SAUSAGE DOGS HAVE THEIR DAY IN ALICE SPRINGS, FUNDRAISING FOR LOCAL ANIMAL SHELTER

Dozens of dachshunds have gathered in Alice Springs for the town’s first “dachshund day”, which doubled as a fundraiser for the local animal shelter.

Puppies, puppies at heart, and dachshunds of all shapes, sizes, and colours came for the get-together at Albrecht Oval. 

Organisers Lauren Ward and Alycia Bongiorno said they were not sure how many dachshunds to expect when planning the event.

“I knew there were a couple, but I didn’t think there were this many,” Ms Ward said. 

All paws for a good cause

The event was inspired by an ABC Alice Springs social media post about what breed of dog people had at home.

As plans for the day grew, they thought to do more than just have a get-together and decided to fundraise for the Alice Springs Animal Shelter. 

“I’m always seeing the animal shelter run out of food, or they’re looking for donations, and we were like, ‘well, if we’re going to … celebrate a particular breed, then we might as well put a cause behind it’,” she said. 

“We’ve got donations bins; we made it so there wasn’t an entry fee but [attendees can] just donate some food.”

Ms Bongiorno said several businesses had also contributed donations as part of the event. 

“Quite a few places have happily donated as soon as we said it was a fundraiser for the animal shelter, people were really keen to get on board.”

Letting the dogs out again

Rebecca King is the new manager of the Alice Springs Animal Shelter and said fundraising events like this  would help the shelter secure more necessary supplies. 

Ms Ward and Ms Bongiorno said they were happy with the turnout for the first event. 

“We said we’d be happy if 20 people turned up, and we’ve got a few more than 20,” Ms Ward said.

“We were both very worried no-one would show up,” Ms Bongiorno said.

Ms Ward said they were open to making it an annual event. 

“I’m not sure I’ve got it in me to do it too often, but hopefully we can keep it up now moving forward,” she said.