WSPCA is in desparate need of new volunteers

The Westmeath Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (WSPCA) is desperate to get more hands on board to help with its crucial work of rescuing and caring for neglected or abandoned animals across the county, as well as reuniting lost pets with their owners or re-homing surrendered or abandoned animals.

Unbelievably, the society is down to just two members in Westmeath.

“We were three, but our chairman, Johnny Bellingham, died late last year,” says Sarah Mason, who is secretary of the association. The only other member is treasurer Betty Maguire. Sarah is anxious to retire but before she goes is keen to see that the WSPCA is left with a team to help keep the show on the road.

The society hasn’t had an inspector in some time and as both she and Betty are volunteers, any work they do has to be done outside of their own personal responsibilities, which in Sarah's case is as operator of a pain and injury clinic. As well as volunteers, the WSPCA is also looking for an inspector:

“The inspector's job is a part-time job, it comes with transport and is the only paid job,” says Sarah.

The calls are unending, they arrive all day on the Westmeath SPCA phone and when she's finished her working day, Sarah then goes through the calls received.

“There is a massive amount of neglect because it seems since Covid ended, a lot of people want to hand up their dogs because they are not socialised, because they didn't meet people during Covid. They are not easy to re-house because so many people are returning dogs for re-homing, everywhere is full and so they are dumping them in bogs.

“With cats I go into a colony and trap as many as I can, the feral cat population is a problem everywhere. I operate on a ‘trap, neuter, release’ basis,” she says. Also in a bid to keep a limit on the number of unwanted pups and kittens being born, using Department of Agriculture funding she provides vouchers for the elderly or those on social welfare who can't afford to have their dogs or cats spayed or neutered.

Sarah has a long record of involvement in the WSPCA: “My mum was the secretary, her name was Anita Mason, and she drafted me in from an early age. I went to London, but came back home in the year 2000 and got involved again. I would rescue animals, swans, look for lost dogs and find their owners, rehome dogs and cats, answer the phone for all the Westmeath calls, and I'd do all the paperwork for the department,” she recalls, describing her “apprenticeship”.

What motivates her and all who have ever volunteered with the WSPCA is the love of animals. That would be a prerequisite for anyone volunteering to get involved in the society. However, the only real other requirement is that volunteers be aged at least 16.

Sarah reveals that there is also a need for facilities: “All we need is maybe a corner of a field or a farm yard. Probably just an eighth of an acre,” she says. At present, whatever animals she is caring for, she keeps on her own land.

Anyone interested in getting involved in the WSPCA is asked to do so by texting the association on its phone number 0866383730.