- By Times Junior Journalist Alina Jiang
The Society for the Protection of Animals (SPCA) is one of the largest and oldest animal charities, where animals which need homes or are abandoned can be adopted by a happy loving family.
This organisation has been supported by many people over 150 years through donations and their Fabulous Op Shops.
Without the fundraising or donations they wouldn’t be here now, helping the animals and uniting us with our furry friends.
In the 1980s the SPCA became the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Incorporated.
Now in 2024 we celebrate the 150 years of the SPCA in New Zealand, and how it changed over time.
One of the SPCA’s main fundraisers are their Op shops which can be found in your local area or city, you can even shop online! They have a wide range of donated items e.g. household items, clothes, toys, etc.
When you shop at these stores you are shopping environmentally and re-using the products before they go to waste, that’s a good thing as you’re doing something to help the environment and the animals at the same time!
Yes, that’s right, every purchase you make at an SPCA Op Shop goes to help the animals SPCA rescue every year.
So if you wanted to help raise money for the SPCA fundraise! You could host a bake sale, collect old items for our OP Shops, do it in your own way!
Even if it’s only a little lemonade sale outside your house. You know the saying: If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way!
Another amazing thing about SPCA is how you can help the animals by maybe adopting one!
If you go to your local adoption centre the crew will help match you up to the perfect animal. They talk to you about your lifestyle and figure out which animal would be a good match for you!
Some animals have special needs such as if they need a quiet home, a home with no other pets or they have to be adopted with their siblings, those types of things cannot be changed.
If you prefer to look online you can register an animal if you want to adopt it.
You can check out their profile to see their personalities and things about them and see if they’re in your area where you live.
To continue their work, the SPCA relies on volunteers to help out. If you have any free time and would like to help, it would be extremely appreciated by the animals and the people from the SPCA.
For more information about volunteering, contact the SPCA through their website at https://www.spca.nz/.
- Alina Jiang is in Year 6 at Owairoa Primary School
