Animal shelter’s successful adoption program continues to grow

Despite literally being a shelter from the storm for animals, inside the Redland Animal Shelter it’s often raining cats and dogs.

On a typical day, the Redland City Council-run shelter can have anywhere from 30 to 60 animals on site.

In April this year, the shelter had a record-breaking 30 puppies from three different litters in the facility at the same time. All of them eventually adopted out to new homes.

Mayor Jos Mitchell said the shelter had a long history of animal management on Redlands Coast but had only been rehoming animals since 2015.

“Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the Redland Animal Shelter’s highly successful animal adoption program,” the Mayor said.

“The shelter took over the responsibility for rehoming Redlands Coast’s unclaimed and abandoned animals in May 2015 after the RSPCA advised it was unable to continue a long-standing agreement to accept the city’s animals.

“In the early years of the adoption program, the shelter was rehoming about 233 animals annually. By the 2022-2023 financial year, that figure was just shy of 600 adoptions annually.

“The shelter does a fantastic job in ensuring these animals find a loving home.”

Council’s Animal Management Team Leader Janine Smith said the shelter handled 2308 cats and dogs in the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 financial years.

“Putting aside the hundreds that are adopted out, a large portion of the remainder of the impounded animals were successfully reunited with their owners, with a further number handed over to an animal rescue organisation,” she said.

Redland Animal Shelter is located at 240 South Street, Thornlands. Animals currently available for adoption are featured on its Facebook page, RedlandAnimalShelter

To read more about the shelter and its recent success stories, see the latest edition of Council’s Our Redlands Coast magazine currently being delivered to Redlands Coast homes.