Paws Darwin Accused of 'Unprofessional' Conduct Over Failure to Desex Animals. ABC News 15/9/25

[Deeds]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-15/paws-darwin-leaves-pet-owners-out-of-pocket-desexing-service/105719438

[tdierikx]

This is a major issue with many rescues... the cost of doing what they do is often overlooked as they rarely recoup costs expended with the adoption fees they charge.

 

My opinion is that the entire rescue industry needs to be regulated by law, and in doing so, those rescues may be able to access government funding to do their work. Regardless, rescues also need to be mindful that they are actually running a business, and to run a business at a constant loss is not a great model for continued success.

 

Most vets I know don't allow rescues to have an account unless or until they can prove that they pay their bills in full and on time. Rescues that don't pay soon get blacklisted as word gets around the vet clinics about rogue operators. Most vets will give rescues discounted rates for their services, often making no profit at all from those services to rescue, so there should be no excuse for non-payment - vets still need to cover their own basic costs just like any other business.

 

T.

[persephone]

A sad state of affairs. from disappointed adopters, to vets not getting their money  I feel so sorry for ethical rescues- battling to do a good thing.

[_PL_]

On 16/09/2025 at 7:15 AM, tdierikx said:

This is a major issue with many rescues... the cost of doing what they do is often overlooked as they rarely recoup costs expended with the adoption fees they charge.

 

My opinion is that the entire rescue industry needs to be regulated by law, and in doing so, those rescues may be able to access government funding to do their work. Regardless, rescues also need to be mindful that they are actually running a business, and to run a business at a constant loss is not a great model for continued success.

 

Most vets I know don't allow rescues to have an account unless or until they can prove that they pay their bills in full and on time. Rescues that don't pay soon get blacklisted as word gets around the vet clinics about rogue operators. Most vets will give rescues discounted rates for their services, often making no profit at all from those services to rescue, so there should be no excuse for non-payment - vets still need to cover their own basic costs just like any other business.

 

T.

I saw a tizzy somewhere on FB about the rescue mentioned?

Going by comments there, and elsewhere - there's a LOT of misunderstanding and broad sweeping (often incorrect) statements about how rescues run and how terrible they are. 

Rather than get into full-on virtue signalling debate with people whose minds are made up, the only thing you can do is stay in your lane and do the very best you can.
And admit that you don't know everything there is to know.
If you're not open to learning, you and your rescue aren't going to do better. 

Regulation, while a good idea, and overdue, and extra paperwork, needs someone to enforce it and frankly I don't think anyone really wants to spend the money on enforcing it.    

Vet accounts. You're right. Vets get burned.
Personally I like pay-as-you-go as a goodwill gesture, but it depends on what the vet's numbers person wants. Some prefer 30 day accounts.   

[tdierikx]

18 hours ago, _PL_ said:

Regulation, while a good idea, and overdue, and extra paperwork, needs someone to enforce it and frankly I don't think anyone really wants to spend the money on enforcing it.    

 

Without regulation and accountability, the dodgy rescues will continue to give the great ones a bad reputation. 100% sure that no rescue want's to be saddled with extra paperwork, but if they don't have decent record keeping already, then dog help us all.

 

As for policing... as long as government outsources that task to 3rd party charities, that aspect will always be an issue when it comes to animal welfare legislation Recently. the NSW government enacted legislation to make those charities much more accountable for their actions in return for increased funding, and one particular charity has been pushing back quite strongly because they wanted even more money than they were given. Note that the money they were given by government the last financial year to do that job was around 20 times what they'd regularly been given to do the job in years past... go figure! Also note that same charity doubling the number of inspectors on the ground also didn't lead to any noticeable increase in complaint investigations or prosecutions, and you might wonder whether they are worth any more money to do the job...

 

Methinks it's time that government ran the enforcement themselves if it's going to cost them the kind of money that certain charity is demanding as an annual stipend ($25 million). 

 

T.

[_PL_]

I totally understand about regulations. It's just that we're getting into decades of waiting for anyone high up to care. :/

 

I feel we're quietly regarded as nutty old women and the animals we rescue were 'unwanted' anyway.

[tdierikx]

9 hours ago, _PL_ said:

I totally understand about regulations. It's just that we're getting into decades of waiting for anyone high up to care. :/

 

I feel we're quietly regarded as nutty old women and the animals we rescue were 'unwanted' anyway.

 

In NSW, Victoria, and now WA, the AJP have sitting members in the legislative council... and trust me, they are plenty busy trying to slip in cray cray amendments to animal welfare legislation. You can thank Emma Hurst (and to a lesser extent Abigail Boyd from the Greens) for pounds now offloading as many animals as they can onto private rescues in NSW, with their stupid Rehoming Bill in 2022 - effectively outsourcing government responsibility to the rescue sector for no payment. It passed because it didn't cost the government any money, not because it was sound legislation.

 

I've just spent the last 2 days going through Victorian council websites to compare their cat/dog registration fees and excess animal keeping permits... and let's just say I'm never moving to Victoria and owning any pets there... legislation changes have made owning pets there fekking convoluted to say the least... and it's about to get even worse!

 

As for nutty old women... definitely not! Without us, the whole system would go to heck...

 

T.