Women who save and rehome hundreds of dogs
If she were employed by a Fortune 500 company, street-smart western Sydney hairdresser Deb Moodie would probably wind up as the CEO just on the strength of her go-getter attitude and boundless energy to get a job done.
NSW
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If she were employed by a Fortune 500 company, street-smart western Sydney hairdresser Deb Moodie would probably wind up as the CEO just on the strength of her go-getter attitude and boundless energy to get a job done.
Somehow — and much to the bemused amazement of other NSW companion animal rescue volunteers — she and Mariette Phillips, her Brisbane partner in Pound Rescue Inc, have managed to devise a complicated system of relationships, notification and transport that sees death-row dogs saved from pounds and shelters across two states and the ACT so they can be moved seamlessly to rescue facilities, foster carers and — eventually — to new homes.
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Dogs rescued in NSW might end up in Queensland, or vice versa — but what might look like a logistic nightmare doesn’t faze them; it’s their love for the animals that drives the passion.
“Only has 48 hours left”, or “In immediate danger”, is rescue-speak on social and digital media for dogs that are approaching their time to be put to death.
They’re the ones Moodie targets, but she’ll try for others that are getting close too.
In the past three years, the two women, who are both in their 50s, have been able to save about 3000 dogs and 1000 cats.
In NSW, Ms Moodie organises for many of the rescued animals to be fostered before they’re rehomed.
She has built relationships with staff at the pounds and with volunteers who will notify her or Ms Phillips by phone, email or social media to let them know that an animal’s time is up.
What is set in motion if she can save a dog or cat is a frantic race against the clock: contact with the shelter, organising volunteers, asking for pledges, pick-up from the pound — and there is a high degree of difficulty in that at sometimes isolated country and rural facilities.
She explains: “We will have people taking it in turns to drive the animals from one town to another.”
“We have one man who drives weekly between Queensland and Wagga, and often he has to sleep in his car. We had a lovely dog who we named Jemima that was a stray in Mackay but we thought we could find her a home in the Sydney metropolitan area so she came down here that way. Had we not become involved she would have ended up in the pound on a three-day euthanasia list as she wasn’t chipped.”
Ms Moodie, who says the operation takes up every moment of her spare time — “I’m often up ’til 2am doing paperwork and audits because we’re a registered charity, and I have a job as well” — works mostly with the country pounds and believes that building relationships has helped to change the culture at some of them, but at others it’s still not always a good outcome and that makes her angry.
She explains: “It’s really been a killing industry and there’s still no transparency or accountability.”
“There is absolutely a culture of bullying and intimidation aimed at rescuers in some places — but it doesn’t stop me.
“I won’t be bullied or gagged because this needs to be told and the animals’ lives are worth saving. They don’t have a voice … we are their voice.”
Originally published as Women who save and rehome hundreds of dogs
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