Geraldton dog rescue building a volunteer hub

Construction has begun on a new facility for Geraldton’s volunteer dog rescue organisation.

The first few bricks of the rescue facility in Davies Road, Utakarra, were laid today by Geraldton Dog Rescue volunteer Melody Cathwright and City of Greater Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn.

Construction of the operations office on the same site as the new Geraldton Animal Management Facility began at the start of the year. Until now the rescue organisation was operating out of volunteers’ homes.

Geraldton dog rescue president Lenci Millman said she was excited because the new facility had been more than six years in the making.

“Having a home base for us is a huge accomplishment and will give us more opportunities,” she said.

“We’ll have some kennels there for quarantine but it’s predominantly going to be a volunteer hub.”

Eight kennels are under construction for the facility but the organisation doesn’t plan on moving away from their foster care model.

In January they were able to re-home 26 of the 106 dogs picked up by Geraldton rangers. The majority of the other dogs were returned to their owners.

The facility has been funded by a donation drive and a $400,000 grant from Lotterywest made available only after they secured a lease.

City of Greater Geraldton mayor Shane Van Styn said the lease for the property on council land was provided free of charge as a small token from the city for the hard work done by Geraldton Dog Rescue volunteers.