what to know about running an animal rescue
If we had one single superpower, it would be to give all pups, moggies and other critters a safe and loving home to live out their days. This is where Grace Gibson Cain comes in: as the founder of Humane Animal Rescue her daily workload includes caring for a wide array of adorable animals, vet care, training and, of course, getting in some much-needed cuddles.
Grace gives us an inside look into everything that goes on at Humane Animal Rescue and all of the hard work she and other volunteers do – including hosting a lovely collection of events that give back to the cause of rescuing future pets-to-be. Read our chinwag with Grace down below.
Hiya Grace! Tell us a bit about who you are and what you do. Howdy! I am a 30-something based in Naarm/Melbourne and I founded Humane Animal Rescue in December 2022. My role is founder and director. I report to our board of directors and oversee the rescue's operations to meet the strategic action plan. I work full time in a corporate role in franchising operations and volunteer my other waking hours to rescuing pooches and pussies.
In the year and a half we have been operational, we have rescued 350-plus cats and dogs from pounds across Victoria that are facing euthanasia due to overcrowding.
How did you end up working at Humane Animal Rescue? I started fostering dogs over 10 years ago when I was not ready to commit to having an animal, and then continued because I loved being able to help save furry lives. I volunteered with several rescues in Victoria and kept seeing dogs be treated inhumanely within the rescue environment.
Animal welfare is largely unregulated and I saw many rescues using harmful and inhumane training methods. After one sad incident of a pooch being treated with so much force it threw up, I educated myself and learnt about force-free and fear-free animal training – the most up-to-date and science-backed method of animal training and care. I saw a need for an organisation that advocated for and treated animals humanely, as well as supporting the volunteers that offer up so much of their time.
What does your day-to-day usually consist of? I work a corporate 9 to 5 job, so I am usually up early caring for any foster pooches I have, doing some training or walks and then catching up on emails and paying vet bills. After work and on my lunch break, I am checking in on foster carers, organising animal supplies, booking vet appointments, organising intake of new foster animals from pounds, applying for grants and working with our volunteers to organise fundraisers and events!
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As a volunteer-run and non-profit organisation, how do you fund Humane Animal Rescue? We charge adoption fees for the animals. However, this doesn't cover even half of the cost in care or for vet work so we also work to sell merchandise and hold fundraisers. We are a registered charity with DGR (deductible gift recipient) status and we often rely on donors to support us.
We have not received any government funding or major grants with the highest grant being a Lush Charity Pot of $7,500. In June and July 2024, we have been lucky enough to be given a space to sell merchandise and raise awareness, as well as to use as a space for several fundraisers.
Talk to us a bit about Humane Animal Rescue’s unique marketing, like Only Felines. What inspired this style of promotion? We have some incredible volunteers who run our socials and graphic design! When we started Humane Animal Rescue we didn't want to be like the others, it was so important to be humane in ways we care and treat animals but also how we treat the volunteers and within our branding. In animal rescues we see lots of sad videos, and this can be really heartbreaking to see and we never want to guilt trip anyone into supporting animals. We strive to only show the happy and fun side of the animals. We want to make things as silly and sassy as possible – because that's what animals are like!
Only Felines was a fundraising campaign where people can donate to un-blur a photo to donate and we slid into a nominated person's DMs with the silly, spicy pic. We were obviously inspired by OnlyFans, and wanted the campaign to be as silly and eye-catching as possible. We aim to be unique in our marketing and never want to just do what everyone else is doing. We have an incredible team of volunteers that work on our marketing that are always coming up with amazing ideas.
Humane Animal Rescue also holds drag bingo, sip and paints and pop-up shops. What goes into planning these events? It's a big job! Our main focus is always to make the event something big and fun for everyone who attends. We love our community and always want to do events that benefit the venues that have us, and often work alongside local performers or artists and will tailor the event to suit their and the venue's strengths. Then we have to work with our volunteers to make sure the event can be staffed properly and that everyone feels comfortable with the event and their role within it.
We have a ring making workshop fundraiser in July, we will be at Bunnings for stores for Paws, and Cat and Dog lovers show in Victoria – watch our socials for more!
What are the biggest difficulties that come with running an animal rescue? It's a tough gig: juggling finances, the needs of the animals in care and always trying to save as many more animals from pounds as we can is a lot of plates to spin! It's also incredibly rewarding, but it's never easy seeing just how many animals are struggling in the pound system and not having the resources to save them all. The satisfaction of seeing animals make it to their forever homes makes it all worthwhile, though.
We don't have a location or a shelter as we feel animals are always best in foster homes as they are comfortable and safe and the same as a forever home (plus, we can't afford a location!). This can be really difficult for us as we strive to provide our foster carers with everything required to care for the animal so we are often cleaning and sorting donations and supplies all within volunteer’s homes.
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What are the best ways for folks to help support Humane Animal Rescue? Tell your mates, follow us on social media, donate if you can, foster or volunteer and apply via our website.
Apart from the daily onslaught of adorableness, what do you love the most about working with pups, moggies and more? I love seeing animals find their forever homes and breaking the cycle of animals being surrendered. There's really nothing like saving an animal from a pound, rehabilitating and working with them and eventually finding them loving homes where they can live out the rest of their lives.
Finally, what advice would you give to folks who want to volunteer or even run their own animal rescue? Get involved with your local rescue. There are lots of rescues out there looking for support!
If you wanted to start your own, I would say to study animal welfare and animal behaviour, speak with your local council and be sure to have a fat wallet as animal emergencies are costly and common.
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See more of Humane Animal Rescue by checking out their website and Instagram.
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