A Lotterywest grant is helping Cat Haven care for thousands of cats each year

While plenty of West Aussies have hit the Lotto jackpot, Lotterywest’s impact on the broader Western Australian community is where you’ll find the real winners.

We’re looking at how Lotterywest grants are helping the people of our State through a variety of different avenues, and this week we’re spotlighting the Cat Welfare Society (Cat Haven).

One of (many) unfortunate stories to come out of the current rental and housing crises faced by Western Australians today is the increasing number of stranded cats around Perth.

Enter the Cat Welfare Society, established in 1962 to promote and improve the welfare and wellbeing of cats in WA, its Shenton Park home is now WA’s largest shelter for homeless, lost and abused cats.

Each year it takes in a staggering 7,000-9,000 cats and kittens (7,500 in metropolitan Perth last year), and has a zero euthanasia rate for treatable, re-homeable cats.

This necessitates the kindness of a huge number of people including 700 members, 55 employees, 71 volunteers at the shelter and over 800 volunteer foster carers.

The Shenton Park site has been the primary base of operations over the journey, but the recent surge in surrenders and rescue calls meant it was getting way beyond capacity, which is where the Lotterywest grants program came in.

To assist, a $105,835 Lotterywest grant went towards the purchase, installation and fit out of a transportable office building to support volunteer activities in the rescue and rehoming of homeless and lost cats.

This enabled additional volunteers to work at any given time, along with providing a dedicated meeting space for adoption interviews, volunteer training, meetings and more, to the tune of an additional 112 vital volunteer hours each week.

You can learn more about Lotterywest grants via the Lotterywest website, and for more info on getting involved with Cat Haven head to their website.