Dismayed by the amount of plastic present in almost every body of water she paddled overseas and by high numbers of stray pets, former RSPCA ACT CEO Tammy Ven Dange has come up with a two-fold solution in Stray No More.
The patent-pending product is an expandable, fully-retractable, temporary barrier for pets, designed to help owners keep their pets from escaping their home or yard, and will be manufactured in Australia using approximately 95% Australian recycled plastics.
Ms Ven Dange, who founded The Refoundry of which Stray No More is one of their product lines, said the product is designed to “create a demand for what would otherwise be rubbish into a resource”.
“Ultimately, I realised I knew of a problem that needed to be solved that could use plastic,” she said. “There are very few pet containment options on the market to prevent pets from escaping homes or yards.”
While Ms Ven Dange said they have other products they would like to introduce in the future, Stray No More is the first product line to launch.
During her time at the RSPCA ACT, she noticed a large proportion of animals at the shelter were stray animals.
“For the ones that were claimed, it was always one of those things – digging under the fence, climbing over the fence, or out the gate or door.”
Stray No More “looks like a fancy baby gate” and Ms Ven Dange said they would like to “try get it certified for children in the future”. For now, the immediate challenge is to get it to market.
A 30-day Indiegogo Campaign was launched on Tuesday 15 October with the aim to raise $250,000 by pre-selling about 1,000 units; this will pay for the steel moulds and the first order of products.
“I wanted to solve problems that weren’t being solved, which means you are taking a risk,” Ms Ven Dange said. “Because it’s not a known product, people also have to take a risk to buy it.”
For more information, visit refoundry.com.au or to support the project, go to igg.me/at/straynomore
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