00:00When Rosie the Bull Arab first walked into Steve's life, he knew the affectionate pup
00:08would become family.
00:09I've seen quite a few strays and dogs looking for adoption come through and she just had
00:17that special look.
00:18Steve adopted her from Paw's Darwin at 10 weeks old and paid a $550 fee which included
00:26the cost of dissexing when she was old enough.
00:29Steve soon found Paw's couldn't hold up their end of the deal.
00:33The explanation that we'd been given was that Paw's had made an arrangement with one
00:38of the local vets to do the sterilisation and that she'd been put in a queue.
00:49He spoke to that local vet and found there was no arrangement.
00:53When he returned to Paw's he says their story changed.
00:57There wasn't sufficient cash flow to fund those de-sexing operations at the moment.
01:02The ABC has spoken to four other families who say they too have been left out of pocket and
01:09that Paw's told them conflicting stories about how the charity intended to provide the service
01:14they had been paid for.
01:16Some of these clients asked Paw's for a refund but never received it.
01:21So they have got $212,000 of unmet liability that they don't have current assets against.
01:28This financial expert says the organisation's cash flow problems aren't new.
01:33If we compare the previous year and the most recent year which is 24 ending it doesn't look
01:39like things have improved over time.
01:42So they seem to be in big trouble.
01:45In a statement the NT's Animal Welfare Agency said officers had visited Paw's in May and were
01:52told they are no longer accepting further animals.
01:56But in an email seen by the ABC Paw's volunteered to take an undersex dog from a local pound two
02:03months later in July.
02:05I would have expected them to do what I believe would be the honourable thing and stop taking
02:10animals in.
02:11Paw's Darwin told the ABC their charity receives no government support and is facing significant
02:18challenges adding they are currently working towards ensuring all outstanding commitments
02:23are met and apologising to their clients for the recent lack of communication.
02:28A small charity under big pressure.
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