RSPCA Queensland (RSPCA Qld) is Australia's largest and most recognised charity for animal welfare. One of their services is to provide shelter to pets that are voluntarily surrendered by their owners.

However, due to the success of their branding and awareness campaigns, too many people were entrusting their pets to RSPCA Qld — up to 5,000 animals a year including dogs, cats, birds, rodents and reptiles.

Shelters had reached capacity and call centres were overloaded. While the problem was demand for a service, the underlying cause was a lack of options. So after consultation with call-centre staff and the RSPCA's extensive database of surrendered pets, the RSPCA Qld Surrender Portal was born.

It was designed as a one-stop website that pet owners could use for reliable advice on specific pet problems. The aim was to educate people about alternative options and ultimately prevent pets from being surrendered altogether.

How to make small changes with a big impact

Australian Bureau of Statistics

A prototype for digital data collection