A former long-time chief executive and manager of the Lost Dogs’ Home has urged the Allan government to rethink its planned forced relocation of the animal shelter, saying the organisation needs to stay in central Melbourne to remain viable.
Dr Graeme Smith, who ran the dogs’ home from 1986 to 2014, overseeing a major expansion of facilities, said on Thursday the thought of relocating the Melbourne institution was “unbelievable”.
Dr Graeme Smith in 2011 at the Lost Dogs’ Home in North Melbourne.Credit: Fairfax Media
“I have the view that Lost Dogs’ Home should stay where it is, and the idea that [the building] be bulldozed and turned into a wetland or a flood plain is just unbelievable,” he said. “It’s an icon. It’s a Melbourne icon – a Victorian icon, really.”
The comments come after The Age on Thursday revealed compensation negotiations between the Allan government the century-old animal shelter had stalled, and the organisation’s current chief executive had “grave concerns” over whether the government would follow through with enough money to rebuild “like-for-like” elsewhere.
In 2022, the state government confirmed the Lost Dogs’ Home on Gracie Street would be bulldozed and relocated to make room for housing and commercial development as part of the new Arden precinct. But relocation talks have reached a stalemate, according to a letter from the home’s chief executive, Grant Robb, to the state government, obtained by The Age.
The letter said the animal charity had lost a chance to buy a viable alternative piece of land last year because a deal had yet to be struck, which The Age confirmed was in Spotswood in Melbourne’s west. The Age also revealed the organisation was seeking at least $99 million in compensation.
Smith said the relocation began to be discussed during his time as chief executive, but he was always “totally opposed” to the idea because the charity – which operates as an adoption centre, vet clinic and pound service for lost and abandoned dogs and cats from across metropolitan Melbourne – only works because it is centrally located.
“So you can serve all of the councils to the south, to the north, to the east and to the west,” he said.
The home also hosts veterinary students from the nearby University of Melbourne in Parkville.
“In the late ’80s, one of the things that we did change was the perception of the Lost Dogs’ Home to get people to come from all over Melbourne to adopt animals,” Smith said.
“If you move them to Spotswood or anywhere further west or further north, you’re going to lose all those potential clients. Furthermore, there’s another 15,000 people planned to be living in this precinct [Arden], and they will have pets too.”
He said the new Arden station meant it would be easier for shelter staff to get to work.
“These days a lot of people who work in places like the Lost Dogs’ Home come from further afield. But if you put it in Broadmeadows or Werribee or wherever it’s even harder, and it’s not going to service the same areas,” he said.
The shelter has a second, smaller facility in Cranbourne in Melbourne’s south-east. The Lort Smith Animal Hospital, which offers adoptions, also operates in North Melbourne.
The initial Arden Structure Plan, published in 2022, said the site would be used for an outdoor community sports area with a pavilion, playing courts and playgrounds, and that the Lost Dogs’ Home heritage building would be repurposed.
But in tender documents issued last year, the site has now been earmarked for “water management” – or flood mitigation. The low-lying Arden area is flood-prone, and Smith was chief executive during a major flood in December 1989, during which he was photographed by The Age in a boat with retrieving dogs that had escaped and were playing in floodwaters on Gracie Street.
“Even though [the water] was that depth on the corner of Gracie Street and Langford Street, it didn’t affect any of the kennels,” he said. “I think it’s a perfect facility for that place.
“Leave the Lost Dogs’ Home there. It’s really a waste of money as well, to try and [re]build the facilities that are there. In the time that I was there, we spent about $15 million on developing the facilities, including the Frank Samways vet [clinic], the cat shelter, the dangerous dog section – all of that.”
Premier Jacinta Allan was asked at a press conference on Thursday about the leaked letter, and said the assertion that negotiations had stalled was “not the advice I had”.
“There’s a process under way with the operators of the Lost Dogs’ Home, and we’ve committed to support them ... both through the process itself and with support to find a new home,” she said. She refused to say what the timeline for relocation would be, or the estimated costs.
The premier’s office declined a further opportunity to respond directly to Smith’s comments.
The Lost Dogs’ Home has been approached for comment.
With Patrick Hatch
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