RSPCA Port Macquarie Branch president Jackianne Wright on advocating for animal welfare

This is the view of long-time RSPCA volunteer and president of the Port Macquarie branch Jackianne Wright.

"I've always cared for animals and their welfare," she said.

Jackianne is originally from New Zealand and believes her love of animals came from growing up surrounded by farmland.

"My family always had pets when I was growing up and from a young age I developed this passion to care for animals."

Jackianne and her husband owned their own farm in New Zealand before moving to Australia.

"We really advocated for treating animals right when we had our farm," she said.

Jackianne joined the RSPCA Port Macquarie Volunteer Branch 16 years ago and has now been the president for the past nine years.

"I have always volunteered in the op-shop and helped out at the shelter before it closed," she said.

"I'm also now a foster carer and have been for the past seven months."

Jackianne said local volunteers were left disappointed when the RSPCA Port Macquarie shelter closed in April.

"It was sad for us because we volunteered a lot of time to the shelter and helped keep it running financially with our fundraising efforts," she said.

The RSPCA Port Macquarie branch still raise funds for the welfare of animals in our region, however all the funds now go directly towards community programs.

"All of our funds stay local and go back into the community to help fund desexing programs."

The Port Macquarie RSPCA branch handed out 210 desexing vouchers in the last financial year and sold over 50 $30 cat desexing vouchers during their last program.

"We want to help improve animal welfare here in Port Macquarie and the main issue we want to tackle is preventing unwanted litters that are then abandoned and end up in shelters," Jackianne said.

"We're really thankful for the local vets who have come on board and are helping us with our desexing programs. We have another cat focused program planned for later in the year."

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