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Registering your pet is a mandatory requirement under the Domestic Animals Act 1994. Apart from being a state legislated, pet registration helps us reunite you with your pet if they are picked up or get out unexpectedly and assists with data collection and how to increase responsible pet ownership throughout our community. All pets must be microchipped to be registered. If your pet is not microchipped- please get in contact with your local v...

Nuisance pets and animals

You can discuss nuisance pet and animals issues our friendly Customer Service team on 5320 5500 or info@ballarat.vic.gov.au.

Responsible pet ownership

As a pet owner, it is your responsibility to provide proper and sufficient food, drink, and shelter for your pet and ensure you seek veterinary or other appropriate attention or treatment if your pet requires it. City of Ballarat Animal Management Officers are authorised under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 to investigate alleged matters of cruelty within the municipality. Warnings, infringements, and prosecutions c...

Ballarat Animal Shelter

The Ballarat Animal Shelter is a safe haven for thousands of lost, surrendered, abandoned or mistreated animals as well as those caught up in emergency events each year.

A woman walking through the enclosures of the shelter

Christmas Adoption and Donation Drive

The Ballarat Animal Shelter has 80+ animals available for adoption. A dog in a Christmas hat in front of a Christmas tree

The Shelter would like to see as many of these cats and dogs spend Christmas in their new family home as possible.

Pets are for life, so it is important that you have thoroughly reviewed the responsibilities of pet ownership, before adopting a cat or dog for Christmas, or indeed any time of year.

To see the many wonderful furry companions available for adoption at Ballarat now, visit PetRescue.

If you are not able to adopt a pet this festive season, you can contribute to the Ballarat Animal Shelter’s Christmas Donation Drive and help bring some cheer to a cat or dog’s holiday season. See the full list of items to donate here.

Donations can be made at the Ballarat Animal Shelter (Gillingham Place, off Gillies Street, Alfredton) between 9am – 4pm Monday to Friday and from 8:00am to 12:00pm on Saturdays.

A special donation drop-off point has been established at the Ballarat Town Hall between 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday to Friday, and between 10:00am – 4:00pm Saturday and Sundays.

Opening hours and Contacting Us

The Ballarat Animal Shelter is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday for reclaims, meet and greets by appointment (no walk-ins), donations drop offs and questions.

Out-of-hours collection of your pet can be arranged through our afterhours animal management team.

You can drop in and say hi or message us on Facebook

You can call us on 5334 2075

Please note our phone lines get very busy and we must prioritise the animals and people who attend in person, so if you cannot get through, please drop in.

Donations

The Ballarat Animal Shelter welcomes donations – our animals are very thankful for your kindness.

Before dropping items at the Shelter, please review the below:

Accepted donations:

Towels
Flat sheets preferred but fitted sheets are okay
Blankets
Wet cat food and dog food

Please do not provide:

Beds (pet or human)
Cat or dog dry food
Rubbish/old clothes/bins

Lost pets and reclaims

I have lost a pet

If you have lost cat or dog, get in touch with us, as they may have been collected by an Animal Management Officer or brought in by a member of the public.

We can quickly reunite you with your pet if they are registered. It is much more difficult if they are not registered.

If your pet is lost over the weekend of after business hours, please call Customer Service on 5320 5500 and speak to the After Hours Animal Management Officer.

You will be required to pay a reclaim fee and registration fee if your pet is not currently registered, before taking your pet home.

Your pet’s safety is paramount to our team.

If your pet has escaped your property or was at large in the community and was collected by the Animal Management team, you may receive a follow up call to discuss how you believe your pet escaped. You may be issued with enforcement notices (an official warning or infringement) for failing to keep your animal contained to your property.

You may also be issued with a Notice to Comply to amend the fences at your property to prevent this occurring again.

I have found a lost animal

Please attend the Ballarat Animal Shelter if you find a lost animal in the Ballarat or surrounding regions.

If have found an animal over the weekend of after business hours, please call Customer Service on 5320 5500 and speak to the After Hours Animal Management Officer.

Adoption and Surrender

The Ballarat Animal Shelter currently has limited capacity to take on unvaccinated cats or kittens due to the extreme cat vaccine shortage occurring worldwide.

The global shortage has left the shelter with no provision to vaccinate cats and kittens upon entry.

Having unvaccinated cats within the facility will lead to risks of outbreaks of respiratory viral disease and feline panleukopenia, which can be fatal and detrimental to the current population of cats currently at the shelter.

Wherever possible, residents are encouraged to consider and explore alternative options before surrendering unvaccinated, healthy cats. This may include speaking to your local veterinary practice regarding veterinary costs, seeking support from friends or family members, or contacting the Ballarat Animal Shelter if you are struggling to meet the costs of pet food.

Surrendering any unvaccinated cats or kittens to the shelter places them at risk of being exposed to potentially fatal diseases. The Ballarat Animal Shelter thanks the community for their patience and compassion at this difficult time.

Adopting a new pet

Are you looking for your forever friend? The Ballarat Animal Shelter might have the purrfect match for you.

View the animals we currently have available for adoption on PetRescue

Found a match?! Please contact the Ballarat Animal Shelter and book a “Meet and Greet” with the animal that you have bonded with (virtually). You will be allocated a time to come in and meet your potential new best mate.

The team know all the animals in their care very well and understand they have come from a variety of different backgrounds. If you are uncertain about what is the best fit for your lifestyle- leave it up to the qualified staff to match for you!

Based upon your needs, wants, and hopes for a new furry friend, they may suggest one of our animals which may suit your lifestyle the best.

If approved, you get to take your new mate home!

All animals will be vaccinated, wormed, defleaed and desexed/neutered prior to being put up for adoption. All you need to do is pay the adoption fee and registration fee and you get to leave with your forever friend.

Surrendering an existing pet

If you are experiencing financial difficulty and/or a change in home circumstances and this is impacting upon your ability to care for your pet, you may consider surrendering your pet to the shelter. Our staff understand that life is unpredictable and welcome the opportunity to provide animals with suitable homes.

Once surrendered, your pet will undergo testing to assess suitability for rehoming and if approved, will be available for adoption or placement with a rescue organisation.

Get involved with the Animal Shelter

Foster Carers

We appreciate foster carers within our community. They have been essential, especially during kitten season. We often need foster carers to look after kittens that are too young for adoption, we prefer them to grow up in a home environment. This socialises the kittens and protects them from possible shelter sicknesses.

We also need foster carers to help out sick or stressed cats/dogs that are struggling in the shelter environment. Being in a home often fast tracks health and improves stress giving the animal a better start to their new life.

If you are interested in becoming a foster carer for cats or dogs, please contact animalshelter@ballarat.vic.gov.au to be sent an application

Volunteer

We do not currently have a volunteer program in place, but is currently in progress. We need to ensure the safety of our animals and the community. We look forward to having people involved in the weekly routine of the shelter

Prospective volunteers can register their interest online to volunteer with the City of Ballarat.

Work Experience

Work experience students are welcome.

We have students involved in the daily routines of the shelter, from cleaning out animals pens and feeding to enrichment. It’s beneficial to our animals to spend time with people of all ages and helps with our rehoming process.

Prospective work experience students can register their interest online to work with the City of Ballarat.

Cruelty and welfare reports

The City of Ballarat’s Animal Management team are authorised under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 and can investigate animal cruelty/welfare matters.

Please contact Customer Service on 5320 5500 to report instances of animal cruelty within the municipality.

The Animal Management team will commence an investigation. You may not be able to be provided with information or an update due to the City of Ballarat’s privacy policy. All welfare complaints are investigated within 24 hours of receipt.