An individual who cares about animals

How Individual Community Members can help achieve G2Z in their community

To be a part of theG2Z Community requires using your skills and resources in a positive way to help local pounds and shelters to reach their goal to save 90% of the pets that come in to their facility.

This means providing your time, resources and skills to help introduce and run effective programs and strategies in your community.

This is most effectively achieved by building relationships between the various stakeholders responsible for animal welfare and management in the community. The road can be long and frustrating but this approach of positive influence and assistance produces a much better long term effect of positive change.

It may be tempting to participate in on-line chats and communications criticising local pounds and shelters but this does little to change the status quo other than to build barriers to, and negative impressions of, your efforts. Commit to promoting compassion and respect, for the animals in your community and for each other.

A.        DONATE MONEY

If you have money to donate it is important that it supports organisations that use proactive strategies to prevent euthanasia. These organisations can be identified by review of their statistics and achievements.

It costs more to save more lives.  When a shelter or a pound chooses to reduce euthanasia, more staff are needed e.g. more vets to save treatable animals who need operations or treatment, more foster care coordinators to foster out more animals, skilled policy negotiators to work towards proactive government policy and legislation, skilled educators to develop community knowledge of the problem and solutions, skilled computer-savvy marketers to build community support and involvement in volunteering and rehoming animals and of course more animal care staff to keep the pets happy and healthy.

1. Donate to a local G2Z organisation

Check the G2Z Australia map to see if there are any organisations which have committed to G2Z principles in your area.

Note: The pound and shelters that are listed on the G2Z website have advised the website managers that they are genuinely committed to, and working effectively toward, zero euthanasia of adoptable pets.  This includes communicating their euthanasia figures and working with the community and like-minded organisations in positive cooperation, not just implementing strategies such as limiting intake. We encourage you to look at what they are doing and see if they are introducing effective strategies AND progressing the reduction of euthanasia rates in your community. Other organisations such as pet supply stores and breed organisations listed in the directory have worked cooperatively with pounds and/or shelters to help with G2Z strategies.

It is important that your donation is used for reducing euthanasia rates. For example, you could provide funding for, or fundraise for, the following projects:

  • building a community desexing clinic
  • a desexing subsidy program to support people struggling financially
  • a Last Litter Fund to enable people to keep their mother cats and have them desexed when they surrender kittens to the local pound or shelter
  • sufficient and suitable holding pens to prevent stress on the animals
  • a foster care coordinator to run a substantial fostering program
  • building a shelter vet clinic
  • funding costs of veterinary treatment of sick or injured pound or shelter animals so they can be treated and rehomed
  • ongoing positive advertising of pets available for adoption in local newspapers
  • employment of animal trainers and behaviourist’s to provide help for pet owners so they don't have to surrender their pets

Pounds and shelters usually struggle to find sufficient funds for these initiatives and need your help.

2. Donate to G2Z

Any funding G2Z receives will be used to provide more communities with assistance and necessary infrastructure e.g. community vet clinics, rehoming centres and education facilities. Contact info@g2z.org.au for further information

B. DONATE GOODS

There are many goods you can donate (or at least offer at cost price), to help proactive G2Z shelters/rescue groups to provide facilities for animals, particularly if you have a business which uses these products i.e.

  • Animal food
  • New or current specification computers
  • Concrete
  • Crates for animals
  • Desks, chairs and other office furniture
  • New or near new electrical goods
  • Wire and colourbond fencing for animal pens
  • Heavy duty cleaning equipment e.g. hoses, brooms, gurneys, squeegee’s, mops, buckets
  • New or near new heavy duty/commercial washing machines and dryers
  • Phones,photocopiers and other new or near new office equipment
  • Good condition and road worthy vans or station wagons to transport animals

C. REQUEST ACTION from GOVERNMENT

1.Read the G2Z Model and Resources.

2.Write to, and visit, your State/Territory Ministers and local Councillors to encourage them to participate in G2Z and offer to support them if they introduce proactive G2Z legislation and policies. See Sample letters.

D.  TIME, LABOUR AND SKILLS

Visit your local Council pound, animal welfare shelter or rescue organisation and offer your time, labour and skills.

If you have an interest in leading change, work with the organisation as a volunteer in various areas to get to know the difficulties associated with running a pound or shelter and earn the respect of staff and other volunteers.

If working, offer your skills free of charge at first, on weekends or in your holidays.

If retired, offer your skills free of charge one or two days a week - or more!

There are many areas where you can volunteer e.g.

  • Administration
  • Animal attendant
  • Behavioural rehabilitation and training of dogs and cats
  • Board member
  • Building
  • Concreting
  • Computer data entry
  • Computer graphics
  • Computer maintenance
  • Computer programming
  • Customer assistance and reception
  • Driving to transfer animals/pick up donated animal food
  • Event management/organisation
  • Fundraising
  • Gardening
  • Grooming of shelter dogs or cats
  • Maintenance of buildings, equipment and grounds
  • Marketing and promotions
  • Photographing animals for rehoming
  • Qualified electrical work
  • Qualified legal advice
  • Socialising shy cats
  • Vet nursing
  • Veterinarian
  • Videoing animals available for adoption
  • Walking and socialising dogs
  • Website maintenance and upgrade
  • Writing descriptions of animals for pens or website

If you need an income, offer to work for the lowest salary you can afford to live on, for jobs in which you can make improvements within the organisation, if they are committed to G2Z principles. 

Take Action