rescues are still operating on a loss-making business model, rather than a profit-making one, which really makes little sense, but seems to feed into the “do-gooder” feelings of those that tend to gravitate towards this industry. Big hearts are definitely a requirement to work in the rescue industry, but a reasonable business sense should be factored in also.
So – knowing that rescues really have very little understanding of the full range of traits in an animal they are looking to re-home, how do they manage to make the best matches for that animal when looking to place them with a new family? The reality is that they are generally doing matches as best they can based on the knowledge they have of that animal whilst in their care, so the longer an animal has been in care, the better understanding they may have, but not always. Some rescues, after making an unsuitable match, may happily take back the animal if it is not fitting in… but not all rescues have this policy, and adopters may be left with an pet they cannot live with, and may have to pass that animal on to another rescue, a shelter, or a pound, and so the cycle repeats for that animal. This is NOT an optimal outcome for that animal, is it?
There is also the problem of certain rescues re-homing animals with issues that require new owners to put in a lot of work or training (often at their own cost) to address issues that the animal has – be those health or temperament issues. This is not desirable, but as many smaller rescues do not have the resources to rehabilitate animals in their care properly before re-homing them, this is becoming a more prevalent problem. Some smaller operators are so focused on “saving” more and more animals, that they are re-homing unsuitable animals to unsuspecting adopters and giving the entire industry a bad reputation… and perpetuating the myth that all rescue animals are somehow “broken” in some way. In reality most rescue animals are perfectly suitable as family pets with few health or temperament issues, but it only takes one bad experience with a rescued pet for the public to come to the conclusion that this is not the case.
Adopting a rescue pet is a lottery… sometimes you lose, but when you win, you win the best prize possible. Are you willing to play the lottery? Regulation of the industry may well increase your chances of winning.
By: Tracey Dierikx – Animal Care Australia Exhibited Animals Representative. Published: June 2025 ACE Newsletter.
