With our Second Chance for Love adopt-a-thon just around the corner, here’s a tale of a super-pooch who is proof that everyone deserves a Second Chance!

Sam, formally knowns as Nate, had been in our care before as a puppy and was first adopted from us about four years ago. Unfortunately the later addition of a new baby into his owners’ family proved a little too much and with ‘Nate’s' best interests in mind, they surrendered him back to Wellington SPCA in November of last year.

But his stay with us second time around was thankfully short-lived … all thanks to Christine!

She had come into our Newtown centre with an open mind but with the hope of finding a dog that was toilet-trained, “walked like a butterfly on a lead” and would be calm around her elderly mother. After spending time speaking with all of our canine caregivers and meeting the dogs, it was Sam who caught her eye;

“Initially I met Jenny who introduced me to Sam, who I fell in love with. He totally fits the bill. It’s less than three weeks into his adoption and I can’t imagine life without him.” 

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Whilst not only being the peaceful and calm dog Christine was looking for, Sam also romps and plays with Christine’s 20 year-old son, showing he clearly has a frisky side too! And from the photos, it’s pretty clear to see that he’s a very contented happy dog in his new home.

 ”I just wanted to say what a great experience it was adopting Sam from the SPCA – I’d never go anywhere else than the SPCA to find a dog.”

 The SPCA’s Second Chance for Love adopt-a-thon is a great event – we aim to find homes for 1,000 animals nationwide. Come along to our Newtown or Waikanae animal centres and you might just fall in love!

Willow and Jet

Finding homes for the thousands of animals that come into our care is a huge task.

One of our rehoming initiatives is to encourage potential adopters to come and meet our animals at locations other than our centres in Newtown and Waikanae. These ‘off-site’ adoption events have taken place at all sorts of places including scout halls, schools and surf clubs!

One of the most recent adoption events saw us joining forces with Capital City Motors, who generously showed their support by converting three of their car showrooms into temporary adoption hot-spots! Capital City staff also stepped up to the challenge by kindly volunteering their help on the day!

Setting up the showroom

The event was a fantastic success with about a dozen animals finding a new home.

Kittens ’Serena’ and ‘Toby’ were just two of the lucky ones to find loving new owners. Vanessa Henshaw and Mike Clephane fell in love with the two cuties after calling in to one of Capital City’s showrooms. The kittens, now renamed Willow and Jet, instantly become part of their new family. 

“They settled in very well right from the first night we brought them home,” said Vanessa. “They both have fantastic personalities and are great to have around – we love them to bits“.

During March, we ran another special adult cat adoption promotion in which we were able to offer another winner a night’s accommodation at ‘ohtel’. That prize was won by John and Anna Carter of Waikanae who had become the proud owners of  ’Harry’.

You can check out just some of the animals in need of loving forever homes on our website and if you can adopt one of them, please give us a call on 04 389 8044!

Love well and truly blossomed for some of Wellington SPCA’s homeless animals this Valentine’s weekend.

Our ‘Second chance for love’ adopt-a-thon proved that love was definitely in the air, with new homes being found for almost 60 of our animals. Braving the temperamental Wellington weather, a huge number of people visited our animal centres in Newtown, Waikanae and Levin and for some it proved to be love at first sight!

Jaffa and Peanut with their new owner Dean (centre)

Dean Thompson (pictured) visited our Newtown centre hoping to find the perfect kitten – and instead ended up falling for two! Two-month old Jaffa and Peanut caught Dean’s eye and were soon heading off to start their new lives in Wellington, helped along with some goodies provided courtesy of Hill’s Pet Nutrition™.

Of  the 60 animals who found new homes over the weekend, one of the most heart-warming stories belongs to Chelsi, a two-year-old Labrador crossbreed. Chelsi was found by the local pound living in car and was brought to the Newtown animal centre. She stayed for over six months, but as a result of Second Chance for Love, will very soon be settling into her new loving forever home. 

Norm Hewitt & family

The event also received support from SPCA Ambassador Norm Hewitt, who paid a visit to our Newtown centre with his wife and children. Norm leads the SPCA’s ’One of the family’ programme that promotes the importance of companion animals being part of the family and responsible pet ownership. Norm and family spent some time checking out the centre as well as getting cuddles from Geppetto the lop-eared rabbit!

Congratulations go to Debbie Brown of Island Bay who won the SPCA hamper after visiting the adopt-a-thon at our Newtown animal centre and simply completed a sign-in form!

Remember, you can still vote for your favourite SPCA centre at www.secondchanceforlove.co.nz and if you adopted an animal over the weekend, submit your story and photo to be in with a chance of winning a year’s supply of pet food from Hill’s Pet Nutrition™.