Pet owners need stronger boundaries and to respect the animal nature of their pets, an animal rescue operator has said.
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Speaking to the World Animal Day 2022 theme "A Shared Planet", Wodonga Dog Rescue volunteer Shirley Giles said she had observed increasingly complex emotional and medical needs in the animals being surrendered over her seven-year career.
World Animal Day has been observed globally since its inception in 1925 on 4 October, with its mission to improve animal welfare through education and the promotion of sustainability to maintain ecological balance.
Ms Giles, while bottle-feeding kittens from two different surrendered litters, said that desexing animals and adopting responsibly was vital.
However, she added that people also dumped animals when they became inconvenient, which was more of an issue of respect.
"Just let animals be animals," Ms Giles said.
"We have a lot of dogs that come back that have anxiety problems and everything else because people treat them like babies and won't let them be dog. All of a sudden, they can't handle it because the dog is nervous every time they go outside."
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Wodonga Dog Rescue is a volunteer-run centre which aims to rehome as many animals as it can, sparing them from being destroyed.
Rather than caging cats, Ms Giles supports a "catch and release" program to capture and desex unowned or semiowned cats, a process she said would make a significant difference.
Ms Giles said that all animals, including domestic dogs and cats, have a place in our ecosystem.
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