RSPCA Yagoona Shelter
Many honourable members will be familiar with the work of English parliamentarian William Wilberforce, especially since the release last year of the film about his work against the slave trade called Amazing Grace. But many honourable members might not realise that another great social reform that Wilberforce championed was the founding of the first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, an institution that has been replicated around the world and is a very important part of our community here in New South Wales, reflecting the compassion of people through the humane treatment of animals.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals [RSPCA] has a shelter at Yagoona in Sydney, which is the largest animal shelter in the Southern Hemisphere. That facility not only cares for and protects thousands of animals in Sydney every year, but also acts as the central facility for regional animals transported there from all the shelters around the State. That is because the abandoned cats, dogs, horses, goats and other family pets have a better chance of being re-homed from there.
The busy shelter at Yagoona has been in operation for more than 30 years, and is now desperately in need of an upgrade. The RSPCA hopes to build a new state-of-the-art facility, to function as its Centre for Animal Rescue and Education Services. The new centre would focus on the growing need for education in the community, as well as provide new kennels and catteries, a new animal hospital, and upgraded staff facilities.
The Yagoona shelter has not been a priority of the New South Wales Government so it has, unfortunately, continued to deteriorate over the decades, and without funding may be forced to close. That would be tragic, as the RSPCA provides a vital service there. With all the urgent demands on the tax dollar it is understandable that human welfare almost always comes before animal welfare, but the two are not mutually exclusive. The welfare of people often depends on the welfare of their companion animals, working animals and domestic animals.
Our human community would not be complete without our animals, which are intricately interwoven with our lives. Animals are beloved and important to us. They need to have an adequate hospital and the services of a proper shelter when people let them down. The Bible says in Proverb 12:10, “the righteous man cares for the needs of his animal”, and as a society of righteous people we are responsible for making adequate provision for the needs of animals.
This has become an urgent issue for the animals of New South Wales. Recent incidents of unspeakable cruelty to animals on the part of children and young adults around the State need to be addressed. Studies have shown that children who experiment with cruelty to animals often progress to cruelty to fellow human beings when they grow up, even to the point of torture and murder: skills they had practised on defenceless animals. The tortured animals reported in the news recently deserve better than that. We are called to be good stewards of the natural world, and to the creatures in it.
We urgently need to begin educating all children to be respectful of their fellow creatures, both animal and human. This growing indifference to our fellows is a destructive quality of modern life and the RSPCA would like to take comprehensive action to address it. I remember from my childhood that respect for the creation and the animals in it was taught in every church and every Sunday school. It is telling that that now falls to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, because it is not taught anywhere else. The hoped-for outcome of more considerate children and adults will be of great importance to both the human and animal communities.
We all benefit from, and continue to need, the wonderful work done by the RSPCA. I, as a long-time supporter and admirer of its work, hope that we are able to support it with funding for the much-needed and long-delayed upgrading of the Yagoona facilities in Sydney.