Needy pet owners get helping paw
Photo:
Fiona Goodall
Many people in need are going without food to feed their pets, according to the manager of a Taranaki foodbank.
Nearly two-thirds of New Zealand households own a pet and, for households with children, that number is 71 percent.
New Plymouth Community Foodbank manager Sharon Wills has seen evidence of people putting their pets' needs before themselves all the time.
"It's every day someone will say, 'Look, I've got a cat or I've got at dog, and I need to make sure I feed them,' and people are really concerned. People love their animals."
Wills had no qualms about helping people struggling to feed pets.
"People say we shouldn't be helping people who've got animals and they need to be getting rid of them, but you know, if you've had your cat or your dog for 10 years, eight years, they're part of your family."
Wills said the foodbank did not buy or collect pet food specifically, but if it had some, it gave it out to people who asked for it. The alternative was people would tend to their animals and not themselves.
Wills said vet bills were another worry that could also tip people over the edge, forcing them to seek help from foodbanks.
All funds raised will be used to purchase Petstock's own-brand pet food (Tilly, Billie's Bowl, Glow), which will be donated directly to Food Network centres nationwide.
Photo:
Fiona Goodall
A recent qualitative study - based on interviews with 23 women and five men and published in the Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work Association journal, found that people experiencing poverty went without food to provide for pets in their care.
Study author and doctoral student Lesley Pitt said pets provided the people in the study with a sense of security and companionship.
"The latter part was particularly important, as it reduced social isolation," she wrote. "When participants had companion animals, they prioritised food for their animals over food for themselves and went without other material goods to care for the needs of their companion animals."
WOrkers stock boxes of food for hungry pets.
Photo:
Fiona Goodall
Pitt said the implication of her study for social workers was that they needed to be conscious of the role pets played in the lives of people living in poverty.
During August, the Petstock Foundation will partner with the New Zealand Food Network to raise $100,000 across New Zealand and Australia to help struggling households feed their pets.
According to the Food Network, from July to December 2024, its partner food hubs reported that the top reasons Kiwis sought support were:
NZ Food Network chief executive Gavin Findlay said people going without to provide for pets was something its members saw on the front-lines of food insecurity all the time.
He was grateful for the Petstock Foundation initiative.
"As more families struggle to put food on the table, we welcome this opportunity to alleviate this burden on both the pets and their owners.
"We know that families on stretched budgets often face the hard choice of feeding themselves or feeding their pets. With the Petstock Foundation's support, we can help take away that impossible decision, so no family member or pet goes hungry."
Throughout August, the Petstock Foundation and the NZ Food Network (and Foodbank AU) will work to raise $100,000 across Australia and New Zealand. All funds raised will be used to purchase Petstock's own-brand pet food (Tilly, Billie's Bowl, Glow), which will be donated directly to Food Network centres nationwide - helping to keep pets fed and families together during tough times.
Photo:
Fiona Goodall
Petstock Foundation's Naomi Mancktelow said the Big Hearts Project aimed to empower individuals and families struggling to feed their pets.
"We know that people who experience hardship also tend to experience social isolation," she said. "We also know that having a pet companion can alleviate this."
Mancktelow invited people to donate $2 to the Petstock Foundation, via its website.
"This small donation will make a big difference. You will not just fill a bowl - you are supporting the emotional wellbeing for families under pressure, keeping pets in loving homes where they belong, and empowering a better future for pets and people."
Sharon Wills.
Photo:
RNZ / Robin Martin
Meanwhile, Wills welcomed the fundraising drive.
"It is amazing," she said. "It just takes the pressure off us.
"We like to ask people, 'What do they need?' They'll say, 'Fruit and vege, meat and pet food. I've got a cat, I've got a dog etc,' so we'll just try and help them with those needs."
Will said demand for the foodbank service was still huge.
"To the end of July this year, we'd given out 2880 food parcels and that had helped feed more than 7000 people. At the end of last year, we'd given out given out 5245 food parcels and fed just under 15,000 people, so we'll definitely match those numbers this year."
How Kiwis can support:
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
Auckland teacher 'not surprised' at increasing rate of teens leaving school unqualified
Principal of Papakura high Simon Craggs. Photo: RNZ / Luka Forman An Auckland secondary school teacher says he is not surprised by the increasing rate of teenagers leaving high school with no qualifications, and does not anticipate the situation improving. Of last year's school-leavers, 16 percent had no qualifications, the highest figure in a decade . It equates to about 10,600 teenagers, and is 0.4 of a percentage point more than the previous year and about six percentage points higher than the 10-11 percent recorded in the years prior to the start of the pandemic. The percentage of school leavers with no NCEA certificate has been rising since 2020, a trend teachers blamed on the after-effects of Covid-19 lockdowns combined with high employment prompting more young people to leave school earlier than they otherwise would. Papakura High School principal Simon Craggs told Morning Report changes to literacy and numeracy standards were restricting students. "It's not really a surprise to me," he said. "Since they changed the literacy and numeracy requirements that more and more students, particularly from low socio-economic backgrounds, ESOL backgrounds, Maori and Pasifika, weren't going to be able to access qualifications." The Education Ministry's figures showed 13 percent of last year's leavers had not reached the literacy and numeracy benchmark compared to about 10 percent under the previous requirement in pre-pandemic years. The figures showed 81 percent of last year's leavers had stayed at school until the age of 17 or beyond, up from 79 percent the previous year with bigger increases in retention at schools in poorer communities. Craggs said the revised criteria for the co-requisite tests, known as common assessment activities (CAAs), had "restricted students". "There are other factors involved, but I would say it's 90 percent due to the new CAA tests in particular," he said. "The problem I have with that is not that we're trying to strengthen literacy and numeracy, the problem is the test itself is very narrow. "It's not actually measuring functional literacy and numeracy." Māori had the worst results - 28 percent left with no qualification last year, compared with 19 percent of Pacific leavers and 14 percent of European/Pākehā leavers. Papakura High School had scrapped NCEA level 1, instead opting for a two-year level 2 programme. "[Level 1] was too hard for our students to do the co-requisite, get their literacy and numeracy, and get 60 credits," Craggs said. However because students had to stay longer at school to earn a qualification, a higher number of unqualified students would drop out, he said. A tight labour market was also limiting the options for young people. "That's another scary thing," Craggs said. "A lot of them aren't going into quality employment. They are going into employment, but it's casual, reduced hours, take what you get sort of thing. It's very difficult for them to be accessing quality employment. "Maybe three or four years ago they could go into a good full-time job, and build a career from that. They're not able to do that at the moment." Training programmes such as People Potential were proving to be a viable alternative for young people, although spots were tight. Craggs said he did not believe an overhaul of NCEA would lead to declining rates of unqualified school leavers. "If we were looking at making some tweaks to NCEA, making it a better qualification, making the literacy and numeracy requirement more [functional] then we might have some more optimism for the future. "I'm not sure that just dumping NCEA and creating a new qualification which is subject-based is necessarily going to make a big difference to those students." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
10 hours ago
- RNZ News
Heritage-listed library's future threatened by funding cut
The rimu-panelled library is open for two hours, three times per week, as well as monthly Sunday afternoons. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon The future of Tai Tapu's heritage-listed library is in jeopardy because of a council funding cut. The distinctive red stone library was built next to St Paul's Anglican Church in Canterbury's Selwyn district in 1932 on land donated by politician and philanthropist Sir Heaton Rhodes, largely funded by the sale of daffodil bulbs by Otahuna Lodge's head gardener. Library committee members said they were hit by a "bombshell" Selwyn District Council letter last October, outlining plans to stop funding building and grounds maintenance and repairs from 30 June because it was "endeavouring to apply a more consistent approach across the externally owned facilities it supports". The letter left volunteers facing an annual bill of more than $13,000 to keep the library open. In the months that followed, committee members said they grew increasingly frustrated and dissatisfied with council responses to their concerns, culminating in a letter to Selwyn mayor Sam Broughton in May. They told Broughton the building should not be classified as "externally owned", asserting the decision was made without consultation and an apparent disregard for the building's significance. "What seems to lie at the heart of the matter is the council policy decision that the library is an externally owned facility. Instead, it has always been a community library for the ratepayers of Tai Tapu and well supported by the council of the time," the letter said. "Council has suggested that the way ahead will depend on funding applications. That being the case, we do not see a future for the library especially regarding insurance and the maintenance of a Heritage New Zealand historic site." The rimu-panelled library is open for two hours, three times per week, as well as monthly Sunday afternoons. The category-one historic place is also a popular setting for wedding photographers and admired by visitors and tourists. The library is owned by an incorporated society established by Sir Heaton - Tai Tapu Library Incorporated - with a constitution that states ownership will be vested in the council if the society dissolves. The committee has just over $16,000 in special library funds available from the former Paparua County Council. Tai Tapu library chairperson Maurice Sinclair said he doubted volunteers would be able to win grants or fundraise for expenses like insurance and rates after the money ran out. "We would have to have someone spending quite a lot of time charging around talking to people and so on. We just haven't got those sort of people on our committee," he said. Broughton met committee members in June to discuss the library's future but declined to be interviewed by RNZ, saying it was an "operational" matter. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Selwyn Council head of operational delivery Gareth Morgan said the council could not continue funding a "privately-owned" building. "Tai Tapu library was a surprise to some people in council. Some ex-council officers made a decision in 2020 to fund the maintenance. There was a council restructure in 2022 that identified that this had been taking place and the instruction was to work with the library to cease that arrangement," he said. "We've had staff working with the library since 2022 and working with them closely in trying to step through a process of getting them to prepare for their future and to stand alone. We have worked with them and we're happy to continue to support them. "We recognise its heritage status, we recognise it's a fantastic building and we'll do what we can to support them to survive." The committee disputed Morgan's claims, saying council staff had not worked with the library to prepare for its future over the last three years, let alone closely. The council spent $13,500 on the library in the past financial year and had pledged to cover its insurance until June 2027, although discussions about a rates subsidy and future insurance cover were ongoing. The council said bulk book loans from Lincoln library would continue for the time being and the committee was encouraged to apply for community and lottery grants, heritage funding and make a long term plan submission. The council drafted an agreement to formalise arrangements with the library in 2017, although it was never signed. It stated that Tai Tapu library was an important community asset that needed ratepayer funding to ensure it was maintained in perpetuity and the council would fund "insurance and other associated outgoings". The committee said a 2019 memorandum of understanding expired without explanation in 2022 despite repeated requests for its renewal, with members instead assured existing arrangements would continue. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon Sir Heaton and his wife Jessie donated money from bulb sales and flower show prize winnings to help fund the library after establishing the country's pre-eminent daffodil collection in the 1920s. According to Heritage New Zealand, then-Governor-General Charles Bathurst remarked at the library's opening: "I have never before heard of flowers being converted by realisation into a home for the flowers of literature - it is a most ingenious and delightful idea." In last October's "letter of intent", the council said it intended to transfer the library's special funds to the society so committee members could make their own financial decisions. "Going forward, we appreciate the heritage status of the building and its importance to the community and we will provide information to assist you with exploring alternative funding," the letter said. Otahuna Lodge. Photo: Christchurch City Libraries, CCL-Selwyn-P4231583 In correspondence that followed, the committee expressed scepticism about the council's approach and said any notion the library was owned by the people of Tai Tapu had no legal validity. "We see this as a 'one size fits all' policy which conveniently ignores the value of Tai Tapu library to the council," the letter said. "In our constitution, the council is named as the future owner should the incorporated society status come to an end. The home page for Selwyn Libraries lists Tai Tapu as a community library which may be accessed by all members of Selwyn Libraries. "With due respect, we request the opportunity for consultation on a policy which places the future of Tai Tapu library in jeopardy." In April the council offered to provide building and grounds maintenance, window cleaning, internet access and insurance until June 2027, although the money would come from the library's special funds - money the committee estimated would run out a year earlier. Springs ward councillor Grant Miller said it would be exceptionally sad if the library closed and urged the council to be pragmatic. "The community is ratepayers, that's who we are, so whether it's the Selwyn District Council's name on the title or whether it's the library [society], that's semantics. The reality is, it's a community asset. The council should be looking after it," he said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
11 hours ago
- RNZ News
Conservation funding dries up, threatening Waikato bird-protection projects
Left to right, Maryann Eason, Jude Tisdall, Tiaki Ormsby, Janet Leggett, Nardene Berry, and Jo Wrigley at Eason's farm homestead, with Maungatautari Sanctuary Mountain behind. Photo: RNZ/Libby Kirkby-McLeod Maryann Eason's Maungatautari farm homestead was on the edge of 'Bush to Burbs', a project to protect bird spillover from the Maungatautari Sanctuary Mountain. "Hanging out in the magnolia tree was nine kaka and four bellbirds and two tuis, and there were fantails flying all around," she said of the birds she now saw on her property. Eason had planted more than 800,000 trees on the farm and, with the neighbouring property-owner, worked on pest-trapping for the area to protect birds that leave the inland fenced sanctuary at Maungatautari. 'Bush to Burbs' was one of several projects between Pirongia and Maungatautari, which aimed to bring back endangered species and provide safe corridors for animals to travel the 45km between the two mountains. Another project - Taiea te Taiao - also helped private landowners return a pest-free bird friendly habitat across the area. Nardene Berry from Landcare Trust said some native birds wouldn't cross more than three kilometres of pastureland. "What we are trying to do is create stepping stones for the birds to cross the landscape in a way that they can do so safely," she said. The benefits weren't just for the birds. "What people forget is that we are part of nature," Berry said. "Biodiversity is part of us and we are part of it, so having that in our backyards or close by on our farms is so vital for our wellbeing." Tiaki Ormsby from Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society said the group's Matariki event was a good example of the benefits to people connecting with natural places. The group took whanau onto parts of Pironga to walk in the steps of their ancestors and find out about the ecology on the mountain. "To be able to go back on our maunga in a safe way, it was quite magical," she said. However, Berry said keeping these and other projects in Waikato would become harder. Government funding had dried up and philanthropic investment in biodiversity had halved to only two percent over the last few years. "Sometimes, projects can get started, and they get some funding to get going and there's stuff behind that, but to keep it going, that's the hard part," she said. Go Eco was the environmental group behind the Bush to Burbs project and chief executive Jo Wrigley agreed funding was currently difficult. She said there was a cycle of government funding that enabled projects, but didn't continue to help maintain them. "Every government wants to see environmental projects scaled up, but the funding is not usually scaled up," she said. An example was the billion-dollar 'Jobs For Nature' project, which the government stopped funding in June. Jude Tisdall is a long-time volunteer for Waikato environmental groups in her area. She said some projects, like pest control in the Kaimai Range, occur on steep, dangerous country and really should be undertaken by professionals. Jobs for Nature trained people to do that work, but she said many were young people who needed paid employment and, when funding went, so did skilled workers . Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society helped with pest-trapping on Pirongia, where blue-wattled kōkako were returned in 2017. Janet Leggett, who wrote many of the society's funding applications, said the group also had the vision to see kiwi back on the mountain, but finding funding had been become harder and harder. "The pool is shrinking," she said. "Our major funding sources are the government-funding sources, but the Department of Conservation hasn't been able to fund us for the last two years." The group received funding from Waikato Regional Council and other groups, such as Lotteries, but Leggett said they received less than half of what they applied for. Not just new projects could be affected. Leggett feared the progress already been made to reduce pests could also be reversed. "It's not going to take long for things to regress, and the possum and rat numbers to build up, and the birdlife to be affected," she said. "It's at a point now where it's really critical." Wrigley said, as funding contracted, progress had to rely on other things. "The work is ultimately kept going through relationships between whanau, hapu and communities," she said. The vision for restoring nature in Waikato was big. These groups just hoped that austerity in the funding sector didn't set back the progress. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
