Animal shelter and Tip Shop reopen

Published: 19 Jun 2020 2:37pm

Wagga Wagga City Council’s Glenfield Road Animal Shelter and Gregadoo Waste Management Center Tip Shop are reopening thanks to the continued easing of NSW Government COVID-19 restrictions.

Glenfield Road Animal Shelter reopened on Tuesday 16 June, and Animal Welfare Supervisor Julie McPhail said she and the team were relieved.

“Adoptions are going to go so much easier now!” Ms McPhail said.

“It’s good to see people face-to-face.”

Shelter staff are requesting the community abide by the hygiene and social distancing measures in place.

“We’re asking everyone to use the hand sanitiser at the front door, and we’re allowing one person or family group into the office at a time,” Ms McPhail said.

“We’re also getting everyone to sign in, so we have their details in case of an outbreak.

“We can allow a maximum of 7 people in the cattery, and 20 in the kennel at a time. If either is full, we’re just asking people to wait patiently until someone comes out and we can let you in.

“We have some beautiful furry friends who are looking for a home, so they’ll be very pleased to see you.”

The Gregadoo Waste Management Center Tip Shop will be reopening on Saturday 27 June from 8am–4pm.

Facility Manager Geoffrey Pym said the team had seen an increase in tip visits during the COVID-19 shutdown.

“We’ve had a lot more items dropped off,” Mr Pym said.

“Generally, on a good Saturday or Sunday we see around 200–250 small vehicles arrive with a load, but we were seeing the same numbers throughout the week as well.”

“We’ve been busy gathering materials in preparation for our reopening. Obviously, a lot of people have cleaned out the back of the shed, because we’ve had an increase in mowers and whipper snippers.”

In addition to new social distancing measures, the tip shop’s operating days have changed, with the shop now open Saturday, Sunday and Monday each week.

“The shutdown gave us an opportunity to rethink how we operate, and we decided to make Saturday our first day of trading, rather than Friday,” Mr Pym said.

“We wanted to make sure the whole community, including people who work Monday–Friday and school children, have an equal opportunity to come out and see what they can reuse, recycle and repurpose.

“We’re looking forward to reopening, as we’ve got a lot of quality materials looking for a new life.”