Welcome sweet viewers to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Today we visit the Pets Haven Pro-Life Animal Shelter in Woodend, Victoria, Australia which was founded by Trish Burke who has been called “The angel of the stray animals” by the Australian media. The Shelter is a facility that takes in homeless, lost, and abandoned cats and dogs, and cares for the animals until they are either reclaimed by their caregiver or taken in by a loving home.

Their motto is “Adoption is the first option” and 1,400 animals are re-homed by Ms. Burke annually. The Shelter follows a compassionate philosophy of setting no time limit as to how long an animal resident can stay at the facility.

Pet's Haven has been going since 2007. Previously it was my parent’s pet and produce store and they never sold cats or dogs or anything like that and I bought it when my baby was about five months old and have evolved it and grown it into an animal shelter. We take a small amount in from the community, deceased estates or something genuine that you know a person can no longer keep their pet for a genuine reason.

Ninety percent come from animal pounds. They've completed eight days. If the animal in a council pound is not claimed within eight days, they’re either euthanized or they’re transferred to an animal shelter. I just can't go into a council pound and say, “Hey I want these animals.” It's all contracted. So I have these contracts. I pick up the animal, they come in, they have all their veterinarian work, they're de-sexed, vaccinated, micro-chipped, they go through all different processes if they need anything done and then they're placed up for adoption.

And the media actually did a story on you just recently, so could you talk about that?

What we do is different. We take in animals that are going to be euthanized; they're going to die. And I think it's appreciated by the community and the media, so their stories of angels of the strays, is particularly about saving these animals who would otherwise be euthanized, and that's cats and dogs. It's emotional, it’s not business.

Sometimes saving unwanted animals involves making trips to rural areas which involve hours of travel time.

Mildura has a population of 33,000 people and they have a pound up there that is inundated with cats and dogs. They have nobody to help them. If we don't do the six hour trip one way per week then all these healthy, beautiful animals will be euthanized. So we have a moral and an emotional obligation to save these animals who would otherwise be dead.

A vet nurse called me from a veterinary clinic in Wonthaggi. I don't really know where Wonthaggi is; I know it's miles away. She rang quite distressed because she has two dogs there that are healthy loving animals that have come from the pound. They've completed their eight days and they don't want to euthanatize them and they wanted to know if we would help them. Of course we will help them.

The Shelter’s website is playing a large role in helping many of the animals find a forever home. The site displays pictures of each dog or cat available for adoption along with their name, age, what vaccinations they’ve had, medical notes, the adoption fee and a short description of their personality.

A clever feature of the site is the ability to print a poster of the rescued animal with all their information so that those who have not visited the website or do not have Internet access can also find out about this special dog or cat. One can even email a friend who might be interested in taking in the animal. Finally, as a public service, the site posts animal companion lost and found notices.

It's fantastic. The Internet is a sensational tool; that's where we put all of our animals on. And this morning, myself I came in a bit late and I've already noticed that there's three dogs and two cats that have gone out this morning and that's in a matter of a few hours because people, they know what we do. It's emotional, they know that these animals would otherwise not be here, so our adoption rate is extremely high and the support we get from the community is wonderful.

So do you have people who foster the animals as well?

We couldn’t do this without our foster carers or all our volunteers. We have so many cats and mother dogs and mother cats. We have a dog, Emily. She needs a hip replacement, but she was pregnant at the same time. So this particular dog has gone off and she’s had five Staffy puppies, so she’s going to be with that foster carer, for around four or five months, because after the puppies go we have to do the hip replacement and she has to do the rehab with this foster carer and the foster carer will also take the dog swimming twice a week. So it’s a really big responsibility and these people are just angels.

We’ll learn more about the wonderful Pets Haven Pro-Life Animal Shelter when we return. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants, as we continue with our interview with Trish Burke of Australia who has been called “The angel of the stray animals.”

She is the founder of Pets Haven Pro-life Animal Shelter, a warm place where homeless, lost and abandoned cats and dogs can stay as long as necessary until they find a safe, caring home. Ninety percent of the animals at the Shelter are rescued from pounds. Those who feel they can no longer care for an animal companion should very carefully consider if they can find them a new home or even somehow continue caring for them as putting a dog or cat in the pound or a city shelter can very well mean the end of their life.

When you surrender a dog to a pound you do sign a waiver understanding that this dog can be euthanized and when you surrender a dog, they don’t have eight days, they can be euthanized immediately.

And a lot of the community do not realize that puppies and kittens die on death row too. They’re not just all sold out of pet shops and go to loving homes, actually they die too.

Can you tell us the recent story about the 12 puppies?

Angel is a Great Dane cross Ridgeback. She was placed at a death row pound in an outside pen, the day before she gave birth to 15 puppies. She gave birth to these puppies in the pound facility. Three of those puppies passed away. I now have the puppies which are going on six weeks; I've had them from I think around nine days old.

The mother dog, obviously you know her height, she has the Great Dane height, she is divine, a great mother. The puppies are just robust and beautiful, but all of these babies would have been euthanatized. The mother, if she had not been due, if she had been due say in 10 days time, when her 8 days were up she would have been euthanized with those 15 babies inside of her stomach, so extremely, extremely sad, but luckily for her and for her babies they’re all safe and well, running around and growing rapidly.

Ms. Burke works to share the love of the animals with the community. Those with special needs come to the Shelter regularly to interact with the animal friends.

These group of individuals suffer from Down syndrome. We have probably around about four or five groups that come in here a week with their carer. They go out and they walk the dogs. There’s probably a group of three, and they’ll take two dogs at a time. The joy that they get in spending time with an animal, each and every one of them comes back smiling.

They feel special and they tell us all, “That dog was so strong,” or “That dog talked to me.” They come back giggling and laughing, they start off quiet and they come back with a big smile on their face. And it is something that you can evidently see. So it is beautiful, and it’s worthwhile, and these people are sweethearts for doing it.

What does Ms. Burke envision for the future in terms of aiding the animals in her area?

Education is the biggest thing. So what Pets Haven wants to do is, apart from having our adoption center, we want to be known for education. We're going to start from the age of three upwards.

So the aim is to teach little kids paper mache making of cats and dog and we are also going to do guinea pigs and different animals. We are going to have the school portables We're looking at around 15 of them and to have school camp, so when kids are on school holidays they can come in and they can do, school camp with us.

And we want to hire teachers and have an education program for little kids saying that animals have feelings. And then the child, as they grow will have the education appropriate to their age. I want it to be through the Education Department. I want it to be accredited, I want it to be serious and I want these kids to go out and understand what they're doing.

And so would the children be able to actually touch and hold the animals?

Absolutely. We’ll actually have animals that live on the site, at the premises, and in the classrooms; it will be very interactive.

As we ended our interview with Ms. Burke, we presented her with Supreme Master Ching Hai’s International #1 Best Seller, “The Dogs in My Life” as well as SOS flyers with information on climate change.

I think I’ll go home and make a cup of tea and have a look through. It looks beautiful. Thank you.

For Ms. Burke’s caring devotion to the cats and dogs, Supreme Master Ching Hai is honoring Ms. Burke with the Shining World Compassion Award along with a donation of US$10,000 for purchase of vegetarian dog and cat food or for travel expenses when picking up animals from shelters.

We deeply appreciate all that Trish Burke, the shelter volunteers and foster carers have done for the cats and dogs in their community including feeding, housing and finding them new homes. May Ms. Burke fulfill her benevolent vision of helping the next generation understand the importance of looking after and loving all animals.

For more details on Pets Haven Pro-Life Animal Shelter, please visit

Virtuous viewers, it was our pleasure having your company today on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Up next is Enlightening Entertainment after Noteworthy News here on Supreme Master Television. May Heaven’s blessings always be with you.

Reverend Will Bowen wants to help all lead a complaint-free life. The formula is simple: replace negativity with constructive communication.

One of the biggest challenges of complaining is it keeps you focused on what’s wrong, rather than looking for potential solutions, so you’ve got to leave behind what’s wrong, and begin to ask for what you want.

Please watch Part 2 of “Reverend Will Bowen's Vision of A Complaint Free World”, Sunday, March 28, on Good People, Good Works.