Pound Pooches founder Christine Batista with pup Rubix, who sadly passed away last year (left) and Jess Gibb with her dog Sadie who was born deaf.
Pound Pooches founder Christine Batista with pup Rubix, who sadly passed away last year (left) and Jess Gibb with her dog Sadie who was born deaf.
Pound Pooches Hawke’s Bay’s team is calling out for help as the canine re-homing group is at full capacity and unable to bring in any more dogs.
Pound Pooches Hawke’s Bay (PPHB) founder Christine Batista said the number of dogs rehomed had risen in the last year, and it’s not just Hawke’s Bay that is having this issue, “it’s nationwide”.
She said, “Families are struggling with the cost of living, forcing them to choose between their animals and being able to live.
“Housing is hard to find, people are chasing jobs overseas, animals just make that decision harder, so they turn to a shelter or the pound to take their animals.”
Four-month-old English Staffy x, Smudge is a Pound Pooch pup looking for a home.
In the first week of July, the group was caring for 28 dogs, had another four waiting to come in, and there were six they had to turn away.
They took to Facebook to let the community know they did not have the space, resources or ability to take in any more dogs. They are stretching their current foster base very thin and facing having to close the doors.
Batista said 70% of PPHB’s rehomes are from “community surrenders, where families have to choose to give up their dogs”.
The team believe this is often because those people couldn’t afford to de-sex their dog, ending up with an unplanned litter, which in turn costs even more.
Within the past few years Pound Pooches - founded by Christine Batista and co-run by Jess Gibb - has expanded quickly and now has over 2600 followers and supporters on Facebook.
Pound Pooch pup Archie, a 1-year-old male mastiff x has spent 146 days waiting for his forever home.
Many people have also opened their homes to foster dogs of all ages and sizes in the hope they will find a forever home.
PPHB works with the Napier City Council Dog Pound to take the dogs into their care and offers services to people in the community who find strays or cannot care for their dogs.
The group pays for rescue dogs’ impound fees, microchipping and council registration. While under PPHB care, dogs receive the vet care they need and are placed into foster care until a forever home is found.
Since June of 2023, Batista and Gibb have saved 97 dogs from across the community and the Napier pound system.
Batista said PPHB “don’t have a shelter or a centre where we can take in the dogs, so we rely solely on our foster homes to house them”.
The group’s capacity depends not only on how many fosterers are available but also on the cost of caring for these dogs and on the bank balance after vet bills, food, supplies and any other expenses.
Pound Pooches "constellation litter" of mixed bull breed puppies.
“As we are only a two-person team, the workload needs to be manageable. We are both doing this voluntarily along with our daily lives,” Batista said.
The pair co-ordinate intakes, fosters and adoptions, manage social media, co-ordinate the health and welfare of the dogs and ensure there is enough love to share around them all.
“So, more dogs, means that our time is stretched thin. We don’t want to compromise the dogs in our care, so we need to be mindful of how many we can take on board,” Batista said.
At this stage, PPHB’s cap is 20 dogs, but at the end of June, the group was stretched thin with 33 dogs in care.
The founder said, “We had to say no to community dogs and try to honour our commitment to the pound dogs we had waiting to come in.”
When asked what Pound Pooches needed to help more dogs, Batista and Gibb joked, “to win the lotto or be gifted a location to use as a shelter.
“In all seriousness, we need funding and foster homes, our foster homes are so important.”
Pound Pooch pup Alice is a 4-month-old female shar pei x Staffy.
Batista added, “These families assist the dogs with a safe place to decompress, get healthy, be a part of a home environment and experience love and kindness.
“All of this creates a well-rounded dog, that is ready for adoption and their forever family.”
PPHB is in the process of becoming a registered charity so it can apply for grants for de-sexing, pet food and funding from businesses and sponsors.
“Corporate sponsorship would be a dream come true; funding is important to care for the dogs we have in care with vet bills, food, and supplies,” Batista said.
Financial support ensures dogs go to homes in top health, are registered, microchipped and are set up for success.
For example, a dog that comes into PPHB care and stays for three months costs about $690, and the Pound Pooches adoption fees only cover half of that.
The PPHB team is now looking for more help from anyone who can donate time, money or items.
Pound Pooches is appreciative of monetary donations as this helps keep vet accounts in credit and buys worming and flea treatment, food and supplements.
Donated items like food, puppy pads, beds, collars and leads are also really helpful.
Batista said having these items donated means they can put adoption fees back into saving the next dogs and finding them homes.
Becoming a foster home is PPHB’s biggest support as it enables the group to take dogs into care, keeping them out of the pound and off the streets.
“As always, the easiest way to help us is to support our mission. Like, share, and interact with our social media posts to spread the word and get our gorgeous pooches adopted,” Batista said.
For more information, check out Pound Pooches Hawke’s Bay on Facebook or send the team an email at: poundpoocheshb@gmail.com
Maddisyn Jeffares became the editor of the Hawke’s Bay community papers Hastings Leader and Napier Courier in 2023 after writing at the Hastings Leader for almost a year. She has been a reporter with NZME for almost three years and has a strong focus on what’s going on in communities, good and bad, big and small. Email news tips to her at: maddisyn.jeffares@nzme.co.nz.
