Linking SPCA centres is a positive thing, says Napier manager

Napier SPCA manager Bruce Wills says a potential joining of regional SPCA's is a "positive thing". PHOTO / FILE

Napier SPCA will have the opportunity to join financial forces with centres in other regions after funding difficulties around the country forced calls for change.

The One SPCA project, which will be put to a vote in June, proposed the current independently-run regional operations be brought together under a national umbrella.

Forty-six centres nationwide would share resources and funding, and would function as a collective entity.

Napier SPCA Manager Bruce Wills told Hawke's Bay Today Napier staff were "generally positive" about the One SPCA proposal.

The scheme was designed to save centres suffering from financial woes before they became insolvent. Sites which were doing well would be able to help ones in need.

Mr Wills said the proposed model would also create a "more direct line of communication" and a "more direct management structure".

Working as separate entities has made operations "inconsistent" said Mr Wills. He believed networking among regions would create a more standardised organisation.

"It is a positive thing," Wills said

"We should be working more collectively."

He said the Napier centre was doing "relatively well" compared to others, but that didn't mean it didn't need a few helping hands.

"We still struggle," Mr Wills said.

Napier SPCA has been striving to find people to join its committee, and Wills said
membership was "dwindling".

He said it seemed to have become more common to "just give us a 'like' on Facebook".

Facebook supporters, though greatly appreciated, were not enough, and members have been getting harder to come by.

Mr Wills believed membership would grow if the One SPCA proposal were successful as it would potentially increase national sponsorship.

He also said local fundraising was very difficult, and national fundraising would mean not only sharing funds and resources but collectively generating more.

The foremost priority for Wills was, of course, to "make sure we are doing the right thing" for animals in the organisations care.

The Napier SPCA rescue 1100-1200 animals a year, 800-900 of which are cats and kittens.

"They (the animals) don't care if they're in Napier, Hastings, Gisborne" he said, as long as the animals were being cared for.

Wills said his main focus was to "just think of the animals" and would welcome the change if it benefited animals in need of care.