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Annual General Meeting

28th November at 7.00pm

at Rothwell Community Hall

Morris Road

Rothwell

(next to the produce store)

Index From the President

Phone 07 3284 1927

313 Duffield Road Clontarf Qld (Redcliffe Peninsula)

Open 8am - 3pm Monday to Friday and 8am - 2pm Saturday

Enquiries paa@peninsulaanimalaid.com.au

Phone enquiries on 0437 229 627 from 8am - 8pm

Adoption and Reclaim

Stats - from 1/1/2013

Dogs & Puppies - 411

Cats & Kittens - 283

President’s Report

Hi everyone, there is lots of great news from PAA this spring. A year of

change at the shelter has seen new sub committees, managers and volun-

teers doing great work at PAA. The local community support has been ex-

cellent through sponsorship, fundraising and providing many of the great

volunteers who look after our cats and dogs.

Membership

Our membership numbers remain constant and we are very pleased with

the local community interest and involvement in PAA. September will see

a proposed membership rule change put to our members in order to intro-

duce two levels of membership at PAA. The two proposed levels are

members and supporters. Members would be individuals that have a

close association with PAA who contribute significantly to the day to day

running of PAA. Members would have voting rights and would be able to

contribute at PAA meetings. Supporters would be individuals associated

with PAA who receive the Quarterly Newsletter, are able to attend PAA

meetings but would not have voting rights.

New Cattery Shed

The final contract for the cattery quarantine shed was signed on the 15th

August. The following week ground work commenced with the prepara-

tion for the plumbing, electrical wiring and foundations. The slab was laid

soon after that. The shed has been delivered and will be erected the first

week in October. The cattery sub committee have been busy ordering new

cages and other equipment ready for furnishing the shed once it is com-

pleted. Timing could not be better as this will be put to use immediately

with the kitten season upon us. (slab site next page)

Irene

Volunteer Co-ordinator

During July, August and September we have seen a continued success in the recruiting, induction and training process for new volunteers. This suc-cess is due to the careful selection of volunteers to match vacancy require-ments. The volunteer base has stabilised considerably during this period. The trial

(Continued on page 2)

President’s Report page 1

Volunteer Co coordinator Report

Page 1

Grounds Manager Report

page 2

Cattery Sub-committee

page 3

Kennel Management sub committee

page4

Enrichment Sub-committee

page 4

Fundraising Sub-committee

page 6

PR & Communications sub committee

Page 8

Meeting

SPRING 2013 NEWSLETTER

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period has proven successful as it gives prospective vol-unteers a real feel of the duties that they are required to perform, as well as providing supervisors with an insight into their probable capability. On occasion it is thought by prospective volunteers that volunteering means spending the morning playing with the animals. As we all know there is considerable work in providing our furry friends with a clean and comfortable environment, and seeing to their food and health needs. The probationary period, during which the new volunteer is trained, also enables new volunteers to develop the many skills re-quired. The competency levels of volunteers inducted during the previous quarter under this system has in-creased. Our established and long term volunteers also continue to provide a wonderful service to the animals in our care. Since the last members meeting 33 applications were re-ceived. 10 applicants were placed in positions. There were 5 new volunteers who left during this quarter. Most of these volunteers had spent considerable time volunteering and we were grateful for their support. Their reasons for leaving have been personal, such as finding paid employment or involvement in their own business, returning to study, or ill health. We currently have approximately 100 volunteers on site. Of these approximately 20% volunteer in the Cattery, 50% in Kennels, 19% in the Hydrobath, and 11% in the Office. During my visits to the shelter I see volunteers across all areas and all days working together for a common cause - to provide a wonderful facility for the animals in need, and a great service to our community. Thank you to all for the work you do. Anne Grounds Manager

Gwen Dundas and her team of skilled tradesmen, George

Tabor, Tom Dyer and Evan ( Silver) Dick have worked

tirelessly on the grounds and buildings at PAA this year.

Zenas “Palace” has been completed, with running water

taps, fencing and gate (above).

All PAA perimeter and pen gates have been repaired.

The fencing off of the drain in the back run was complet-

ed and is now ready for the summer downpours.

Once the baffles had been added to the dog pens then all

the dog information plates were moved to the outside.

Plastic edging has been placed at the bottom of the

dividing petitions in the isolation pens to improve safety

for the dogs. The introduction of the copper nozzles for

our hoses has been an outstanding success saving the

shelter around $20 per week in broken/missing house

fittings.

The office extension was completed with an air condi-

tioning unit to the back office and tea room. As well the

large container was resited to make room for the New

Cattery shed. It was then rust proofed and painted white

with sleepers placed around the base.

Recently the Hydrobath shed has had an upgrade with

the whirly birds fixed, new industrial ceiling fans in-

stalled, the hot water system moved to the outside,

insulation to the roof and an awning constructed just this

week.

All in all an outstanding effort by the team.

Gwen

(Continued from page 1)

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Cattery staff are pleased that the new Cattery Isolation Shed has been started. Whilst it won’t be ready before kitten season starts, we are hopeful that it will be com-pleted by the halfway mark, right when we are really desperate for space. The 2012 kitten season continued right up until August this year. Normally it would last from approximately October to March but we were inun-dated with kittens this last season and our kitten foster homes and many volunteer’s homes were overflowing. From January to August 2013 alone we rehomed 154 kittens. Very young kittens need to be hand fed every two hours by staff if there is not a mother cat to feed them. It can be heartbreaking as some kittens have such a bad start to life that no amount of love and care can save them, but the majority grow into healthy loving cats fully pre-pared to love their human of choice for the rest of their 17 (approx) year lives. To date this year we have rehomed 98 cats and 156 kittens. Sadly two were returned as the first people had unrealistic expectations that a cat will immediately be cuddly and be able to cope with children as soon as they are placed in their new home. Happily they have since been rehomed again. Some cats need time to adjust to their new life. It can be pretty scary suddenly finding yourself somewhere new. Other cats of course immedi-ately claim the most comfortable chair and want to know what time dinner is served! The cattery has tried to clear some more space within the pens prior to the 2013 kitten onslaught by offering mature cats over 3 years old, for half price for the month of August. This was very successful with a number of people buying both a young cat and a mature cat togeth-er. Four of our mature female cats found a new home and two boys. There are still seven mature female cats and two mature male cats who need a home. At three years these are still young cats full of play but they do like their nana naps. The cattery are also investigating the possibility of matching senior people with senior cats and will contact a number of senior citizen venues to see if this is a possi-bility. We presently have a beautiful female Himalayan cross who is 11 years old and looking for a forever home. The elderly cats find themselves on the bottom of the so-cial order when sharing with 20 other cats and life can be very unsettling. They are no longer able to hold their own, so we try to foster elderly cats until they can be adopted. Recently we have rehomed two other elderly ladies. Grace approximately 11 years has been adopted by a

wonderful woman, who through love and good food has gone a long way to restoring Grace to her former glory. Simba an 18 year old Burmese cross with only one tooth has found a generous hearted family to allow her to live out her twilight years in peace. She is presently fostered with Grace but is moving to Ipswich in mid September. Apart from people who refuse to desex their cats, our biggest gripe is people who let their cat roam. Both Moreton Bay Regional Council and Brisbane City Council require that pet owners keep their dogs and cats within the boundaries of their properties. This can be almost impossible with a cat if he is let outside. We strongly rec-ommend that cats are kept within the house at all times unless there is a cat run or shade house or enclosed patio where they can be securely contained. Allowing your cat to run free is not kind as she may be attacked by dogs, humans and wild cats. She also runs the risk of con-tracting FIV, the feline AIDS disease which whilst con-fined to the species can be spread by bodily fluids in the same way as the human strain. It is not cruel to keep a cat indoors. Cats will sleep most of the time and provid-ed they can find a patch of sunlight and a flyscreen win-dow to sniff the breeze they are quite content. Cats have very clean toilet habits and provided the owner cleans the toilet tray when it is soiled (minimum daily) there will be no lasting smell in the house. If you love your cat please keep him inside. We recently had tragic and unnecessary death. Roul, a long haired, extremely gentle boy slipped out of his new home just a few weeks after he was adopted. A volun-teer from the kennels witnessed a car purposely run over this cat as she was running towards him trying to help. The cat was so badly injured that it was not until we checked his microchip that we discovered it was our gen-tle loving boy. Unfortunately we do not know who the coward was that took his little life, but it is a typical ex-ample of the danger you place your cat in, if you decide not to keep him secure and safe. It takes constant vigi-lance, but after all, your cat’s love repays you in buckets. On a brighter note, a great big thank you to all of the wonderful people who contributed to young Storm’s medical bill. Little Stormy is quite healthy with a further Vet check and x-rays this week to check that her bones are getting stronger. Her little friend Elle Macfurson makes sure that Stormy does her daily workout. The Cattery has formalised the position of Cattery Man-ager through a sub-committee vote and nominated Kylee who has been ‘doing the job’ for some years. Thank you Kylee. Wendy

Cattery Sub committee

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Zena, our permanent resident, has at long last moved to her brand new kennel and grassy yard. She has a great view of the shelter and beyond, and is still enjoy-ing her supervised walks outside the facility. We have re-homed quite a few dogs since the last newsletter. Some of these were fortunate enough to have only spent a matter of days at the shelter whilst a few of our long termers have been placed in great homes. To name a few - Pedro, Nellie, Feebie, Luca, Tye and Blazer (below).

We have transferred seven dogs from RSPCA and since they have been exposed to a new window of animal lovers, we have found very suitable homes for five of these already. Thanks must go to Terry and Emily who are sharing the responsibility of supervising and re-homing on Satur-days. Thanks also to Anne who has taken on the role for Fridays and Mondays. Marcia

PAA Kennel Management Sub-committee

Camera House Northlakes

Shop 1061

Westfield North Lakes

North Lakes QLD 4509

Phone: + 61 7 3886 4844

Peninsula Animal Aid would like to thank Camera

House Northlakes for the donation of a Fujifilm

XP150 which is a waterproof and shockproof

camera.

This camera has proved extremely useful for the

quick upload of photographs of the cats and dogs

onto our website.

LONG-TERM PRIORTY DOGS

Affectionately named the PALs (Peninsula Animal Aid Long-

termers), a group of PAA dogs have been identified as Priority

Dogs.The Behaviour, Training and Enrichment Subcommittee

has been tasked with increasing the adoptability of these dogs.

In the past four months, this team has, with the support of the

President and Kennel Manager, achieved this by:

Providing our PALS with brain stimulation and additional exer-

cise using interactive play games and puzzles during afternoon

Enrichment shifts. After the dogs have stretched their legs, let

off steam and worked their brains, they are happy to calm

down and be model canine citizens!

Currently held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sun-

days, these shifts and will be rolled out to more days as volun-

teers become available.

By simply playing and interacting with the dogs in a positive

way, these dogs have become more responsive and are there-

fore more likely to bond more quickly with potential adopters.

If you would like to apply to be a part of this team, email

volunteer@peninsulaanimalaid.com.au.

Enrichment Sub-Committee

Peninsula Animal Aid’s Van

Proudly supported by

Northstar Motor Group

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(continued from page 4) Another activity is quipping

every volunteer on Enrichment shifts with a walkie talkie

for efficiency and safety.

Introducing enrichment toys and puzzles to provide our

PALs with mental stimulation and to relieve boredom. A

mentally and physically tired dog is a good dog – and

much more adoptable! Favourite toys include the inde-

structible black Kong, the Kong wobbler and even hum-

ble second-hand rugby balls! Any strong balls or other

dog toys are gratefully received! It’s amazing what you

can find at the bottom of our dogs’ toy boxes!

Installation of toy stations in all free running area. It’s

now up to volunteers to motivate the dogs – many of

them who have never played games – to use them!

Facilitating an intensive training programme for Priority

Dog Archie with the help of a qualified dog trainer.

Archie became much more interactive with people and

as a result, was adopted soon after.

Introduction of in-pen enrichment including “day beds”,

paddling pools and enrichment puzzles.

Making and continual mending of coats for all dogs to

keep them warm and snug during the cold winter nights.

Developing a Priority Dogs matrix so volunteers can see

at a glance which dogs have been at the shelter the

longest and have the highest needs. This also assists the

Enrichment Team and subcommittee members to

prioritise and tailor each interaction with our dogs and

each action for our dogs.

Ensuring our PALs all have great publicity photos.

Introducing the dogs to new smells (for example relax-

ing/calming lavender) and grooming techniques such as

having their coats brushed.

Publicity:

Publicity to mark the four year anniversary of our long-

est PAL, Zoot, who arrived at the shelter on September

7, 2009.

With the help of Lyndal Carmichael, a flyer was pro-

duced in May this year and distributed into letterboxes

around Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

A second flyer is currently being printed, featuring 11

PAL Dogs. This will be distributed at the upcoming

RSPCA Big Adopt Out on September 21 at the RNA

Showgrounds as well as on public noticeboards and

letter box drops. Please email

paa.enrichment@gmail.com if you would like to distrib-

ute some of these flyers in your area.

A newsletter was produced in July to provide all PAA vol-

unteers with an update on the dogs and was placed on

the noticeboard in the staff/meal room.

Articles on the PALs in newspapers.

Rosalind

Channel 9 at PAA interviewing Rosalind re ZOOT. Story on Channel News 7-9-13

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Fundraising Sub-Committee

As mentioned in the last Fundraising subcommittee re-port this subcommittee has amalgamated with the PR and Communications subcommittee for meetings but we will be preparing separate reports. It is our plan to encourage the community to engage in DIY fundraising as Shelter volunteers who can assist in fundraising are limited due to work and time constraints.

BELOW IS A LIST OF RECENT AND CURRENT FUNDRAIS-ING ACTIVITIES CLASSIC CARS: The owner of Washworx at Kippa-ring, Ian Stewart, held a Classic Cars display on Sunday 21st July. PAA volun-teers manned the entrance collecting gold coin dona-tions for entry and selling raffle tickets for the many priz-es Ian had arranged. A total of $460.20 was raised PAA CALENDAR: Charmaine Brayley is organising the 2014 calendar with the help of Lyndal Carmichael & Charlotte Reeves (photographers). The calendar has been a great fundrais-er for PAA over the past three years thanks to Claire Powlesland who was the originator and her mother Eliza-beth who helped with distribution. COLLECTION BOXES: Diana Morrison has collected $1053.60 since the begin-ning of the financial year. These collection boxes kindly made and supplied by Joel Powlesland are now raising around $2,000 each year. SAUSAGE SIZZLE: On 18th August a 'super' sausage sizzle was held at Bun-nings. It was 'super' as it was two weeks before Father's Day and the day was exceptionally busy for volunteers Fay & Chip Harken, Patti & Roy McDonald, Lisa Rowley,

Sue Baloux and Brian Wayes. Fay had to dash out and get more drinks, sausages and bread as the supplies dwin-dled. On an average Sunday 30Kg of sausages are used but hungry Bunnings customers consumed 60Kg on that beautiful sunny Sunday. These wonderful people took a total of just under $2,000 and after expenses raised $1,500 for PAA which stands as a record for sausage siz-zles. Well done team! REDCLIFFE-KIPPA-RING LIONS SUNDAY MARKETS: On 11th August PAA was Charity of the Day at the Mar-kets held in the Redcliffe showgrounds. Our regular vol-unteers Collin & Judy Mason along with Diana Morrison and Aunty Anne collected $390.00 CURRENT RAFFLES: 1) Jaci Whitworth from Deception Bay has donated a quilt for PAA to raffle. The hydrobath is selling tickets and Sue Wayes along with her 'card making group' is selling tickets in Redcliffe Parade every second Thursday. (see next page) 2) Lisa Edwards from Dolphin Wild Island Cruises has do-nated a family gift certificate for the Dolphin Wild Eco Cruise valued at $325.00. This entitles a family of two adults and two children to enjoy a day boat cruise and lunch. Tickets are available at the PAA office and Washworx, Kippa-ring. (see next page) PEN SPONSORSHIP: In the last twelve months there were three sponsors who didn't renew, however we gained seven new sponsors with one organisation, First Settlement Masonic Lodge sponsoring three pens. We hope to reach $20,000pa sponsorship in the next twelve months. Trish

Elle Macfurson

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WIN A DOLPHIN WILD CRUISE

DAY FAMILY PASS (2 adults and 2 children)

VALUED AT $325.00 RAFFLE TICKETS $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00

Tickets available at

Washworx, 405 Elizabeth Avenue Kippa-ring

or

Peninsula Animal Aid RAFFLE DRAWN 30TH OCTOBER

Saturday & Weekly Hydrobath The team of volunteers that turn up every week or so to run the Hydrobath are one of PAA’s greatest assets. This activity is the most successful of all our fundrais-ing activities and contributes significantly to PAA’s Capital operating costs. Yvonne and Gwen are the coordinators of the Hydro-bath and are a big part of its success. Many of the

hydrobath volunteers have been coming along to PAA for quite a few years. The latest upgrades to the hydrobath shed will make the volunteers job a lot easier. Insulation will ensure those hard workers get some relief from the heat and the western sun. irene

New PAA Office Manager A big welcome to Deb our new office manager who has been with us for a few months now. Deb has hit the ground running and is doing an excellent job. Bookkeeping , banking, shelter buddy, website, Facebook, managing the roster, endless phone calls and unexpected visitors at the gate, it is never a dull moment in the PAA office and Deb has definitely arrived. Also a big thanks to all the hard working volun-teers in the office. A very busy year so far with lots to do but all still able to have some fun along the way. Thankyou. Irene

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BUSINESSES

ALLMECH MECHANICAL

ANA AUTOS

AUSSIE POOCH MOBILE RED-

CLIFFE

AUTO AND MARINE URETHANE

BARK BUSTERS

BENJAMIN WILLIAMS - RAY

WHITE REAL ESTATE

BLUE TONGUE BUILDING AP-

PROVALS

DOGTECH

e-PAYDAY PTY LTD

EAST COAST SIGNS

EUROPCAR REDCLIFFE

FISH'N - BELL'S BEACH

KOLIANA WINCHESTER FOR

MBRC

MICHEL'S PATISSERIE DECEP-

TION BAY

MOVE ON REALTY

PERSONAL COUNSELLING SER-

VICES

PESKY POSSUM

PROACTIVE DENTAL

PROFESSIONALS REDCLIFFE

SPOT the DOG WALKER

SUNCOAST ASPHALT

SWITCH2SOLAR ENERGY P/L

TOYS MUFFLERS

TJ CUSTOM CAGES

ULTRA TUNE REDCLIFFE

ORGANISATIONS

BELVEDERE SPORTS & SOCIAL

CLUB

BRISBANE BULLDOGS T-O-W

(GRAHAM & LIA EGAN)

FIRST SETTELMENT MASONIC

LODGE

JOBS DAUGHTERS MORETON

BAY

REDCLIFFE RSL DARTS CLUB

ROTARY CLUB OF REDCLIFFE

CITY

INDIVIDUALS

ALETHEA GOODWIN - IN LOV-

ING MEMORY OF NAPOLEON

ANNE HARRIS - IN LOVING

MEMORY OF MINDI

BEN & AINSLIE WHITE - IN

MEMORY OF 'LITTLE

MAN CHARLIE'

BEN & KYLIE SHRIANE

BEVAN & ALISA HUGHES -

KAHN & PEDEE

BROOKE STUDT - LILY & XOIE

CATHLEEN O'DONNELL - THE

CARR FAMILY

DARREN GILL

DICK-DOUGLAS FAMILY

ELISE MILWARD - ROCKY &

CLEO

JASON & TRACEY BROWN -

BROWN FAMILY AND SIMBA

LINDA KEANE - IN LOVING

MEMORY OF KINGSTON

ROGER & GLORY MARSHALL -

IN LOVING MEMORY OF TEDDY,

BUBBY & MEGS

SALLY RICHIE

STACEY NIELSEN - STACEY,

KYLAH & KATIE

STELLA BYLES

TESS & PETE LISTON - BOOFY

THERESE RAEBURN - RACECAS-

TLE P/L- IN LOVING MEMORY OF

JOEY

Our Sponsors

PR & Communications Sub Committee

PAA's face book and website was given new management by the Public Relations & Communications Subcommittee on December 3rd 2012. At the time of change over the official face book page had 2116 people who had ‘liked’ our page and followed our sto-ries. As of the 19th of September 2013 we have grown our page followers to 3875. With the support of these followers sharing our stories we average around10,000 people viewing the page every week. A post made on long term shelter dog, Mya, reached over 6,500 people and Zoot’s channel nine feature video reached over 5,300 people. The page has a great sense of community with our sup-porters sharing important stories and loving seeing past PAA ani-mals in their new homes. Since last year the website’s new facelift has been well received with fantastic feedback. The home page continually updates with the site’s most recent information and the design is clean and easy to navigate. Throughout the month of September we have had more than 2,400 different people visit the website. 48% of these visits are from people who have visited the page before and the other 52% are first time visitors. This shows a good balance between people holding a long-term interest in the shelter and new people find-ing out about us. ‘Dogs Available for Adoption’ is the most visited page, followed by Zoot’s profile, ‘Cats’ Available for Adoption’ and the ‘Become a Volunteer’ page. With professional photography being used to represent our ani-mals as best as possible and professional design to our online and print presence within the community we are confident our sup-port within the community will continue to grow. Also the new ‘Print a Poster’ feature is having some success as well.

Stormy on the road

to recovery.