Changes to SPCA Wellington's public vet clinic

The SPCA Centre in Wellington will remain open and continue to do its vital work for the thousands of abused, neglected and vulnerable animals that come into our care in Wellington each year, however, the public vet clinic that provides services to owned animals is closing its doors to the public.

Over the past two years at SPCA, we have found it considerably more difficult to manage our vet clients along with our own SPCA animals and those animals needing vet care from other SPCA Centres in the region. Juggling this workload for our veterinary staff has now become unworkable. This is due in part to the national veterinary shortage, as well as the heavy workload, long hours and associated stress on our veterinary teams.

We understand this news may come as a shock and be disappointing to those of you in Wellington who have built wonderful relationships with our SPCA staff and animals over many years. Many of you are also generous donors and your continued support means everything to us.

Treating the over 3400 neglected and abused animals that come into our Centre in Wellington each year from our Inspectorate, the public and other SPCA Centres has to be our priority going forward, as this is our core purpose. There is so much more we could do for the animals who need us. We will continue to reduce the number of unwanted animals in our community through desexing and we will carry on supporting the many rescue groups in the Wellington region who rely on our services.

We are tremendously thankful to each of you and our team have loved our interactions with your furry, fluffy and feathered family members we’ve had the great privilege of treating throughout their lifetimes. We know it is a change for the wider Wellington community, and we are confident that with the help of our neighbouring veterinary clinics, your owned animals will all be very well taken care of. The public SPCA Vet Clinic will officially treat its last patient on February 27, 2022.

Our Wellington Centre is more than happy to assist in the transfer of your pet’s vet records over to your new clinic. They have contacted local vet clinics in the Wellington Region, so they are aware that you may be calling to register your pet. Please don’t hesitate to contact our Wellington Centre with any queries.