Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Covid 19 coronavirus: Bay of Plenty SPCAs see adoption spike days before lockdown

Caroline Fleming
By Caroline Fleming
Multimedia Journalist·Bay of Plenty Times·
21 Apr, 2020 01:06 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
New Zealand will move to level 3 of lockdown on Monday, April 27 at 11:59pm. Alert level 3 will be held for two weeks and then Cabinet will assess whether to move down another level.

Bay of Plenty residents were on the hunt for a furry friend just before the country entering level 4 lockdown, with the region's SPCAs experiencing a spike in adoptions.

Five days before the lockdown, 95 animals were rehomed from centres across the Bay of Plenty, a large increase on normal numbers for this period.

Nationally, the SPCA adopted out more than 1000 animals over the same time, triple its usual adoption rate, as people looked for a lockdown companion.

The SPCA was not adopting animals out during alert level 4, but is allowed to start adopting again in level 3.

Tauranga and Rotorua SPCAs had not seen an "upswing in animals being abandoned" since lockdown came in. However, there were still several animals in its care who needed homes.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Three-legged Tauranga cat Toru was in a temporary foster home while restrictions were in place, but would be ready to be adopted after he had made full recovery from his amputation.

Three-legged cat Toru would be up for adoption after he had recovered. Photo / Supplied
Three-legged cat Toru would be up for adoption after he had recovered. Photo / Supplied

Toru was found a few months ago, lying in the grass and unable to move in a suburb in Tauranga.

A member of the public called the SPCA saying they thought he may have been hit by a car.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The cat was "scared and in pain" and was hissing and growling when people tried to approach him, a spokeswoman said.

He was taken to the vets where it was found he had a shattered femur and torn ligaments. The SPCA could not find his owner.

It decided to "give him a second chance at life" and amputated his severely injured leg, she said.

Toru was now thriving and adjusting to life as a tripod. The cat would be put up for adoption when he had fully recovered.

Discover more

No new Bay of Plenty Covid-19 cases

19 Apr 06:00 AM

Kiri Gillespie: Ardern has made the right decision

20 Apr 09:01 PM

Two DHB staff, one patient have Covid-19

20 Apr 02:29 AM

Covid 19: Tauranga and Rotorua retailers 'hurting'

21 Apr 06:00 PM
NeedToKnow3
NeedToKnow3

SPCA inspectors were still performing an essential service throughout lockdown and continued to respond to emergency situations.

Meanwhile, SPCAs across the country were facing close to $1m in losses as a result of the Covid-19 alert level 4 restrictions and no fundraisers being done.

The SPCA had teamed up with Pet Depot, an online pet store, as a way to boost funding again.

Pet Depot founder Ian Sutcliffe said he hoped his business could become a "long-term and reliable source of income" for the charity.

The shop launched in 2019 and, once it broke even, 30 per cent of all its profits would go directly to the SPCA.

The funds would be used to help with the running of SPCAs across the country and would help the organisation to rescue, care for and rehome more than 40,000 animals each year.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Hip-hop legend set for Rotorua halftime show

Rotorua Daily Post

Family outraged as kuia's image used on Hobson's Pledge billboard without consent

Rotorua Daily Post

Highway reopens after timber truck blaze


Sponsored

Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Hip-hop legend set for Rotorua halftime show
Rotorua Daily Post

Hip-hop legend set for Rotorua halftime show

King Kapisi will perform in the break during the Manu Samoa v Flying Fijians match.

06 Aug 06:58 AM
Family outraged as kuia's image used on Hobson's Pledge billboard without consent
Rotorua Daily Post

Family outraged as kuia's image used on Hobson's Pledge billboard without consent

06 Aug 05:35 AM
Highway reopens after timber truck blaze
Rotorua Daily Post

Highway reopens after timber truck blaze

06 Aug 05:30 AM


Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’
Sponsored

Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’

04 Aug 11:37 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP