What do drive-through coffees and rescue dogs have in common? Well, from noon on Friday dog owners can get a free pup cup for their pets and donate to Perth dog rescue group Desperate for Love Dog Pound Rescue.
Muzz Buzz executive chairman Warren Reynolds and Michelle Cohen from the rescue are both highlighting the need for doggy foster carers and donations, as WA’s rental situation and cost of living continue to impact the number of dogs being surrendered.
The rescue currently has about 70 dogs in care, including around 20 in their Forever Foster program, which provides a safe and caring home for dogs too old or unwell to be re-homed.
Ms Cohen said the current housing crisis meant the rescue was seeing more surrender requests than it could accept and had fewer people able to become foster carers.
“We are having a lot of issues with the housing crisis which is really putting people off fostering or adopting dogs especially if they rent, because they don’t know if their rental will be renewed,” she said.
“What we’re finding at the moment is we’re getting a bottleneck of the dogs that are more difficult to rehome and we are also not getting people adopting dogs.
“So basically, dogs aren’t moving.”
Ms Cohen said any money donated to the rescue goes directly to the dogs with the single biggest cost being vet bills.
Dog rescue is a cause close to the heart of Mr Reynolds who owns a rescue dog named Jock.
Mr Reynolds, a WA local, was aggrieved by the current housing crisis that led to people losing their pets and slammed the government for the lack of homes in the State.
“We live in the biggest state in the world and we don’t have enough housing developments,” he said.
“Politicians, delay, delay, delay, they never want to get anything done, and never want to stand up and make something happen. They don’t have any courage to make things better.
“They’ve got billions of dollars sitting there and they won’t spend anything on infrastructure, they’re not planning for the future and they’re not helping our society.
“They’re not helping the homeless or helping anybody. This is just disgraceful.”
Muzz Buzz will be collecting donations for Desperate for Love Dog Pound Rescue throughout April and dogs will be at the Rockingham store on Sunday, April 21, Bannister Road on April 27, and Forrestdale on April 28.