Horsham PAWS president Carolyn Stow received daily calls about surrendering animals to the organisation.  However, she said Horsham PAWS does not have the finances to take on all animals surrendered.  

“We are volunteer group without government funding and we need to ensure that we are financially viable to make sure we still exist in the future,” she said. 

“It is not because we are not interested in the animal’s welfare. We just have to ensure we have the capacity to take them on.” 

Ms Stow said the current animals in the foster program and the rise in surrendered animals overwhelmed Horsham PAWS’ resources. Therefore, she said liaising with other rescue groups was imperative to maintain financial stability and ensure each animal was adopted into a permanent home. 

“We are busy more so than usual. Recently, we had seven puppies, but didn’t have the finances to take on all of them. So, we kept four and sent three to a rescue group in Melbourne,” she said. 

Ms Stow said building these relationships with other rescue groups helped the organisation rehouse surrendered animals. 

Horsham PAWS’ foster program aimed to find permanent homes for surrendered animals. Foster carers learn the pet’s personality and mannerism to ensure they are adopted by the right family. However, finding a perfect match was not always a simple process. 

Ms Stow said the organisation cares for each animal in the program until a right match was found. 

“We have dogs ready to go, but its about finding the right match to ensure they are not returned to us,” she said.