'Emotional blackmail': Oak Flats vet outraged at new stray animal service

First announced by the Wollongong City Council on Wednesday, March 27, and then followed by Shellharbour City Council a day later, the new services drop the traditional pound system and instead work with "local veterinary services and a network of regional kennelling facilities".

But local vets have said they were not consulted and the increased emotional pressure on their staff has already begun building.

Dr Ksenja Prejac Vucko, from Oak Flats Veterinary Clinic, says she was not informed or consulted about their new responsibilities under the new arrangements.

"No one sent a letter saying this is what's happening, are you on board with this?" Dr Prejac Vucko said.

Dr Prejac Vucko was one of multiple vets the Illawarra Mercury spoke with, the vast majority who have shared their feelings of worry, anger and disappointment.

In announcing the new service Shellharbour's mayor Chris Homer said: "As part of the new animal welfare and rehoming service, Council will work with local veterinary services and a network of regional kennelling facilities and are working towards partnering with alternate animal welfare groups."

Yet when pressed on the consultation process by the Illawarra Mercury seven days later, a Shellharbour council spokesperson said: "There has been no consultation with vets regarding changes to the animal impound services, as the changes do not relate to vets."

However Dr Prejac Vucko, who dealt with the Shellharbour council, disagrees.

"On the same day [as the changes were made] we were presented with a stray cat, scanned it for a microchip as is the procedure, no microchip.

"So I am stuck with this cat."

Dr Prejac Vucko says she called the Shellharbour council and was told they would not be picking up the cat.

Yet when asked about cats specifically, the Shellharbour spokesperson said: "Council has a statutory obligation to take carriage of cats that have been lawfully seized, and will continue to provide that service".

A local animal welfare group has since taken that particular cat into its care.

Since the new arrangements came into force, Wollongong City Council has published a question and answers on their site to help explain some of the confusion.

Regarding its consultation with vets, a Wollongong council spokesperson said the process had not changed: "It's the discretion of the vet whether they choose to accept animals brought into their service by residents".

"Like vets, council's priority is managing the safety and wellbeing of cats and dogs. We will work with local services and community advocates as this service evolves."

Since the new service started Wollongong has impounded 30 cats and kittens, a large number collected from local vets.

The Oak Flats Veterinary Clinic only has two isolation cages available for stray cats, who must be isolated for two weeks in case they have any viral diseases.

"I'm putting my patients at risk putting stray cats into the hospital," Dr Prejac Vucko said.

"It's emotional blackmail essentially because we don't know what we're going to do with them.

"I don't have room for these animals and if we're going to be euthanising these animals, well I pay for that.

"I pay for that financially and emotionally," she said.

Rescue groups have their say

Angela Butler runs Illawarra Cat Rescue Support and says the not-for-profit organisation is overwhelmed and the new service is not helping.

"If somebody's cat is lost and found their solution is it'll go to a vet if it's microchipped. If it's not microchipped there's nowhere for anybody to take them," Ms Butler said.

"If people ring us and say we found six kittens or something like that, and we don't have room for them.

"There's nowhere to go."

The concerns of groups like Illawarra Cat Rescue Support include not just the welfare of the cats but also local wildlife.

The Invasive Species Council says that cats in Australia kill on average 2.92 million mammals every 24 hours.

Anne McNaughton helps run Lost and Found Pets Illawarra, a Facebook group that aims to reunite pets and owners, says she was "absolutely devastated" by the council's announcement.

"It's just not satisfactory ... it's already started to go wrong," Ms McNaughton said regarding the Oak Flats Vet situation.

"The whole point of the system is that the vets are going to be working with the council and they've already got a bad experience in the first few days.

"Both councils have pretty much, I think, washed their hands of anything to do with it."