Safe Pets Safe Families: Great Aussie Charities You’ve Never Heard Of…

Recently we caught up with Safe Pets Safe Families (SPSF), a team who are dedicated to keeping animals safe when financial and domestic burden’s arise. Without them beloved family pets are put into flooded shelters or pounds.

SPSF provides a foster care service for the pets of people experiencing disadvantage and crisis. They are supported by a network of amazing volunteers and foster carers who contribute to fundraising activities, transport food, toys and animals to and from foster carers and foster the animals until the client can find new accommodation that will allow them to be reunited with their pet.

Where did it all begin?

SPSF’s founder Jennifer personally experienced domestic violence and lost two dogs that she had since puppies and they were 8 years old.
“I had to go to a domestic violence shelter, and could not take my dogs and had no family or friends to look after them so they ended up at the pound. I founded Safe Pets Safe Families to foster animals while people get themselves sorted. Organisations have been inviting me to talk to their team and educating people on animals and mental health information about our foster services ever since. To date we have fostered 167 pets since August 2016”.

In 2016 the charity became fully registered and received DGR status.

A day in the life at SPSF:

In an emergency our volunteers take a phone call from women’s safety organisations who then put us in touch with someone in distress about their pet(s). We get all necessary details and arrange a volunteer to transport the pet(s) to safe foster homes.

When we aren’t dealing with emergencies there is often plenty of organising for different events, such as free pop up vet clinics for people experiencing homelessness or fundraising events, or taking applications for new foster carers and doing house & yard checks.

SPSF also have wonderful organisations that supply food assistance so people in financial hardship can easily obtain necessary pet food.

Impact Story:

SPSF are all about education and thus we work with Vets, behaviourists and our volunteers in order to give the best support for our foster pets.

I think everyone’s favourite part about volunteering at SPSF is the energy and hopefulness that comes from successful reunifications. One in particular stands out for me. A foster dog’s owner was injured so badly all the bones in her hands were broken and she needed months of recuperation. Although she desperately wanted her dog by her side, she was unable to care for him. He was lovingly fostered during this time, allowing him time to also recover from the trauma of what he had experienced.

He was beautiful and he was out of his home for about six weeks, When we went back the perpetrator wasn’t there anymore. He knew when we were two streets away and his little ears popped up excitedly — his whole body started wagging. When we pulled up two little girls ran out to greet him and he just jumped out of the car and jumped on them lovingly. It was one of the best experiences; knowing that you can keep them together through the hardship and they didn’t have to surrender him to a pound.

What do you do with your donations?:

SPSF use donations to purchase items to get pets out of an emergency. We urgently need things like pet crates, transport kits, food, flea/worming treatment, vet care and marketing material to forward our mission.

Any events or volunteer opportunities coming up?

We are always seeking more volunteers and foster carers to help with our work. We are also seeking more Veterinary students and nurses to volunteer at our Pop up Vet clinics.

SPSF have a fundraising event coming up in January involving a dunking machine so we will be on look out for anyone we can dunk and raise some funds all around South Australia and we will be hosting a big Gala Dinner next year. We would like to expand nationally in the coming years.

2018 is going to be a big year for us and we are going to make an amazing impact to people and pets in crisis! SPSF are a part of storytelling website called My Saving Grace www.mysavinggrace.org.au — the first National tool and resource around the link between domestic violence and animal abuse.

Are you Tax deductible? Yes

Donate to Safe Pets Safe Families on Givebot: https://m.me/heygivebot

Check out more on the SPSF website: www.safepetssafefamilies.org.au

Or, follow them on Facebook to stay in the loop: https://www.facebook.com/safepetssafefamilies/