Local SPCA flying high with revamp

SPCA Wairarapa is flying high with Basil the talking bird named as mascot and a revamped reception area unveiled at the Ngaumutawa Rd centre.

Centre manager Lloyd Warren said he was pleased to be offering a home to 32-year-old Basil, a sulphur-crested cockatoo, whose former owner had fallen ill and was unable to care for the bird.

Basil replaces Gaga the centre cat, which was rehomed. When the cockatoo is in the mood he talks and welcomes visitors, Mr Warren said.

Basil's cage will be housed in the new reception area, which had been refurbished and fitted out with a glass-and-wood counter and reception desk bought for a bargain price from Carterton. Opening hours had changed with the doors now open seven days a week from 9am to noon. Charges for adopted animals had almost doubled to $95 a cat, $125 a kitten, $225 a dog and $250 a pup because every animal, including cats, would be desexed, vaccinated and microchipped before adoption.

Mr Warren was also pursuing three prosecutions in Wairarapa for unrelated cases of cruelty to animals involving two dogs and a sheep.

Other changes include the colour coding of the cat room (blue) and kitten room (green), the overhaul of procedures in the isolation room for ill or diseased cats.

Mr Warren started as centre manager in June and in the first few days on the job, he told the Wairarapa Times-Age, he put down about 20 cats and kittens because of disease and overcrowding at the Masterton centre.

About the same time, he relocated more than 15 cats in two consignments to the SPCA Wellington centre.

There were eight cats, five kittens, and four adult dogs at the centre yesterday, he said, and there would not be any more than 15 animals in each of the two rooms for healthy felines.

He said July had been "an amazing month" for rehoming animals including 14 cats, 10 kittens, four dogs and a sheep. There also were four dogs out on trial for adoption.

Fourteen of 15 lost or stray cats had been reclaimed by their owners after being brought to the centre and given collars printed with the centre phone number and 'Is this your cat?'.

"It's been a great month for rehoming animals and this month has started out the same way as well. We're really pleased," he said.

For more information about the animals on offer for rehoming and adoption: www.spcawairarapa.org.nz.