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Speaker 1: Joining me in the studio is Peter King from the RSPCA.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Peter.

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Speaker 2: Good akat first time, I'm very excited. I usually hear

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Speaker 2: of it earlier in the day, so it's nice to

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Speaker 2: come a bit later.

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Speaker 1: Oh good stuff. No, we're very happy to have you

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Speaker 1: on the show because I know that the RSPCA does

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Speaker 1: so much to help the animals in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: and right now just taught me through the numbers of

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Speaker 1: how many animals you've got out there at the shelter

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Speaker 1: at this point.

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Speaker 3: Well, as of last Friday, I do a weekly report.

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Speaker 2: As of last Friday, we had one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 2: two animals in our care about.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a real lot at the moment.

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Speaker 2: Usual time a year for a higher intake, but we're

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Speaker 2: so thankful to our foster caring network they look after

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Speaker 2: about half of that number because we just don't have

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Speaker 2: the capacity for all those animals on site.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, is it more cats or dogs or a

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Speaker 1: mix of everything.

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Speaker 2: It's actually about a fifty to fifty split almost exactly. So, yeah,

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Speaker 2: plenty of cats out there at the moment. We got

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Speaker 2: a big drama out in the community with our stray

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Speaker 2: cats population is extreme, stremely high. Becoming feral has a

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Speaker 2: massive impact on our environment. We're taking some steps towards

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Speaker 2: trying to address that with some community desexing work we're

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Speaker 2: doing as well.

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Speaker 3: I'd love to talk about that someday.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's that seems to be making a bit

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Speaker 2: of a difference, but we've got a long way to

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Speaker 2: go with that. But yeah, a lot of those cats

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Speaker 2: come to us as a result of picked up as strays,

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Speaker 2: litters of kittens that have been born out in the community,

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Speaker 2: and then they come through the local council pounds generally

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Speaker 2: and make their way towards us for rehab and rehoming

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Speaker 2: and all that sort of stuff.

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Speaker 1: Yeh know, it'd be hard, like I've seen myself. I've

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Speaker 1: seen that myself in the community where you end up

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Speaker 1: with the cash sort of near the house and then

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Speaker 1: it has kitchens and so then obviously people take them

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Speaker 1: to the RSPCA are they sometimes do they need to

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Speaker 1: be sort of I don't know what the right word is,

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Speaker 1: where they're a bit feral and need to kind of

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Speaker 1: be domesticated to some degree.

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Speaker 3: Sometimes it ranges hugely.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes if a cat has been out more in the

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Speaker 2: while for a long period of time, they do tend

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Speaker 2: to become a bit feral in there. Generally the ones

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Speaker 2: you can't bring back to domesticated opportunities. But for the

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Speaker 2: most part, the high majority of cats that we have

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Speaker 2: through astray, but they've still got contact, most commonly with humans,

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Speaker 2: whether humans feed them just as a gesture of good will,

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Speaker 2: or whether they're in contact in suburbia. I live in

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Speaker 2: the city and I can walk a block at night

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Speaker 2: and see six cats running around on the street. So

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Speaker 2: they're definitely not owned, so big issue, but we're doing

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Speaker 2: our best to take a responsible approach.

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Speaker 1: Now, tell us about this microchipping the free microchipping day

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Speaker 1: that you've got happening this weekend.

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Speaker 3: It's huge.

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Speaker 2: It's the second of two days, and we're probably going

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Speaker 2: to put another one on at least in the future.

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Speaker 2: Thanks to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade and

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Speaker 2: the Animal Warfare grants that we were able to apply

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Speaker 2: for each year, we managed to secure funding to cover

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Speaker 2: the costs of these microchipping days so we can offer

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Speaker 2: that service for free to the community. And two weeks

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Speaker 2: ago on a Sunday, we did about just under forty

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Speaker 2: animals were microchip that weren't already and we've got another

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Speaker 2: one on this Sunday at the site at Bolta Road

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Speaker 2: in Bremer at our shelter.

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Speaker 3: From nine till twelve.

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Speaker 2: The bookings are starting to ramp up now, so we're

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Speaker 2: hoping to max out that day and just totally maximize

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Speaker 2: the microchips because they're just so important.

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Speaker 1: So this someday between nine and twelve, people are able

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Speaker 1: to come out there and get their animals microchip. They

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Speaker 1: need to make a booking.

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Speaker 2: Not it does help us. We've got five minute blocks

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Speaker 2: for bookings. It just helps us to sort of structure

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Speaker 2: the day a little bit. And we've got our booking

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Speaker 2: system online through a link via our Facebook and Instagram pages,

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Speaker 2: or you can just give us a call in the

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Speaker 2: office at eight nine eight four three seven nine five

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Speaker 2: and we'll slat you into one of those spots.

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Speaker 1: And Peter, do you find this like most of the

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Speaker 1: animals that come into the RSPCA's care throughout the year,

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Speaker 1: are they microchipped or are people, you know, maybe not

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Speaker 1: as organized or not microchipping their animals as frequently as

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Speaker 1: they should be.

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Speaker 2: That's the point of this program because the very vast

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Speaker 2: majority of animals that come to us are not microchipped,

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Speaker 2: and the very few of them that are have got

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Speaker 2: out of date details on them, so they might have

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Speaker 2: a previous owner's details, they might have a previous address

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Speaker 2: and phone number detail on the chip. The chip is

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Speaker 2: scanned by a handheld scanner and the Council Pounds can

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Speaker 2: do it. We've got the scanners, various vet clinics have

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Speaker 2: them as well, so it identifies the number of the chip.

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Speaker 3: The number gets plugged into.

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Speaker 2: A website as a code and that brings up the

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Speaker 2: details of whatever that chip details hold.

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Speaker 3: So it is the best, the best way to rehome.

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Speaker 2: An animal that has been found at large or found

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Speaker 2: astray or picked up on the street and taken to

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Speaker 2: the Council Pound or to a local vet or if

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Speaker 2: we come across them. It is the best way because

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Speaker 2: you can have dog collars with tags and phone numbers,

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Speaker 2: but of course they get ripped off if a dog

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Speaker 2: jumps a fence or runs through a wire gate or

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Speaker 2: something like that. So that's a good way to try

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Speaker 2: to identify, but the microchip is the full proof method,

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Speaker 2: and that's why we're really keen to encourage as many

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Speaker 2: people as possible to get on board with this free service,

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Speaker 2: free opportunity to have their cat or their dog or

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Speaker 2: their rabbit microchip.

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Speaker 3: This Sunday awesome.

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Speaker 1: I think it's such an important thing to do. I've

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Speaker 1: got a blue heeler cross that is a bit of

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Speaker 1: a hoodini. Every time the gate opens just slightly, she

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Speaker 1: tries her be still to take off down the road

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Speaker 1: to visit the neighbors dogs. But it does mean that

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Speaker 1: if she goes a bit further, that you know that

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Speaker 1: the pound are able to actually ring us straight away

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Speaker 1: and we can go out and get up.

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Speaker 3: That's right.

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Speaker 2: And you know that there's the clear and present dangers

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Speaker 2: of running around in traffic and all of those other

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Speaker 2: things with a dog escaping, but at least if they

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Speaker 2: are able to remain safe and do find themselves into

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Speaker 2: the hands of someone who wants to help, the microchip

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Speaker 2: identification is just the fool proof method and so important.

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Speaker 1: And it's so you know, people have got so many

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Speaker 1: living expenses at the moment. We know the cost of fuel,

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Speaker 1: the cost of your groceries, everything's gone up. So this

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Speaker 1: is a fantastic opportunity if you have you know, if

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Speaker 1: you are going through a bit of a tough patch

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Speaker 1: where you're able to come out there, you're able to

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Speaker 1: do it for free and make sure that your animal

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Speaker 1: is then able to get back to you if it

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Speaker 1: does get out.

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Speaker 3: That's right, and there is usually a cost. We of

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Speaker 3: course provide that service.

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Speaker 2: All year round if anyone needs or would like to

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Speaker 2: have a microchip done, and that does come as a

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Speaker 2: cost normally, but again thanks to the Department, we've been

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Speaker 2: able to cover the funding for that or sorry, the

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Speaker 2: cost for that and provide the service for free. So

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Speaker 2: it's really a good step forward with our animal welfare

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Speaker 2: mission as well.

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Speaker 1: Now, before I let you go, these one hundred and

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Speaker 1: twenty two animals that you've got out there at the moment,

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Speaker 1: you've got a mix between cats and dogs. If there

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Speaker 1: is somebody out there listening this morning who's thinking to themselves,

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Speaker 1: you know what, I've thought a lot about this, and

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Speaker 1: I do want to adopt an animal. Where can they

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Speaker 1: go and check them out? Or where can they what's

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Speaker 1: the best approach?

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Speaker 3: Do you reckon?

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Speaker 2: Well, the visit to the shelter is a must, of course,

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Speaker 2: but if there's an interest from anyone listening who wants

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Speaker 2: to have a look at what's available, which animals are

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Speaker 2: available at the moment.

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Speaker 3: They can go to a website at RSPCA.

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Speaker 2: Darwin dot org dot au and follow the links through

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Speaker 2: to the animals available, or easily they can go to

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Speaker 2: also adoptor pet one word adoptor pet dot com dot

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Speaker 2: au and that's the national page for all RSPCA animals.

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Speaker 2: So they've simply got a filters to the NT and

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Speaker 2: then they'll see all of the available animals for adoption

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Speaker 2: and that's updated consistently during the day, so if we

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Speaker 2: have an adoption and it updates in the system that

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Speaker 2: animals remove from avail ability of course, but it's very

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Speaker 2: much up to date, so it's a good way to

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Speaker 2: have a look before you come down.

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Speaker 3: Oh good stuff for Peter King.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to speak to you this morning. I really appreciate

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Speaker 1: you coming in and telling us a bit more about

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Speaker 1: the micro chipping day, but also those animals that you

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Speaker 1: have got out at the shelter right now.

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Speaker 3: Thanks for your time. I appreciate that.

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Speaker 1: Thank you.