A brief history of the Animal Welfare League of Queensland

by Alyce Beard (October 2012)

Pets are part of the family in 63% of Australian households, making Australia one of the highest countries in the world for pet ownership (2010). Also of those Australians who do not own a pet, 53 % would like to in the future. It is because of this that animal welfare organisations started popping up all over Australia. Although the correct treatment of animals was becoming accepted in 1959 the Animal Welfare League of Queensland appeared because of a group of concerned animal lovers. The group protested about the inhumane treatment of dogs that were inside the local pounds. If a dog was not collected from the pound within 48 hours it was taken to the Council dump and shot.

Neil Anderson became the first president of the animal welfare group. First it was known as the ‘Animal Protection League,’ then ‘The Animal Welfare and Protection League,’ before finally becoming known as the Animal Welfare League of Queensland Inc. Among the members of the group were Neil’s wife, Mavis Anderson and community members Frank Hollsopple, his dog Chippy and Bobby Schucard. The group’s main objective at the time was to get the dogs off the streets and in homes or in their shelter where they would be safe from the fate that awaited them at the pound.  

Neil is still alive today and has recently celebrated his 90^th birthday, his daughter, Denise Bradley is now CEO.

Neil grew up in Bundaberg and as a young boy he delivered newspapers. As he would go about the streets a young scruffy street dog would often follow him. One day Neil left his gate open and when he returned the little dog was sitting on the porch with his father. The dog, named Bluey became part of the family. Since that day Neil has always had a rescue dog by his side.

The Animal Welfare League of Queensland’s history starts with the founding members working hard to construct a shelter on a plot of land leased to them from the local Council on Pine Ridge Road, Paradise Point. The sanctuary’s first pens consisted of wire netting and packing cases for the animals. The League had constant support from the community and from the Council and they opened their first opportunity shop within a year of the groups operation. The ‘op’ shop was opened in Southport and is now one of eight which are open around South East Qld which help raise funds for the AWLQ.

Neil Anderson was also awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in June 1990 for his work within the community, mainly the Animal Welfare League and the Southport R.S.L. The Southport Newsletter reported that ‘the time and effort that he has put in to helping our community has been recognised.’

The AWLQ boomed in the ever expanding city of the Gold Coast and has now become a re-homing and education centre which specializes in the care, shelter and re-homing of cats and dogs but also focuses on community awareness and education. The Gold Coast re-homing centre is the largest of the three AWLQ centres in QLD, including Beenleigh and a newly opened Ipswich. When combined, the shelters now care for 15,000 animals every year. The Coombabah centre, on Shelter Road, is next to the Gold Coast City Council (GCCC) pound and the two work closely together providing care for stray animals during their impound period and taking them on when unclaimed. There is also an AWLQ veterinary clinic attached to the shelter which provides vet care for animals within the community. The AWLQ receives no Government funding so relies heavily on the community for financial support. Volunteers also take up a large, and most valuable chunk of the shelters staffing structure.  

In 1985 the AWLQ was forced to relocate because ‘residential development had been closing in on the old site and complaints had been made to the council about the noise.’ The sanctuary however only moved a few miles back onto the current site. The area was first closed to the public but has since become known as Shelter Road. The new site ‘mostly financed by the Gold Coast City Council’ was reported by The Gold Coast Bulletin in December 1985 that it was ‘terrific but they need more kennels.’ The AWLQ has always struggled to find the funding for what they ideally need to rehome and care for all the cats and dogs of a large city but large donations have been made throughout its history.   

One of the founding members, Bobby Schucard left a large bequest in her will which funded the current veterinary building. Also in 1995 Hazel and John Dodd donated $1 million which built the current refuge, headquarters and new vet clinic. The sanctuary finally had enough funds to expand again in 2006 and they built their current administration block including the human resource and marketing officers and education department. In a Gold Coast Sun article Zoe Hermans, public relations and education officer for AWLQ said ‘We were given a generous bequest and that has allowed us to expand.’

In 2004 Denise Bradley, Neil’s daughter, was nominated for Gold Coast Honours for her continued work in animal welfare. The article announcing her nomination in the Gold Coast Bulletin said ‘Denise has been nominated in the community category  for her years of work at the difficult job of finding homes for pre-loved pets.’ Denise took over the reins at the AWLQ in 1998, she did not follow straight from her Dad as someone else was the President between his departure and when Denise took over. Neil however still remains on the committee board to this day. ‘Since [Denise] took over as president, the centre has tripled the number of unwanted cats which are found new homes and more than doubled the number of rehomed dogs.’

There have been many milestones in the AWLQ history, one which is important is the changing of the Veterinary Surgeons Act in 2001. The AWLQ ‘spent many years lobbying the State Government to make changes to the Veterinary Surgeons Act to enable animal welfare groups such as ours to provide veterinary assistance to the public.’ With the new Act in place the AWLQ was able to open and expand their vet clinic to help the communities dogs and also raise more money for their ongoing animal welfare work. The Veterinary Clinic was a major success when it opened in 1992 and it still operates today.

The euthanasia of healthy domestic animals has been something the AWLQ has had to deal with since it opened in 1959. For a long time there was no answer to the pet overpopulation problem and many animals saw a tragic end to their lives. ‘Hundreds of cats and kittens are being put down because the Animal Welfare League at Coombabah cannot cope with the intake of unwanted or dumped pets.’ This took a strain on many of the staff but they never lost hope in their dream of zero euthanasia. Luckily thanks to a dedicated and informative education program as well as a constant push for the desexing of all pets the AWLQ succeeded in zero euthanasia of healthy and treatable animals in 2009 and they have maintained it to this day. Zoe Hermans said ‘the best way to deal with the pet overpopulation crisis is to teach future generations  about caring responsibly for their animals.’ Their G2Z, ‘Getting to  Zero,’ model has even been adopted in shelters all over the world. The AWLQ was the first shelter in Australia, that deals with a whole cities cats and dogs, to reach zero euthanasia. The G2Z ‘program combines many different projects, all playing their part’ including discounted desexing and microchipping at their vet clinic, their education program and of course rehoming.  

On the 27 of February 2010 a fire ripped through the AWLQ only storage facility. Here the AWLQ had archived all its documents and unfortunately all was lost in the fire. As well as the printed history as they knew it, the AWLQ also lost all items stored there for their op shops. It was a devastating day for Denise and the entire community.

Hopefully this paper will help the AWLQ and help the community remember their rich history, from where it started, who started it and obstacles they have overcome.