Lea Ash can't keep up with the never-ending stream of phone calls.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The owner of Dunroamin pet rescue, based at Walwa, has never seen anything like it in the six years she has been rescuing animals across the Riverina and Snowy regions.
The woman who admits she's "not a people person" says the calls she's fielded in the past week alone have devastated her.
Desperate people begging her to house their animals until they can find a roof to put over their own or their family's heads.
"Lovely, genuine people" - a mum and dad with two kids, two dogs and two cats; a young man in his thirties and his four-legged best mate.
People who have rented the same home for years with a perfect rental history, forced out because the house has been sold.
"It's awful, these people are just heart-broken," Ms Ash says.
"I have people ringing me to tell me their stories ... now it's breaking my heart.
"I had one bloke in tears and we are taking his dog for him ... he had nowhere to put him and I just couldn't say no."
Ms Ash says Dunroamin is not set up as a boarding kennel and doesn't typically take surrendered animals.
Their mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and re-home pets from pounds while more recently creating community programs and partnerships for affordable de-sexing.
It's awful ... these people are just heart-broken.
- Lea Ash
Currently between herself, her partner Doug Henderson and a team of eight carers, they are housing 21 puppies and 8 "big dogs" in their own home with more than 50 other dogs and 100 cats in care "and more coming in all the time".
"I don't know what to say or where to refer people to as there doesn't seem to be an answer," she said in a desperate post to Facebook.
"To have to make the decision to surrender an animal you love and class as family is just not fair.
"This alone could be the last straw for some."
The escalating housing crisis has seen Carevan approach Dunroamin to ask for help to obtain pet food for the animals of people they support.
Meanwhile staff at Albury Court House have organised a fundraiser for the pet rescue service and Holbrook Vet Centre has been "second to none" in its support, according to Ms Ash.
"We need to rally and get food for people who can't afford to feed their animals," she says.
"Government and local councils need to step in; these are local people, they live in the community and some of them aren't going to make it out the other side."
- A collection point for donated pet food has been set up at 714 Keene Street, Albury - to find out more or donate go to www.dunroamin.org.au
