SARR’s Jessica Miles, Carrie Clohesy and Tegan Gater dressed up for GV Vets’ HeartKids fundraiser. Photos: Supplied.
Every animal deserves a second chance at life, and Shepparton Animal Rescue and Rehoming is committed to turning it into a reality.
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SARR is a volunteer-operated, not-for-profit organisation based in Shepparton.
For more than a decade, its mission has been to provide a second chance for animals in need of rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming.
SARR saves animals from rural pounds and kill shelters, its main focus being on animals at risk of euthanasia.
And from a new committee formed in October 2024, president Jessica Miles is eager to broaden the organisation’s horizons.
The group aims to expand de-sexing programs, collaborate with food support services to establish pet food pantries for families struggling to feed their pets, and more.
But to make it all work, the volunteers can’t do it alone.
SARR is encouraging community members to open their homes, and their hearts, to animals in need.
Carer Georgina Russell has been fostering for SARR for eight years now.
Georgina Russell and her daughter with two foster dogs.
She remembers her very first rescue experience, when she and her husband had planned to foster just one dog.
Instead, they found themselves welcoming a mother cat and her seven newborn kittens into their home.
Mother cat Bellatrix and her seven kittens that Georgina first cared for.
Ms Russell has mastered the art of seeing animals off with a smile, even when she knows she’s grown attached.
Her secret?
“We’re just part of the animal’s journey,” she said.
“And I think there’s something really special in that, almost more special than being the end of an animal’s journey.
“Because this animal has been through a tremendous amount in such a short amount of time in their lives, and you are able to be such a safe space for them and help them to heal and rehabilitate this animal.
“To then be able to find a home for them, I don’t know, I just find that way more rewarding and there is something so beautiful about that as well.”
To make fostering accessible and stress-free, SARR covers all animal-related expenses, from food and bedding to veterinary care and toys, ensuring carers can focus on providing love and care.
Carers can also decide which animals they want to look after.
As Ms Russell puts it, foster caring is flexible.
“We only want them to go into new, beautiful homes from terrible beginnings,” Ms Miles said.
“We see that happen every day, where you see an animal that you’ve gotten better again ... and it’s given some sort of love to a family.
“And that happens so often that it keeps us going. Because the tragedies are awful, but there is beauty in what we do as well.”
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