Shane Huntington OAM joins The Lost Dogs’ Home as ambassador

The Lost Dogs’ Home is excited to announce the appointment of Shane Huntington OAM as an ambassador.

As a former astrophysicist Shane is used to questioning our role in the universe. But as newly appointed ambassador for The Lost Dogs’ Home, the host of 3RRR program ‘Einstein a Go Go’ is looking forward to helping address a serious animal welfare concern closer to home.

“We’ve created a real problem as a society by allowing cats to breed in a fairly uncontrolled way because we’re not desexing or microchipping our pet cats,” Shane said.

After recently adopting stray ginger kitten Tilly from The Lost Dogs’ Home, Shane has made a commitment to help one of the largest animal shelters in Victoria drive home the message of responsible pet ownership to as many cat lovers as possible.

Cats are prolific breeders and research has shown that just one pair of un-desexed cats and their offspring can produce 420,000 cats in seven years.

The Lost Dogs’ Home takes in more than 9,000 abandoned and stray cats and kittens every year and most of them are not de-sexed or microchipped.

Tilly was adopted during last year’s Covid-19 lockdown through The Lost Dogs’ Home’s virtual adoptions program.

After believing for decades that he was allergic to cats and so not able to adopt, Shane got tested and found out he was actually allergic to dust mites.

Shane, who was awarded an OAM for his “service to science as a communicator” in 2020, may be a recent cat convert but has always been committed to pet adoption.

His first childhood dog was a Labrador that had failed guide dog school and he even adopted a German Shepherd from The Lost Dogs’ Home during his teenage years.

“I don’t think we could imagine not having Tilly now,” Shane said.

“She’s been incredibly affectionate. Both my partner Kate and I have had many animals over the years, but we have never had an animal even close to how affectionate Tilly is. And we’ve had some pretty affectionate animals!

“Her favourite thing is we’ll be sitting on the couch watching television and she’ll want to plonk herself between us and just sit there for hours and hang with us.”

The experience has been so transformative that Shane and his family this week adopted another kitten from The Lost Dogs’ Home. Little girl Dax went home with Shane and Kate after their visit to the North Melbourne shelter on Wednesday to add even more pet joy to their lives.

Adopting Tilly and Dax at the height of kitten season has opened Shane’s eyes to the overwhelming numbers of cats and kittens that need to find homes during this time every year.

“The home is looking forward to getting its mobile Microchipping and Desexing Initiative (MADI) back on the road again this year and we are very excited to be working with Shane to promote the benefits of its services,” Director of Operations Liz Walker said.

“MADI provides low-cost desexing for cats and educates the Victorian pet-loving public on how they can play their part in making sure all cats and kittens have the best chance of a happy, healthy life and of finding their forever homes, just like Shane’s kittens did.”

Note to media: Tilly and Dax have each been granted the special title of Catbassador for The Lost Dogs’ Home. They have gracefully accepted the title.

For further information or to organise interviews please contact:

Alex Sampson
T: 03 9321 8719
M: 0436 836 836
E: alex.sampson@dogshome.com