It was concerning to read on social media that Council management stated there was only one staff member on duty at GRAS for the holiday period (24 December 2016 – 3 January 2017 *EDIT: GRAS reopened to the public on 3/1/17*) for only 2-4 hours per day. This is a very short amount of time given the number of animals that were held at Wagga Pound over this period (28 cats and 25-29 dogs according to Council management). It was also upsetting to read, that a cat that went to rescue in this period was so dehydrated that the rescue had to take her to the vet the following day for treatment. During this holiday period GRAS was not open to the public. We emailed Council on 18 January 2017 regarding our concerns about the holiday staffing and quoted some of the tasks that are required by Council pounds under the NSW Animal Welfare Code of Practice, e.g: 7.2: "Fresh water must be available at all times." 4.1: "After cleaning, animal housing areas should be left dry. Kennels and cat runs should be dried with a mop or squeegee." 6.2: "Each animal shall be checked at least once daily to monitor its health and comfort. The person checking the animals should note whether each animal is eating, is drinking, is defecating, is urinating, is behaving normally, is of normal appearance, is able to move about freely, has a normal coat." 2.1: "Provision of sufficient quantities of appropriate food and water to maintain good health. Supervision of daily feeding, watering and inspection of animals held to ensure their wellbeing. Provision of prompt veterinary or other appropriate treatment in case of illness or injury." As well as completing the above duties, the staff member on duty would also have other tasks to fulfil. These would have included checking the deposit pens (extremely important as they face west and are like sweat boxes in summer), contacting owners of lost microchipped animals, collecting stray animals from the vet and public places, contacting Rescue and completing other administrative tasks e.g. record keeping. We do not know how all these tasks can be completed by one staff member in such a short period of time (2-4 hours per day), as well as ensuring the welfare of animals held at GRAS and meeting the standards that Councils must comply with under legislation and the Code of Practice. We are very aware of how time-consuming it is to care for animals appropriately, especially if animals are not well or are vulnerable (young, malnourished, etc). We also realise that on public holidays, animals are going to be left alone for a significant amount of time, so the daily check carried out by the one staff member on duty is not only important, but also would need to be extremely thorough, ensuring that each animal was healthy, had enough water/food to last until the following day and somewhere dry to sleep. We also stated that we considered it to be an OHS issue having only one staff member on duty, placing both the staff member and animals at risk. In this holiday period, there was no one working at Wagga pound who had formal animal qualifications. We note that in Dr Michelsen’s review he states “the lack of formal qualifications and formal ongoing staff training relevant to animal management is problematic. Effectively it prevents the implementation of quality assurance programs and leaves the facility unable to justify management practices when things go wrong.” To us having only one staff member on duty is a reflection that Council does not realise how much time is required in caring for animals and how many tasks need to be completed on a daily basis at GRAS. We had a meeting in early April 2017 with Council management regarding our concerns about the staffing over the holiday period. We were informed that two staff members would be on duty over the Easter period, and that they would stay for however long was needed to complete all tasks. We were pleased to hear this. However, until we see that these staffing arrangements are included in Council’s policies on GRAS, we do not know whether this is a one-off or a permanent arrangement. Dr Michelsen states “without appropriate management, staff and protocols, no shelter will perform well… the challenges to be addressed in the day-to-day running and management of the shelter include the creation of a comprehensive procedures and protocols manual…” In Council’s Time-frame that was sent to us on 17.6.2016 it stated “It is anticipated all procedures and protocols will be reviewed and put in place over the next 3 months.” We are waiting to read this manual, as this will confirm that policies, procedures and quality assurance protocols are in place that will ensure the welfare of animals and which all staff and volunteers will adhere to.