Community Group Series Part 3: Animal Care Tūrangi

Written By Kim Manunui

Volunteer-run charitable trust Animal Care Tūrangi finds the money it raises from providing road marshalling assistance at the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge “definitely a huge help.”

“We can stretch money quite far you know being a charity,” says Animal Care’s Krista Smith.

The organisation cares for, desexes, and rehomes cats and kittens across Tūrangi and the Southern Lake Taupō region. As a community-driven rescue, it doesn’t operate a traditional open-door shelter, with animals instead cared for in foster homes or at the appointment-only centre at 29 Hangarito Street, Tūrangi.

Each year around 8 to 12 people organised by Animal Care Tūrangi help with road marshalling for the cycle challenge at several stations in the Kurutau area. “We try and get two volunteers per station, so somebody will do half a day and somebody else will come in for the second half of the day,” says Smith.

“It’s usually more of our long-term volunteers who get involved and then they’ll drag their husband or a friend along.”

Money raised generally goes towards operating costs – buying food, paying for power, the kind of day-to-day essentials that organisations don’t usually get donations or grants for.

While they don’t have enough volunteers to accommodate dogs currently because dogs take a lot more work, says Smith, a long-term goal is to attract enough volunteers so it can.

As part of its desexing programme Animal Care Tūrangi gets funding from Grassroot Central Trust for subsidised desexing which involves a $30 voucher for a cat or $80 for dogs.

The group also has access to a desexing programme through NZCAT for free cat desexing and micro chipping for anyone in real need.

And while Smith is not sure any of the group’s volunteers have been inspired to do the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge, the eight or so doing a shift a week at the centre and three on fortnightly assistance are kept pretty busy as is.

Being entirely funded by donations, the organisation says every dollar helps cover the cost of food, vet bills, medication, desexing, and day-to-day care.

Kim Manunui

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