Ann Wood with one of the mice left outside her Pakenham pet shop last week.By Paul Dunlop
UNWANTED pets were found dumped in rubbish bins and on the doorstep of a Pakenham shop last week.
The sad discoveries have prompted appeals to people to think carefully before giving a fourlegged, furry or finned friend for Christmas.
A box of kittens and two cages containing nine pet mice were left outside Ann Wood’s Messy Pawz shop on separate days.
Another package of kittens was recovered from a rubbish bin and taken to the Pakenham Veterinary Clinic.
Mrs Wood said unwishedfor ‘gifts’ and other packages containing unwanted pets were all too common, particularly at this time of year.
“People need to get the message that pets are for life,” she said.
Mrs Wood said kittens were also left outside the shop last Christmas.
She urged people thinking of buying a puppies or other animals as gifts to look beyond the “cute and cuddly” aspect and consider the responsibilities that went with pet ownership.
Mrs Wood arrived for work to find the animals had been left outside her Main Street arcade business.
The Pakenham woman has spoken out in a bid to stop what she fears could be a growing trend.
“The kittens were on Monday, on Thursday it was the mice,” she said.
“The kittens were in a cardboard box.
“At first I was worried they were dead but then I could hear them miaowing.
“The mice were in cages, along with a note.”
The note urged Mrs Wood to care for the mice, with their former owner saying she could no longer look after them.
Mrs Wood said she had sympathy for the pet owners, but emphasised that did not make life any better for the animals.
Pakenham Veterinary Clinic nurse Jean Hill said she had seen too many gifts later become sad little packages dumped on roadsides and in other “out of sight, out of mind” places.
Mrs Hill is seeking new homes for the kittens that were found in a rubbish bin.
“We’ve had many, many boxes of kittens left on the doorstep of the clinic over the past year,” she said.
Mrs Wood said she could not sell the mice, and could not even take them inside the shop for fear they might be carrying infections.
“It makes me angry,” she said.
“It’s not a question of whether I want to keep the animals or not.
“It’s annoying that people just dump their pets unexpectedly.
“What can I do?”
Mrs Hill has helped find owners for many kittens through a new AdoptaKitten program, but said it would certainly make life easier if people thought before they bought.
Animals offered as part of the veterinary clinic’s AdoptaKitten program have been desexed, vaccinated, microchipped and come in a carry box.
The veterinary services cost $150, but mean the kitten is given everything needed to set it on the path to nine long and healthy lives.
