Please help us to pay for 10 humane traps to keep rescuing cats and kittens in Dunedin.

My name is Ana and as long as I can remember I was rescuing every creature that was coming my way. I remember really clearly my first experience. I was about 4 years old and on the way home from the yard I noticed a little mouse next to the dumpster that seemed to be barely moving, so I picked it up and brought home saying to my grandmother that the mouse was not feeling well and we must save it…. And yes I probably never heard my grandmother scream so loud and certainly haven’t seen her jumping on the chair so fast and I didn’t know why! Since then my heart wants to save everyone, but truly no one person can!! I’m trying my best, but I work fulltime and I live outside the city, commuting a long way twice a day. It doesn’t leave me much time at all. With a group of friends I created Animal Rescue Network New Zealand Facebook page and recently ARNNZ became a charitable trust! So far we managed to rescue 120 cats this year, and I know this is not a great number, but it is 120 cats less suffering on the streets of Dunedin trying to survive every day and find scraps of food!

In January 2015 Cat Rescue Dunedin was formed by a small group of Dunedin residents who had seen the need for someone to begin helping the wild-born and abandoned cats and kittens living on the streets of Dunedin.

We became a charitable trust in June 2015, and since then we have desexed and rehomed hundreds of kittens which would otherwise have been left to breed uncontrollably. We were formerly known as the Animal Rescue Network NZ.

We are committed to reducing the wild-born and stray cat population through a combination of TNR and adoption.

Cats which are unable to be socialized to live with people can be humanely managed by a process known as trap, neuter, return (TNR). This means that the cats are desexed and returned to their environment where a caretaker feeds and monitors the cats to ensure their continued wellbeing. Desexing the cats ensures that their numbers don't increase, and over time the colony size reduces naturally.

Our long-term aim is to have our own shelter but until then all of our cats and kittens are fostered in private homes until they are ready for adoption.