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Happy Ending to Sad Story
 An emaciated pig-hunting dog with three bullet holes in his head has become an unlikely hero and captured the hearts of animal lovers around the country.
The dog, dubbed ‘Been’ by SPCA staff (as in ‘Been Lucky’) was discovered injured in the Wairau Valley by a pig-hunter and was brought to Nelson SPCA. Inspector Craig Crowley said Been was about 10 kilograms underweight and had “bones sticking out all over the place” when he was found. He had probably been wandering alone and injured for several days by the time he was found. However despite his terrible injuries, his tail never stopped wagging, Craig said.
According to SPCA staff, Been's injuries were too close together for the shooting to have been accidental. Craig said while it was not illegal to shoot a dog in a humane way, people needed to check that the animal was dead rather than leaving it to suffer.
"It's terrible. The best case scenario is that the dog was shot and fell over and appeared to die and the person walked away, believing he’d died," Craig said.
Happily for Been, the shooting was not the end of his story. After being brought to Nelson SPCA, he attracted national media attention. Today, he has made a full recovery and found a new loving home. He now spends much of his time playing doting dad to a litter of kittens!
Been now weighs in at a healthy 27kgs and has been adopted by Nelson SPCA administrator Jaine Reynolds. The only thing that reflects his sad past is a small pink scar.
Jaine says after the three-week-old kittens are fed, Been licks them clean. If they are not locked up at night, he picks them up and puts them in his basket.
Jaine said she fell in love with Been after taking him home to recover from the operation to fix the large wound on his head. He quickly slotted into life with his new family, becoming great mates with Ms Reynolds' other dog Max and her two adult cats.
"He's just a big gentle boy and doesn't do anything wrong. I was surprised with how quickly he bounced back and how trusting he is," she says.
Been is deaf, but Ms Reynolds believes he was born with the impairment. She said nobody had contacted the SPCA to claim him, and he had no microchip.
Ms Reynolds said Been was a beautiful pet with a very gentle nature. Today, he loves chasing rabbits, playing, sleeping in his basket and going for walks.
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A New Bird Aviary for the Nelson SPCA
 One of our most recent and exciting projects currently in progress, is the construction of a new bird aviary. In December 2009 the Nelson SPCA was successful in a funding application to the World Society for Protection of Animals (WSPA) for a grant towards the cost of building the new facility. The project is now in full swing and should be completed by June 2010.
The purpose of the new aviary is to create a permanent structure which will provide temporary and/or rehabilitative housing for the various birds that are brought into our shelter, both wild and domestic. In 2009, we had 295 birds brought into the Centre.
As the primary animal welfare centre in the district, Nelson SPCA is often the first point of call for members of the public when they discover injured birds. Up until now, we’ve had to use the limited resources and facilities we have at the Centre to care for our avian friends. We’ve also had to rely heavily on the generosity of foster carers and organisations such as Natureland when caring for injured birds. Having the new facility should enable us to save many more birds each year.
The new aviary will be 3 metres by 4 metres high and contain two separate flights, enabling us to house different species simultaneously. We anticipate a wide variety of birds being brought into our centre, especially during the breeding season and in the aftermath of storms.
Some of the more common species we expect to see include sea birds such as seagulls, shags and little blue penguins, bush birds such as silver eyes and fantails, and birds from the raptor population such as the native New Zealand falcon and moreporks. Non-native species frequently seen include starlings, thrushes and sparrows to name just a few, as well as domesticated birds such as cockatiels and budgies.
The Nelson SPCA is also listed as a site in the Tasman/Nelson Marine Oil Spill Contingency Plan for the rehabilitation of local marine wildlife including birds. The new aviary will now provide us with the space necessary in the event of an emergency to house birds affected by such a tragedy.
In addition to providing the birds we see coming into our centre with appropriate housing, we also hope that the building of the aviary will aide in building stronger relationships with our associate organisations such as Natureland and the Brook Wildlife Sanctuary which is working to create a pest free zone to encourage growth of the native New Zealand bird population.
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Kittens kittens kittens
Some stories just seem to touch your heart, especially when the heros are as cute as these wee guys. These six kittens were brought into the Nelson SPCA after their mother was presumably hit by a car or met with some other tragic accident which stopped her from returning to care for her babies.
The kittens were found huddled together under a house. The home owner found them and fed them for about a week, getting them tame enough to handle before bringing them into Nelson SPCA. He did absolutely the right thing by bringing them in - these wee characters were far too young to fend for themselves and if left to fend for themselves, would either have died or gone feral and had to fight for survival.
The kittens arrived riddled with fleas but apart from that, in reasonable health. Since then, they’ve had a flea treatment, been wormed and are now being fed up on a high quality kitten food to build up their strength. They are now ready to go out with a fosterer who will care for them until they are big enough to be de-sexed and go up for adoption.
The kittens’ personalities are already showing; there is one really outgoing ginger boy always at the front of the cage, meowing for attention and food. There is one particularly shy wee tabby girl who is a bit stunned at all this newfound human attention. She is still young enough to find her place in a human’s heart and learn to trust. I am sure that all these kittens will make the loyalist of pets. This is such a happy ending for these wee kittens who had a bit of a rough start to life.
While kittens continue to be a large proportion of the number of animals being brought into the Nelson SPCA, it is pleasing to see that the overall number of animals being brought in is finally starting to show signs of decline.
In 2009, the number of animals arriving at the Centre decreased for the first time in four years. We attribute this drop in numbers at least partly to the de-sexing initiatives that Nelson SPCA has been promoting. The number of animals being adopted has also increased by 10% which is an excellent result.
Of course we still encourage people to bring us their unwanted animals. All animals that we re-home are de-sexed, vaccinated and in good health before being adopted.
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Cats and Kittens Love Her Knitting!
 Here at Nelson SPCA, we’re fortunate to have many wonderful volunteers. One such lady is the lovely Anita Brown of Nelson and her blanket-making assistants.
Anita has been knitting blankets for the SPCA for a number of years now which we (and our feline friends) are incredibly grateful for. Anita’s assistant Christine Freth, a long time supporter and volunteer of the Nelson SPCA, also knits the blankets and her mother puts the lovely edging on them for a finishing touch.
The blankets are made from old wool clothing which has been donated to St Stephen’s Church. The women at St Stephens Church unravel the old clothing and pass it on to Anita and her colleagues who knit the wool into squares, which are then sewn together and edged for the animals to lie on. As you can tell from the photos, the blankets provide a lovely warm spot for our cats and kitties to curl up on.
Anita says she loves knitting the blankets and seeing the cats enjoying them. The SPCA often sends the blankets home with adopted cats, as it provides them with a sense of familiarity and aides them with settling into their new homes.
Anita says “I do it because its something to do rather than eat and of course I do it for the cats!”
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Isel Park Goes to the Dogs
Isel Park in Stoke went to the dogs on March 28, with Nelson SPCA’s annual ‘Million Paws Walk.’
While the weather started off looking a bit ‘iffy’ and a few spots of rain had us a little concerned, we needn’t have worried. Loads of dog lovers and their four legged companions soon started arriving for this fun event and the sun came out too.
A great contingent of SPCA volunteers helped out selling tea, coffee and lots of home-made goodies. It was also great to have the Classic Hits vehicle there, they did a teriffic job of promoting the event, which ensured the great turn-out.
The Million Paws Walk is the one chance a year when people and their canine companions can come together to attend an event that’s designed for both humans and dogs to enjoy. This is the third year the event has been run in Nelson. Initially it began as a national fundraiser run in locations all around New Zealand. However it didn’t take off in other areas the same way as it’s done here in Nelson.
The activities began with a short walk around Stoke - a great way for the dogs to expel a bit of energy before the rest of the day’s events. The fun dog show followed and was entered by lots of enthusiastic dogs and their owners. Categories for the show included ‘Prettiest girl’, ‘handsomest boy’, ‘best ex-SPCA dog’, ‘most like their owners’, ‘best trick’, and ‘best child handler’ and many more. Prizes for this year’s event were once again kindly donated by Hills Pet Nutrition
The sausage sizzle proved extremely popular with both humans and dogs alike, until a rather large fire broke out on the BBQ! We had a bit of fun getting this back under control, but fortunately not too many sausages were turned to ashes!
Overall the day was another enormous success and we are hugely grateful to all the people who support this event. We hope this event will continue to grow in popularity. See you next year!
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A Busy Year for Staff
The Nelson SPCA has had a busy year and staff members continue to work hard at the Shelter.
Centre Manager Donna has been back for several months from maternity leave, working 20 plus hours a week as well as raising her new bundle of joy, Alex. It’s been great to have her back, jumping in at full speed ahead and working hard on Centre improvements such as the new bird aviary.
Craig, our Senior Inspector, continues his fantastic work in seeing to all of our animal welfare complaints, ensuring the well being of domestic, wild and farm animals. He and Donna also work together in providing education to schools and community groups in regards to animal welfare.
Our Canine Attendant Ruth has been keeping busy lately with the steady flow of dogs coming into the Centre, and her expertise in dog behaviour and training continues to be invaluable.
The cats that come through our shelter are lucky to have Carmen as their Feline Attendant. After seven years at the SPCA, Carmen’s passion and knowledge for our kitty friends continues to blossom and grow and we are forever grateful for her hard work.
There have been a few new additions to the team at the Nelson SPCA in late 2009 as well. Jaine Reynolds started work in September and has been doing a fantastic job with a variety of roles including reception, administration and Small Animal Attendant. She is also the new proud owner of “Been”, our amazing dog who survived three bullet wounds to the head.
Kelly Barker and her daughter Chloe, son Hayden and fiancé Nick became our new caretakers in October and are doing a wonderful job in watching over our Centre and maintaining our grounds. Kelly also works part time as our receptionist and Small Animal Attendant, and has been volunteering as a weekend Duty Officer for the past year.
In November, Summer Marvin joined the team and has been working hard at organising the many fundraising events the Nelson SPCA puts on throughout the year, such as the Million Paws Walk.
We have a really fantastic team working at the SPCA to care for the animals at the Centre. We are always grateful for all the support and assistance we get from the community and welcome people to visit us and the animals during our opening hours – Mon – Fri 9.30am-5pm and Sat & Sun 10am-1pm.
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Become a Member of the Nelson SPCA
In becoming a member of the Nelson SPCA you are making a positive difference to the lives of the many animals that come through our doors.
- The SPCA is a voluntary organisation and recieves no government funding
- We rely solely on the generosity from donations, bequests and our fundraising efforts
- If it weren’t for the kindness of people like you we would not be able to provide shelter,
care and love to the thousands of animals we see annually.
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Joining Fees for
April-September |
Joining Fees for
October-March |
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Annual Membership: $12.50
Junior Membership: $7.50
Family Membership: $20.00
Life Membership: $187.50 |
Annual Membership: $7.00
Junior Membership: $4.00
Family Membership: $10.00
Life Membership: $187.50 |
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Join TODAY and receive one of our quarterly Newsletters with updates on our Centre Animals, upcoming events and animal tales to warm the heart!!
DONATE NOW!
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