Surrendering an animal

Surrendering a pet is always a difficult decision. There are many avenues you can investigate prior to calling Council to surrender your pet as a last resort. Please seek advice from us and chat with one of our Animal Rehoming Staff.

It is illegal to dump animals; this act carries heavy fines in NSW under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Steps I can take to rehome my pet before contacting Council to surrender my companion animal

1. Privately rehome your pet yourself
  • Ask your friends and relatives if they can help to foster or adopt the animal.
  • If the change to your circumstances is not permanent, could the animal go to a boarding facility?
  • Advertise your pet on online platforms:  If your animal is desexed, vaccinated and microchipped you can advertise them on many online platforms such as gumtree, trading post or social media avenues. You must also always be honest as to why you are rehoming your pet as this will help ensure the right homes enquire for your pet.
2. Directly contact rescue groups

You can responsibly and respectfully reach out to any of the rescue groups via email or social media to request help with the surrender or rehoming process of your pet.

There may be certain costs involved to rehome your pet. For example, ensuring their vaccines are up to date, if the animal has been desexed, or travel costs (if a Rescue agrees to take your pet you may have to travel a distance to deliver it to the Rescue Group).

Please see below links to some NSW Government approved Rescue Groups

Links to Rescue Groups

How it works - surrendering to our Pound & Rehoming Centre

Surrenders are by appointment only. To make an appointment please call us during business hours Monday to Friday on 1300 176 077. Our staff will then discuss the details of the Surrender process with you and advise you of the next steps.

Please make sure to bring the following documents to your appointment:

  • Veterinary paperwork including medical and vaccination history
  • Animal passport
  • Desexing certificate

Please complete the animal surrender application form(PDF, 113KB) and bring this along to your appointment; it will assist us in rehoming your animal based upon it’s behavioural and physical needs.

We are unable to rehome dangerous animals that have attacked other animals, people or stock.

 

Back to top