17/09/2026
‼️A CALL TO EVERY POLITICAL PARTY & EVERY POLITICIAN IN VICTORIA‼️
🐾 🚨 PAUSE APRO — BRING US BACK TO THE TABLE. 🚨🐾
Ahead of the Victorian state election, Pug Rescue & Adoption Victoria is calling on every political party and every politician in Victoria to make an election commitment:
🛑 PAUSE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF APRO.
🗣️ BRING THE CONVERSATION BACK TO THE TABLE.
👥 LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE ACTUALLY DOING THE WORK.
🤝 RECOGNISE THE EXPERTISE THAT ALREADY EXISTS IN RESCUE.
✅ BRING SELF-REGULATION BACK TO THE TABLE
I am not speaking about this simply as the founder of Pug Rescue.
I have been involved in rescue for 17+ years and am a founding member and committee member of the Dog Rescue Association of Victoria Inc.(DRAV).
I know this ecosystem from the inside.
And that is precisely why I am asking politicians to stop and listen to the people who are actually carrying it.
Not because we oppose accountability.
Not because rescue should be above scrutiny.
But because policy that affects rescue must be developed WITH the rescue sector — not simply imposed upon it.
⸻
🔎 SO WHAT IS APRO?
APRO is the Authorised Pet Rehoming Organisation scheme — a Victorian Government scheme for organisations involved in rehoming cats and dogs, including community foster-care networks.
The legislation has passed and the scheme is currently scheduled to commence on 10 April 2027.
The Government describes APRO as a voluntary, benefits-based authorisation scheme intended to strengthen the pet rehoming sector.
But those of us actually doing rescue are asking a very simple question:
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE SYSTEM MAKES RESCUE IMPOSSIBLE?
Our assessment is that in its current form, APRO could make it impossible for the vast majority of Victorian foster-based rescues to continue operating.
And if those rescues disappear, the animals don’t.
The surrender requests don’t.
The pound animals don’t.
The neglected dogs don’t.
The veterinary cases don’t.
The behavioural cases don’t.
The dogs needing emergency foster don’t.
The dogs nobody else has the capacity to take don’t.
THE NEED DOESN’T DISAPPEAR.
THE PEOPLE MEETING THAT NEED DO.
And that matters because rescue is already propping up enormous parts of Victoria’s animal-welfare ecosystem.
⸻
💬 WE ARE NOT FU***NG STUPID.
My experience has taken me far beyond simply rescuing dogs.
I’ve worked alongside veterinary specialists, researchers, government officials, councils, pounds, shelters, investigators and other animal-welfare organisations.
I’ve sat at tables where decisions about animal welfare, veterinary care, legislation and policy are being made.
I have also been directly involved in legislative and policy reform — including work to strengthen breeding legislation, restrict extensive puppy farming and prevent pet shops from selling puppies and kittens, as well as work around pound and shelter reform and the recognition of Community Foster Care Networks (CFCNs) within legislation and codes.
I have contributed to submissions, round tables, consultations and the broader work involved in trying to strengthen the animal-welfare sector.
So I am not coming to this conversation without understanding regulation, accountability or legislative reform.
I understand why regulation matters.
What I am asking for is that the people who have spent decades doing this work are actually involved in designing the regulation that governs it.
And some of the most highly qualified people I’ve worked alongside have said things to me like:
“You see things I don’t see.”
“You know things I don’t know.”
“You are able to achieve things I would never have thought of or been able to pull off.”
So here’s my question:
WHY DOES THAT EXPERTISE SUDDENLY DISAPPEAR WHEN GOVERNMENT STARTS REGULATING RESCUE?
We’re not fu***ng stupid.
WE’RE EXPERIENCED.
And I didn’t just bring something to the table.
I’VE HELPED FU***NG BUILD THE TABLE.
⸻
🐾 I’ve launched missing-dog searches mobilising hundreds of people through a social-media following of more than 500,000.
📣 I’ve organised major animal-welfare rallies.
🔎 I’ve spent months and years involved in animal-welfare investigations — following leads, documenting what I could, connecting people and information, and helping bring evidence and situations to the attention of those able to act.
I’ve provided connections, evidence, human power and on-the-ground knowledge that have helped support major animal-welfare investigations and court matters.
Some of those matters may never have progressed without people willing to go where others couldn’t, do what others wouldn’t, and keep pushing when conventional pathways weren’t working.
I’m not going to pretend every part of that work was easy, conventional or comfortable.
But sometimes the people on the ground are the reason the evidence exists in the first place.
And sometimes, without that evidence:
THERE IS NO CASE.
I’ve coordinated veterinary treatment.
Raised enormous amounts of money.
Found foster homes.
Transported dogs.
Rehabilitated traumatised animals.
Worked with specialists.
Helped facilitate research.
Worked through legislation.
And kept doing it when the system was already stretched beyond capacity.
THAT IS EXPERTISE.
It might not come with a university degree.
It might not come with letters after your name.
But it is knowledge earned through 17+ years of doing the work.
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⚖️ SO LET’S TALK ABOUT SELF-REGULATION.
The rescue sector already has people with decades of practical experience.
DRAV has developed practical guidance around areas including surrender, transfer, foster care and rehoming.
Dogs Victoria also operates within its own rules, regulations and disciplinary framework.
So we have to ask:
WHY IS SELF-REGULATION POSSIBLE IN ONE PART OF THE DOG SECTOR, WHILE EXPERIENCED RESCUE ORGANISATIONS ARE NOT BEING GIVEN THE SAME OPPORTUNITY?
We aren’t asking for a free pass.
We are asking for proportionate regulation that recognises the expertise already sitting inside the rescue sector.
Come and look.
Ask us:
What works?
What doesn’t?
Where are the gaps?
What needs strengthening?
Then build it:
🤝 WITH US.
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🐶 BECAUSE IF YOU REMOVE US…
Who takes the dogs?
Who takes the surrender calls?
Who takes the pound emergencies?
Who finds the foster homes?
Who raises the money?
Who transports them?
Who sits beside them at the vet?
Who rehabilitates them?
Who takes the dogs with the enormous veterinary bills?
Who takes the traumatised dogs?
Who takes the dogs nobody else wants?
WE DO.
We are already carrying a huge amount of the animal-welfare system on our backs.
So if the majority of Victorian foster-based rescues cannot continue under APRO in its current form, the consequences will not stop at rescue.
They will flow into:
POUNDS.
SHELTERS.
VETERINARY HOSPITALS.
COUNCILS.
GOVERNMENT.
FOSTER NETWORKS.
And ultimately:
THE ANIMALS THEMSELVES.
You cannot remove a major part of the system’s capacity and assume the rest of the system will simply absorb it.
THE DOGS DON’T DISAPPEAR.
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📢 SO THIS IS OUR CALL TO ACTION.
This isn’t simply a social-media post.
It is a call to every political party and every politician in Victoria.
WE WANT YOU TO TALK TO US.
Not just the large organisations.
Not just the people with titles.
Not just the people sitting behind desks.
Talk to the people answering surrender requests.
Talk to the people opening their homes.
Talk to the people taking dogs from pounds.
Talk to the people sitting in veterinary hospitals.
Talk to the people paying the bills.
Talk to the people who have spent decades doing this.
COME INTO THE REAL WORLD OF RESCUE.
See what we actually do.
See what it costs.
See what works.
See where the system fails.
And then work with us to fix it.
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📣 OUR REQUEST IS SIMPLE.
🛑 PAUSE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF APRO.
🗣️ BRING THE CONVERSATION BACK TO THE TABLE.
👥 LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE ACTUALLY DOING THE WORK.
🧠 RECOGNISE LIVED AND PRACTICAL EXPERTISE.
🤝 BUILD A REGULATORY FRAMEWORK WITH THE RESCUE SECTOR — NOT JUST FOR IT.
✅ BRING SELF REGULATION BACK TO THE TABLE
And give experienced rescue organisations a genuine opportunity to self-regulate within a strong, accountable framework.
Because if government genuinely wants a stronger animal-welfare system, then the people who have spent decades holding that system together cannot be treated as an afterthought.
WE ARE PART OF THE SOLUTION.
We’ve been here for years.
We’ve been in the trenches.
We’ve carried the dogs.
We’ve carried the bills.
We’ve carried the system.
We’ve carried each other.
DON’T WAIT UNTIL WE’RE GONE TO ASK WHO WILL DO THE WORK.
COME AND SIT AT THE TABLE WITH US.
WE’VE BEEN HERE ALL ALONG.
NOW WE ARE ASKING YOU TO LISTEN.
AND WE ARE ASKING YOU TO ACT.
✍🏻
Joanna Herceg
Founder - Pug Rescue & Adoption Victoria
Founding member & committee member - Dog Rescue Association of Victoria (DRAV)
📣 SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?
🔄 SHARE THIS POST.
🔄 SHARE IT AGAIN.
📲 SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS, RESCUE NETWORKS & ANIMAL-WELFARE COMMUNITY.
🏛️ CONTACT YOUR LOCAL POLITICIANS AND POLITICAL PARTIES.
📧 EMAIL THEM.
📞 CALL THEM.
💬 ASK THEM WHERE THEY STAND ON APRO.
🗣️ ASK THEM TO LISTEN TO RESCUE.
🤝 ASK THEM TO PAUSE APRO & BRING APRO & BRING SELF-REGULATION BACK TO THE TABLE.
📩 SEND THEM THE FULL STATEMENT.
🐾 MAKE SURE THEY KNOW THAT RESCUE IS WATCHING — AND RESCUE IS SPEAKING.
One person speaking can be dismissed.
👏🏻Hundreds speaking together are much harder to ignore.
SHARE. SHARE AGAIN. SPEAK UP. CONTACT YOUR POLITICIANS.
