The cost of giving animals a future

I was at a meeting with a community group and I was talking about the issues that we the SPCA face and the stresses that come from housing 100 animals.
A person stood up and said, "Well, if you have so many, why aren't they free, why don't you just give them away?" Over the years this has been said to me many times.
As I stood and listened I realised that she had no concept of how the SPCA operated and what we actually do for, and with, our beautiful animals.
I will bet that there are many more of you reading this who have no real knowledge of the expenses we incur on a daily basis to provide the care and welfare necessary to secure a positive outcome for future of our animals.
As I say time and time again we are a charity with no business or government funding being allocated to us.
It costs in excess of $30,000 a month to run the Tauranga SPCA.
Every animal is vet checked; de-wormed and de-flead.
Every animal will have had the start of the required vaccinations, some of them even fully vaccinated, and most importantly every animal is de-sexed and micro-chipped.
Unfortunately vets are not a free service to us just because we are the SPCA. We pay vet bills like everyone else and our vet bills are a massive part of our budget for the year.
Our animals arrive with many ailments that need attention to - skin rashes, eye troubles, sore limbs, colds that need pain relief, to name just a few. I have not even mentioned food and kitty litter costs.
The SPCA is in the business of saving lives and it costs money to save lives.
If there was no charge for our animals, there wouldn't be an SPCA.
We would cease to operate and the vital, life changing services that we provide for abandoned and neglected animals would be no more.
The insignificant fee we charge, so you can acquire a healthy, happy new pet that you need to do virtually nothing for (vet wise); well really there is no contest.
Nicolle Smith is the education officer for Tauranga SPCA