Huge vet bills and staffing issues force animal shelter that serves Kilkenny to close

PAWS Animal Rescue have had to make the difficult decision not to take in any more animals 'for the forseeable future'.

The Mullinahone-based rescue centre confirmed the news recently in a statement on social media.

"We are officially closed to intake for the forseeable future," the statement reads.

"We have 90 dogs, a vet bill which has risen again to 50k and we can't get staff, nobody wants to work.

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"The pounds are full and rescue is on its knees. If... and I mean if, we do reopen our doors, it will certainly be 2023.

"Thank you for your support."

Speaking recently to Kilkenny Live, owner Gina Hetherington warned that the rescue centre faced debts in the tens of thousands of euros and that she can see "no light at the end of the tunnel".

"We have been doing this for 25 years and we can't do it anymore," she said.

"We are one of 12 animal welfare groups that received no increase in the Department of Agriculture grants last December. We don't know why? Heatwaves, storms, lockdowns, our team have worked through them all. But, not anymore. If we do not get help, we are done.

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Annually, PAWS' running costs stand at €480,000 while the Department of Agriculture funding is €48,000 leaving the charity to fundraise more than €430,000 from the public.

As fundraising was hard in 2020 and 2021, the 25 year old animal rescue now faces a highly uncertain future.

All of PAWS' overheads have risen this year too: their ESB bill is €1000 per month and while their staff voluntarily work for minimum wage, taxes such as USC, PAYE and PRSI push their wage bill up to €3000 per week.

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And then there are the dogs. As the PAWS website declares: “What will happen to those unheard voices?”