OneSPCA Stray Cat Policy

The OneSPCA database is capable of capturing notes and recording all the things we require for our teams to operate safely and to do their jobs. As per one of my earlier emails, every call we get and every job we attend is situation specific, and we record everything relevant each time. This includes actions needed or completed as appropriate. Kind regards, Jono

I think I misinterpreted your original email, if you are asking about colony’s of strays then it depends on the situation but each call is assessed individually by the call taker at the time it’s received and several actions may result. Our response depends on whether these animals are on someone’s property, whether they are being cared for, whether there are health concerns (taking into account what we have both said below), whether the animals are vulnerable, and what the person who is contacting us is seeking and willing to do for the animals. You will obviously know that we are active proponents of desexing for healthy strays and do support TNR programmes when appropriate to do so https://www.spca.nz/advice-and-welfare/article/trap-neuter-return-tnr?cat=&subcat= We will also get Inspectors or field officers to attend jobs and work with members of the community in other situations as well. Jono Peddie  5 November 2021

Firstly thanks for getting in touch and for passing on Fiona’s question. Andrea asked if I was able to respond to your email as the SPCA Contact Centre is one of the operational departments that I oversee. Each call our Contact Centre team receives about an animal tends to be quite context specific, and there are obviously a number of different actions we take and different things we may advise pending both the animal and the caller’s specific situation. The Contact Centre team are however, always happy to discuss with a caller any concerns they have around a stray animal they have found and we always engage with the caller to identify whether there are concerns around the animals health. Many of our callers identify when animals are sick or injured by obvious wounds, visible flea infestations, limps, etc., and they volunteer this information to us before we even ask. In fact this is quite common, the majority of our callers are animal lovers who are highly concerned about the animals they are calling about and tell us as much as they can and do as much as possible to help in the circumstance. However, you’ve currently noted that sometimes signs of sickness are a little more subtle and for that reason we can’t always assume callers initial observation captured everything relevant to know, so we often prompt with extra questions to identify if the animal is in need of medical care. Our team are trained to ask follow-up questions around things like weepy eyes, the animals stool, its ability to move normally, lethargy or weight (etc.). They will also ask about the situation the animal is in at the time for example, if the animal was trapped inside a contained area without food or water the animal is clearly at risk of harm even if it is healthy! We then provide the most relevant advise to get the animal appropriate medical treatment or to help resolve the situation. There are of course times where a potential stray animal is not sick but is considered vulnerable and in those circumstances we’d definitely help (for example bottle babies/neonates, or animals dumped outside their normal environments). Our goal is for these highly vulnerable animals to receive care as soon as possible. Kind regards,Jono  

  From: straycats straycatsnz <straycatsnz@gmail.com>

Sent: Friday, 29 October 2021 12:22 PM

To: Andrea Midgen <andrea.midgen@spca.nz>

Subject: Fwd: "Sick or Injured"   Hi Andrea, Fiona Esam has recommended I ask you this question, rather than the Conference panel: OneSPCA has a policy of rejecting communications from members of the public for the rescue of Stray cats, unless they are "sick or injured". Given that these requests are from lay members of the community who have little or no knowledge of cats, how can OneSpca place absolute confidence in the assessment of lay people, when, in fact, only a vet can realistically make a judgement on the issue when actually viewing the cat in their surgery? Best wishes, Peter Trustee Stray Cats NZ Trust

If you would like to comment on the above, respectfully, please e-mail Andrea Midgen, OneSPCA CEO, and also straycatsnz@gmail.com