As vet teams wear our scrubs and support our friends on four paws, we also wanted to support a charity that gives back to animals.
Happy Tails Animal Rescue is one of these charities. Based in Southeast Queensland, the Happy Tails team offers shelter for dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens in need.
What is Happy Tails?
The Happy Tails Animal Rescue is a not-for profit charity that has a no-kill policy. The Happy Tails team has the mission to re-write the tales for dogs, cats, kittens, and puppies so that they can get a happily ever after.
Around 50 volunteer foster carers and 15 volunteer coordinators behind the scenes help running the foster system as Happy Tails does not have shelters. Each animal is placed in a loving foster home until the team finds their forever homes.
Happy Tails provides all vet care and behavioural work ensuring that the pets are happy, healthy, and ready to become part of a new family. Their thorough adoption process makes certain that all animals are going to the right home.
If, for some reason, an adopted pet cannot be cared for at their new home, Happy Tails takes them back into foster care until they find their forever home.
The team rescues around 400 animals per year. Some of them are born in care or only a few weeks old, some of them are older. The length of their stay usually depends on the medical and rehabilitation needs and the age of the pet.
How did Happy Tails start?
The project started in 2017 and was founded by nine women from all walks of life, including Sally, the group’s President, who shared a passion for rescuing animals. The team had all volunteered together to save animals previously. Together, they wanted to build up a rescue charity with a sound financial setup to make the most out of every dollar that they would get to help the pets. Their mission was to not only rescue dogs and cats but to spread awareness of animal welfare issues and help pet owners in need in our community.
Today, the community program Safe Tails gives temporary crisis accommodation to pets of victims of homelessness or domestic crisis who cannot look after their pets for a while. They also support pet owners that have to go into hospital or respite care. The team works with DV Connect and other organisations to help people in need.
Another program Happy Tails has initiated is Golden Tails. Golden Tails gives dogs and cats with complex medical needs that have been given away a foster home. The team supports these pets by covering all the costs for their treatment and support.
How will Happy Tails use the Life in Scrubs donations?
For each scrubs set you purchase and select Happy Tails as your charity of choice at the checkout, Life in Scrubs will donate $3 to the charity.
Happy Tails relies on fundraising and donations to cover all the costs as their team does not get government grants or support.
As the rescue is 100% volunteer-run and doesn’t have any shelters, the majority of the funds raised go to vet work and kennel costs.
All donations will help the team to make up the shortfall between the adoption fees and the costs to look after the animals in foster care. Adoption fees cover less than 50% of the rescue’s annual costs. Emergency rescues, extensive rehabilitation, and complex surgeries on top of basic care, regular vet work and flea and worming treatments means that each animal Happy Tails rescues costs more than $700.
Why did we choose Happy Tails?
Happy Tails supports animals that would otherwise have no chance on a happily ever after with dedicated care and vet help. The vet work is the point where our ways meet. Life in Scrubs wants to support all vets that help animals to better health. Even if providing comfortable and animal-save scrubs only can contribute with a small part, we hope that we can support vets at work.
Life in Scrubs Meets Happy Tails
We were lucky enough to catch up with Sally and some members of the volunteer team in Brisbane and take an amazing photo of them showing our brand-new Life in Scrubs range.
Sally said, “We are so grateful for the recognition and support from Life in Scrubs. The number of animals we can save each year simply wouldn’t happen without support like this. Every dollar raised helps us continue our mission!”
The team said, “As volunteers, we are passionate about what we do. Our founders and foster carers include vet nurses, human nurses and vets and it’s special knowing fellow professionals can help the animals of Happy Tails through Life in Scrubs.”
How can you support Happy Tails?
On the Life in Scrubs check-out page, we will ask you to choose a charity that you want to support with your scrubs purchase. By selecting Happy Tails, $3 per scrubs set of your order will go to the project.
If you like to make additional donations, head to the Happy Tails website.
We are looking to support Happy Tails with your help this year!
