To carry out our aim of promoting animal welfare we respond to situations as they arise, as you will see when you read our newsletter. Our practical work is our desexing programme, and we will regularly update you on the number of desexes we are helping to finance in the CURRENT NEWS section of our web page.

All of our members have many years' experience as volunteers in animal welfare. We formed Hunter Animal Watch in 1997 because we saw a specific need for desexing of pets to lessen the destruction of 80,000 unwanted companion animals per year in New South Wales alone.

We have built up a network of vets in our area, around 30 at the present time, and they carry out the surgical procedures. The way our programme works is that we advertise our desex service in newspapers, shopping centres, libraries, welfare agencies etc., indicating that we offer financial help to people on pensions or low incomes to have their pets desexed. The client calls our welfare officer and the cost is explained. The amount that the client can afford to pay is determined and arrangements are made for the animal to be taken to an appropriate clinic. The large number of vets in our scheme means that there is often one conveniently near to the client's home. Our welfare officer makes the necessary arrangements with the veterinary clinic and on the day of surgery the animal is taken to the clinic and the amount agreed by the client is paid to the clinic. Hunter Animal Watch is billed for the balance. The vet account is paid within a few days.

If you are wondering how we pay for all this, well the answer is that we have an Op Shop (details below in Contact section). This is staffed entirely by volunteers who put in various amount of time - perhaps a day a week, perhaps a day a month.

 

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