SERIAL ADOPTER
I recently became unemployed, which should sound alarm bells for anyone who knows me well. As soon as I have time on my hands and am in need of consolation five letters spring to mind: RSPCA. I love animals and my pet-owning history is as follows: five guinea pigs, three budgies, a goldfish, a guppy, a fox terrier and a Siamese fighter fish. Excluding the fish, each pet came from RSPCA. All the pets brought me endless joy and - I’m proud to say - lived long and happy lives in my care (although my earliest guinea pig was dressed up in a bonnet and pushed around in a pram on several occasions, and his happiness about this is debatable). Looking back I realise how naïve (and awesome) my parents were. Some of my excuses for visiting RSPCA which resulted in adoptions were “I’m just going to donate some towels;” “The dog has run out of biscuits and he only likes the ones that RSPCA sells;” “The budgie I adopted last week needs a friend;” and “I’m just going to look at the animals” which was shortly followed by “I’m just going to cuddle the animals.”
Despite the decisions being sometimes hasty, at no stage were my pets adopted without prior consideration of their long-term care. Sometimes my parents lamented letting me choose the animal because I had a fondness for the strangest-looking ones. It was guaranteed that if there was a dog with a missing eye or a guinea pig with a Mohawk that’s the one I chose. As I got older and the last of my pets died my parents laid down the law. No more pets. They reasoned that I would probably move out and leave the pet behind and when I assured them I wouldn’t they worried that I’d still be living at home with a dog in my 30s. Fortunately the pet shop down the road allowed me to take home its animals over long-weekends provided I paid a refundable deposit, so I had lots of foster babies. Then it really was time for me to move out.
Although I’m supposed to be an adult now, I’ve outgrown very few of my childish instincts when it comes to domestic animals. I still find it impossible to walk past pet shops without going inside and talking to all the animals using words like “aww cute little bubby,” although I’m now outraged that animals are still being sold in pet shops and housed in such poor conditions. I was delivered the news of my imminent unemployment yesterday, and I’m heading off to RSPCA in an hour just to look at the animals. My housemate greeted the words “I’m going to RSPCA” with great trepidation, knowing how much I like animals and perhaps also knowing that I actually mean “See you in a few hours with a new pet.” I’ve had a look at the pets available online and, reassuringly, they all have the right number of eyes and ears and look relatively normal so I think our rental agreement is safe - for now.
Natalie is an alumni of CDU. She is passionate about conservation ecology and is now happily employed as a field ecologist and fauna spotter-catcher. When she’s not in the field, you can most often find her playing hockey or swimming at the beach.
