Mango the first beagle to be
placed through the Club's
Rescue & Rehoming
service.
The Beagle Club of NSW began its Rescue and Rehoming Service in March 2003 in response to a rise in the number of beagles being surrendered to Local Pounds and Rescue Organisations. The Club had always accepted that helping to rehome unwanted beagles was part of its "charter" which is the promotion and welfare of the Beagle and had done its best to rescue beagles in pounds. However, the Club was limited in its ability to find homes for them as there was no way of letting people know they were available and foster homes were few and far between.
It was soon realised that the Beagle Club website, which had proven to be very popular, could not only be an educational tool but could also be used to help beagles in need to find new homes. The added advantage being that people visiting would have learnt a bit about the breed through the information on the site and may even have a beagle or owned one previously.
Our first rescue beagle was a 12
month old boy names Mango (pictured left). Being young he soon found a
home and since then there have been many beagles of all ages from 10 weeks
to 12 years of age. It has been wonderful to see so many find
"forever" homes.
At first it was really just a way for private owners to find homes for beagles that for various reasons they could no longer keep and to also let people know when there was a beagle in a pound or with a rescue organisation. It was still very difficult for the Club to take in a beagle though we did arrange for several to be boarded until we found a home for them. In 2006, following an appeal for foster carers in the Club's newsletter we were very fortunate to get our first volunteer and our very first foster beagle (named Lola, pictured below right) was soon in residence.
We now have quite a few foster carers and we are so very
grateful to all of them for the love and care they give to their temporary
residents. Without them and the people who generously donate their time and
financial support we would be unable to achieve the wonderful results we have had
so far.
Many of the beagles that we have helped to rehome had been bought by families that really had no idea of a beagle's needs and found that that cute little puppy had turned into a teenage delinquent because he or she had been left on their own for long hours and had been given very little training. With its wonderful temperament, relatively good health and being a low maintenance breed, the beagle is an ideal family pet . However we need to continue to educate potential owners of not only the joys of owning a beagle but also the drawbacks. If our message is heard then hopefully the number of unwanted beagles will be greatly reduced.
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