Community & Business
11 March, 2022
Refuge overwhelmed by support
A CALL for cat and kitten food has received an incredible response from the community, with Mareeba Animal Refuge thanking everyone who has donated.
Felicity Pollard from the refuge put the call out to Facebook last week, saying the group was “seeking kitten wet food donations please, we have lots of hungry kittens to feed!” which gained the attention of many locals.
Not long after the post hit social media, locals responded, particularly an Atherton man who purchased a huge amount of cat food and donated to the refuge.
“A lovely man, who adopted a cat from us late last year, basically bought out all of Atherton’s cat food and donated it to us – there was so much food, wet and dry for adults and kittens,” Felicity said.
As well as donating food, an outpouring of general donations was made, which will assist the refuge in buying more food and paying for much needed pet bills.
“We’ve had so many cats coming in, this year alone we have taken in over 65 cats and kittens and that doesn’t include all the impounds we care for.
“All our food is either donated or bought by us out of pocket and our vet bills average between $6000- $8000, so it’s pretty hard to keep on top of everything financially - and the kittens need to eat!”
Manager Jennifer Walsh says she is grateful for the people who have continued to give their time and generous donations to the Animal Refuge and reiterated how important it was to desex your pets.
“I want to say how grateful we are for the community and their response, there’s so much kindness and generosity in this community,” she said.
“I do want to say though, we need people to desex their animals so that they don’t end up here and we don’t end up in situations where we have no food or money for them.”
Any donations of food can be made at the Mareeba Animal Refuge on Hickling Street and anyone who has a moment spare to walk some refuge dogs can also meet at Hickling Drive.
