Where was your BFF today?

A promotional exploration into responsible pet ownership

Where was your BFF today?

A promotional exploration into responsible pet ownership

Taking Action -

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The issue

Pest animals are a significant problem in the New England region. Staff at the landcare office receive frequent reports of wild and domestic dog attacks on livestock. We are aware also through our biodiversity surveys of the impacts cats, both domesticated and feral, have on our native wildlife. In an effort to reduce ecological, economic and social impacts from pest species we developed a promotional campaign aimed at raising public awareness associated with these risks/threats and to encourage pet owners to be aware of the broader implications of roaming pets. We labelled the campaign with a powerful question 'Where was your BFF today?'.

The solution

The promotional campaign consisted of: a flier (pictured right) that was distributed through the Southern New England Landcare enews (742 recipients); a targeted letterbox drop; an article in our Landchat newsletter (190 hard copies to members & affiliated organisations); a Facebook promotion (boosted): an informative article on our webpage (link provided on flier) with information about the Inside with Cats Program, Feral Cat Scan and the Responsible Pet Ownership Facebook Group. Fliers are also available at vet clinics in each of our main centres (Guyra, Armidale, Uralla & Walcha) and will be distributed twice annually over the next 4 years.

The 'Where was your BFF today?' campaign was designed to highlight the true risks associated with pets left to roam:

Injury from fighting can lead to lifelong problems and expensive vet bills
Unrestrained dogs on farmland are at risk of being shot to protect livestock
Cats on farms risk being treated like a feral and trapped/shot to protect wildlife like the endangered Regent Honeyeater.

The impact

This program achieved a community-wide awareness of responsible pet ownership and the potential impacts of pets being allowed to roam unattended. The program is still in progress and will be properly evaluated through a survey questionnaire circulated among the community in the latter half of 2019. We aim to use the same survey questions on an annual basis to gauge the effectiveness of the campaign over time.