SPCA: Saved by generosity

The Tauranga SPCA veterinary bills for the year of 2010 are in excess of $125,000.
The monthly operating costs of the Tauranga SPCA are in excess of $40,000.
We receive anywhere between 30 and 50 telephone calls a day.
Our inspector investigates around 30 cases of animal cruelty complaints a month, with most needing return visits.
The inspector's territory stretches all the way from Katikati to Pukehina.
We will rescue thousands of animals by the end of this year.
All this is achieved through the support and generosity of you, the public, as we receive no government funding.
I would like to share with you some information from our operations manager, Margaret Rawiri: "During the year we had our fair share of hurdles to jump, with cat flu, ringworm, and a couple of parvo virus scares which are not uncommon in a shelter environment.
"We battled through and managed to beat these illnesses by successfully nursing and treating these animals back to health, ready for re-homing, with minimal casualties.
"It is an incredible feeling to nurse an animal under the weather back to good health, to be ready for adoption, and to watch that animal walk out of the shelter with a loving family who have smiles all over their faces.
"To know that animal will be loved and cherished - this is what saving lives is all about."
In my role as SPCA education officer people often say to me: "I don't know how you can work at the SPCA, it must be so sad."
While at times you are so frustrated at the lack of care and compassion, you have to understand that our animals at the shelter are the lucky ones. They are found, and they will be re-homed.
Others that are on a chain 24/7 with no shelter, or the ones living rough, barely existing, the ones we do not find, they truly break my heart.
Nicolle Smith is the animal education officer for Tauranga SPCA.