Are you one of the thousands of Queenslanders who burst from the bedroom, bouncing with vim and vigour and head for the nearest park with the intention of cramming more exercise into one hour than John Howard did in five years power walking through the world’s capital cities? Or are you one of the hundreds of thousands who greet the morning with a scowl directed at the previous night’s empty wine bottles and then proceed to ingest enough caffeine to speed start a sloth and enough bacon, eggs and pancakes to slow down Usain Bolt in full flight?
I confess to having a foot in both camps but I really do make an effort to attend RSPCA Qld’s flagship community fundraiser, Million Paws Walk. MPW was the brainchild of Brisbane veterinarian Dr Cam Day, who back then was working with the RSPCA and launched Million Paws Walk in 1996. It then spread to every state and territory in Australia. Quite an achievement and it’s probably our most successful and certainly our best known fundraising event of the year.
In the last ten years it’s been held at a few locations; Murrarie Reserve in Cannon Hill, 7th Brigade Park in Chermside, Wep Harris Oval at the University of Queensland and for the last three years, the Southbank Parklands at Southbank. Thankfully the event seems to grow in popularity every year and last year we estimated we had well over 20,000 animal lovers walking with their pets at 22 locations throughout Queensland.
With all the events, competitions and entertainment on offer at the different locations it’s easy to forget just how vital these fundraisers are to the RSPCA’s very existence.
In Queensland we have an operating budget of around $48 million and we receive less than one percent of this in Government. Funding. Having fun at Million Paws Walk is part of the way you can keep RSPCA Qld afloat.
Anyway put May 21st in your calendar and check out all the competitions you can participate in on the day. You can find out which walk location is closest to you on the website. I can promise you two things. You won’t go hungry and you WILL enjoy yourself. Oh….and so will your pooch.
