Some Pets Do Not Enjoy Holidays

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31255, 30 December 1966, Page 10

Some Pets Do Not Enjoy Holidays

While some Christchurch families are away from home enjoying their holidays their pets are having a break also, if they are fortunate enough, thanks to the Christchurch branch of the S.P.C.A.

The less fortunate are probably still languishing at home with insufficient food and drink.

Other pet owners with a slightly different attitude to their obligations have apparently dumped their charges in different parts of the city and suburbs at conveniently distant spots to ensure that they do not return. Others, more considerate, quietly drop them off at or near the society’s animal home at Sockburn.

From having one dog and no eats on Christmas Eve the home has in four days become the refuge of 10 dogs and about 20 kittens. More are expected before the holidays end. The only boarder at the home on Christmas Eve was an Alsatian dog picked up about a week earlier. It was then too weak from hunger to walk and had to be wheeled to the anitaal ambulance in a barrow. A cat with kittens brought to the home this week was found climbing out of a carton left on the side of the road by a passing motorist. Other cats, and dogs, have been brought in as a result of complaints from persons who have seen that they have been left at home with insufficient food. Mrs L. D. Ure, of the animals’ home, said yesterday

that many kittens had been brought in by persons who said they were going on holiday and “the kitten had just strayed into the garden.” She said the explanation was usually accompanied by a “wide-eyed and innocent expression.” Mrs Ure said that children, accompanied by adults, were welcome to visit the home during the holidays to see the animals. The opportunity to do this was usually appreciated by children who did not have pets of their own. The S.P.C.A. emergency inspector for Manurewa (Mr J. G. Doughty) had a less routine case to deal with when an albatross with a wing-span of 9ft 4in crashlanded through an open window on Christmas day. It apparently mistook a greenhouse for the sea.

It suffered only a few scratches on its wings and was later released.