Local charity overwhelmed by artist’s fundraiser for much-needed cat cages

Tirimata's Kakahu Creations' Tirimata Murphy, Kaitaia SPCA manager Heather Smith and SPCA fundraising volunteer Sarah Fountain.

A Far North charity says it’s been ‘blown away’ by the generosity of a local Māori artist after raffling one of her wares to support the organisation.

Not-for-profit animal welfare service Kaitaia SPCA relies on funding to run and has been feeling the pinch this summer following a dip in adoptions.

Tirimata Murphy is the owner of Tirimata’s Kakahu Creations and specialises in creating korowai (traditional Māori cloaks) for different occasions.

Murphy said she only started her business a year ago, but the response from the community had been so incredible she wanted to give back in some way.

“I shop at the SPCA store and the ladies there are just awesome, I love their energy and I love animals, so it was a no-brainer,” Murphy said.

The special korowai created by Tirimata Murphy who used a raffle to raise a total of $921.70 to donate to Kaitaia SPCA.

“I offered to raffle one of my korowai which I sold tickets for at work and also at the Mangonui Festival.

“I managed to raise $921.70. I was so rapt because this community is amazing and I want to give back however I can.”

Together with the efforts of ‘Little Foo Foo Rabbit’, aka SPCA fundraising volunteer Sarah Fountain, the pair managed to reach a total of $1300.

The funds were then presented to SPCA shelter manager Heather Smith, who said she was left gobsmacked by the donation.

“I had been away, so had no idea what was happening, so when I came back I was completely blown away to receive that kind of money,” Smith said.

Each korowai could take anywhere from 20 to 120 hours to make, depending on size Murphy said.

“Contrary to many people’s belief, here at Kaitaia SPCA we’re lucky to get $20 a month of in-house donations.

“Yet we are constantly in demand for help, so the funding to provide these services has to come from somewhere.”

SPCA services all over the country hosted adoption day events at the weekend, offering 75 per cent off all animal adoptions.

Smith said despite the huge discount, only one kitten and one puppy were adopted - with the puppy subject to a property inspection.

“All the services are chocker block at the moment because adoptions have been slow due to the cost of living,” Smith.

“We currently have 30 kittens still needing adoption, with some animals here since last October.

“That’s why we thought about getting some enclosures so that we had somewhere to put them while they waited to be adopted.”

Because of the lack of resources, some animals were also having to be euthanised, Smith explained.

According to Smith, on Saturday a group of kittens found in Kaimaumau had been put down due to no one being available to bottle-feed them.

“We found the dead mother which was presumably feral, with her kittens scattered around,” Smith said.

“We’re very concerned there could be more and because bottle feeding is very intensive, it means someone has to be able to feed them every two hours, 24/7.

“There’s also huge demand for desexing, so that’s why we’re incredibly thankful to every single person who gave a dollar in the raffle, it means a lot.”

Each cat cage is estimated to cost around $500, with Kaitaia SPCA now in the process of sourcing materials to build them.