Dumped NZ huskies need new home as abandonment rates soar

Husky Rescue NZ says ignorant owners are buying husky dogs only to abandon them because they understimate the effort required to take care of them. Photo / 123rf

Canterbury rescue volunteers are desperate to save a number of abandoned huskies after being overrun with the breed.

Husky Rescue New Zealand has been flooded with requests to take huskies as owners and buyers underestimate how much attention and care the breed needs.

Huskies need to be walked at least 5km a day and have to be cleaned and trained, which has caught out many owners.

"They look really nice on the photos and really gorgeous, but they're hard work," Husky Rescue NZ volunteer Sam Church told Newshub.

"They're not very easy to maintain and look after. It takes hours and hours, and I think people forget that."

However, the Canterbury charitable organisation desperately needs a new facility after another five huskies were dumped in the past two weeks with another five on the waiting list.

Husky Rescue NZ volunteer Michelle Attwood told Fairfax that the dog breed is so popular it has led backyard breeders and social media sellers saturating the market with them. The dogs are then abandoned.

"Instead of having to sit on a waiting list for a year with a registered breeder, [people are] jumping online and can buy today. That's what we're fighting."

The Canterbury charitable organisation is already bursting with nearly 50 huskies waiting to be adopted out.

Before the dogs are re-homed, the organisation checks their health, suitability, de-sexing and vaccinations.

According to Attwood, the centre dogs chew through 20kg of donated food each day.

Attwood and the organisation are searching for a bigger, purpose-built facility to house the dogs.

The rescue centre started eight years ago when Attwood noticed the same huskies reappearing in Trade Me listings.