Jennie Hill

What is Bobby?

When disaster strikes, one of the biggest concerns for people with pets is finding crisis care for them. People facing natural disasters (such as needing to evacuate a potential bushfire, flood or cyclone), and people facing personal disasters (such as the need to escape family violence, or a sudden hospitalisation), find their problems are compounded by not knowing what to do with beloved pets. In these situations, Bobby can help. Using an app, Bobby will match pet owners around Australia with loving volunteer carers to mind their animals for periods ranging from a few hours to a few weeks while they get themselves sorted out. It's easy to use, is a wonderful help for those who need it, and is a desperately needed service during times of crisis.

Where Did Bobby Start?

Bobby started as a small Facebook page called Bushfire Bobby during a hot summer in Melbourne three years ago. It was my response to the many families in my bushy suburb who found it difficult or impossible to evacuate on high fire-risk days because of their pets. If they didn't have close friends or relatives living in safe zones, they had nowhere to go. Others had unusual or multiple pets they couldn't easily plan for, or had to work on high fire danger days and didn't want to leave animals home alone.

Bobby was named after my own toy poodle whom I love dearly and would do anything to protect. He's 6 years old and cheeky, happy and gorgeous ...

Over the next three years, Bobby helped people with pet care during a number of disasters. There were serious fires in the Blue Mountains in NSW, and in South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia. There were floods and cyclones in Queensland. As Bobby grew we became busier: much busier. Then we started getting calls for help for all kinds of animals as well as dogs and cats: people sought care for horses, goats, chickens, rabbits, birds and even exotic pets like snakes, lizards and pet insects. The Facebook page quickly spread to include more than 6,000 members. We now operate all over Australia and have helped hundreds of families during emergencies. This pic is an example of people helping each other on the page just before a high-risk fire danger day in Victoria in 2016

Why Is Bobby So Important?

A year ago, I learned around half of the 170 people who died on Black Saturday in 2009 did so because they couldn't evacuate with their pets. I also learned many women don't escape violence in their homes because they have nowhere to go where they can take animals, and can't leave them behind because the animals may be in danger. That was when I realised Bobby could save human as well as animal lives, and was critical to giving people better options and helping them plan. I started networking with people working in bushfire organisations, emergency management, animal research and family violence services, who all told me the issue of pet care is their biggest problem during actual and potential disasters. So the idea to turn Bobby into a business was born. This photo, taken during a tsunami in Japan, shows the incredible will people have to keep their animals safe, even when their own lives are in peril:

How Can You Help?

Although I've been running Bobby with success as a Facebook page, this isn't the most efficient way to operate. Bobby needs to be turned into an app to give pet owners an easier way to find carers when they need them. The app needs to be easy to use and understand and easy to promote, and it is: you can view our mock-up of it here, at www.bobby.org.au.

To fund the creation of this app, I'm asking friends, supporters and their contacts to help. For a small fee you can purchase a Bobby Membership, which will entitle you, once the app is operational, to a Membership giving a year of free emergency pet care (or you can buy one as a Christmas gift). This Membership is offered here at a lower price than it will cost once the app is operational. And if you don't have pets, you can buy a Membership as a donation for someone who can't afford it (a woman who needs to escape family violence, for example). Or, you can buy two Memberships: one for you, and one as a donation.

Thanks for helping Bobby. At all levels of support you'll get a personal thank you, and will be kept up-to-date with how Bobby is going. At some levels you'll get a Bobby t-shirt in your size, or a Bobby branded dog lead. And at all levels, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you were there at the beginning when Bobby was born, and that you helped save human and animal lives.

How Will Funds For Bobby Be Used?

All funds raised through this campaign will be used to build a sophisticated app to enable pet owners to quickly and easily find loving volunteer pet carers during times of crisis. It will work a bit like AirBNB, matching people needing the service with people who can help. App development is expensive and time-consuming, especially one with specific functionality needed. Once the app is operational, most pet owners will pay a small yearly membership fee to access it, so Bobby will become self-funding. However, owners in hardship will still have their Memberships paid for by donations or sponsorships, to allow them to use Bobby even if they can't personally afford it. All will have access to the same pool of animal lovers who'll mind their pets. 

The cost of the Bobby app will be more than $15,000 on its own, so this is the minimum amount needed to get Bobby operational. Additional funds will pay for initial marketing and PR services. You can view the mock-up of this app here, at www.bobby.org.au. It will be built by professional app developers, and the funds required includes branding and all registration and hosting costs.

How Can Bobby Be Even Better?

If we can raise additional funds through this campaign, we can do much more good. We can build awareness of the Bobby App and expand its impact, helping many more people and their animals. As your generosity grows, we will be able to do the following:

A) $12,000 towards hiring, for 12 months, a professional PR consultant to market the Bobby app.

B) $6,000 towards holding a launch event to get Bobby into the news.

C) $18,000 towards employing a Project Manager to help implement all the activities and services named in the project, so Bobby can be promoted to the widest possible audience and do more good.

D) $9,000 towards travel to meet with communities across Australia and share how this app can support them.

E) $18,000 towards partnering with women's family violence services and pet rescue organisations to promote Bobby to women needing to escape violence.

F) $15,000 towards pioneering a yearly awareness event, tentatively called "Take Your Dog To Work Day", to raise awareness of the need to allow pet owners to keep pets with them during times of potential crisis; the need for law reform in allowing pets in rental accommodation and entry to hospitals and other institutions; and to create information packs and merchandise to promote these events and activities.

The more funds we can raise, the more good we can do for Australians and their pets. It would be amazing to achieve these extra funding goals to take Bobby to a wider audience and help more of those who need it. Australians in crisis, and their pets, thank you.

What Are The Challenges?

The biggest potential challenge for Bobby is promoting the app to enough animal owners, so they will sign up to use it. We will overcome this challenge by partnering with emergency service organisations, pet care businesses and family violence advocates, and others, to spread the word about Bobby. We will also use media and social media extensively to market the app and its benefits. Another potential challenge is finding enough carers willing to mind pets, so owners have enough choice when looking for a pet minder. However, through running Bobby on Facebook, we know there are many wonderful people who have a pet but are willing to help someone else's animal in a crisis, or who can't own a pet but love the idea of having one on loan occasionally. Once again, we plan to find them and sign them up!

Finally, we know some people will have concerns about the potential for problems to arise during an animal care situation. That's why we will provide a lot of information to both owners and carers to ensure all animals are well looked after, and both owners and carers are comfortable with the care they've arranged.