Thursday 14 May 2009

making provision for our pets when we die

The terrible effects of the Victorian bushfires, on humans and animals, prompted some anxious discussion in our household about what would happen to Penny in the event of our deaths.

I was relieved to hear from Cindy, at K9 Training, that Coldstream Animal Aid has a program through which people can will their pets to the shelter in the knowledge that the pet will always be owned by the shelter and looked after by a foster carer for its entire life. The shelter will visit each half-year to make sure the pet is happy and well-cared for. It's arranged through a bequest.

I read in The Age today that Lort Smith Animal Hospital has a similar scheme.

The article features an 86-year-old woman who wants to make sure her lifetime companion, Michael the cockatoo, is well looked after if he outlives her - which seems likely, seeing these birds can live more than a hundred years. (And I mustn't let myself think of the agony of any of these long-lived birds trapped in a tiny cage for an eternity.) Michael was to go to the Gumbuya Sanctuary, but he is too domesticated for that, so one of the sanctuary workers has guaranteed Michael a home. They are organising this through the Lort Smith scheme, which is called "Heart and Home".

4 comments:

Gussie said...

I believe that in the UK Dogs Trust has a similar scheme.

Anonymous said...

What a good idea this is, although I'm sure if that ever happened in your case there would be many who would be honored to offer Penny a home!

parlance said...

Sally, I guess if anything happened to us all, Penny would find a home, but actually none of our family or close friends are dog people.

parlance said...

Gussie, I'm sure you're correct, but when I looked at the Dogs Trust site I couldn't readily see anything about a scheme like that. I actually rang Coldstream Animal Shelter and told them the same thing, that it was almost impossible to find info about their scheme on their internet site.