About Us
Second Chance Animal Rescue Inc. (SCAR) is a not-for-profit animal welfare organisation based in Craigieburn, Victoria. Our work brings together animal rescue and rehoming, accessible veterinary care and community outreach, all with a common goal: helping pets and the people who love them stay together.
Our Community Animal Hospital opened in 2019 as the first low-cost veterinary clinic in the City of Hume. The hospital was established around a simple belief that a person's financial circumstances shouldn't determine whether their pet can receive veterinary care. We provide affordable, high-quality veterinary services to the wider community while also supporting the animals cared for through our shelter.
Working at SCAR means seeing veterinary care from a slightly different perspective. We strongly value the human-animal bond and recognise that caring for a patient often means supporting the person at the other end of the lead as well. Many of the people we help are experiencing financial hardship or difficult circumstances, so empathy, respect and a non-judgmental approach are an important part of the way we work.
Our veterinary team manages a busy and varied caseload, from preventative healthcare and diagnostics through to dentistry, desexing and soft tissue surgery. Nurses are actively involved in clinical care, including anaesthetic monitoring, perioperative nursing, hospital patient care, pathology, triage and client education. Fear Free and low-stress handling techniques are also part of our approach to patient care.
The Community Animal Hospital forms part of a much broader animal welfare organisation. Alongside our shelter and rescue work, SCAR runs programs including the Pet Food Pantry, Safe House for Pets emergency boarding program and subsidised desexing initiatives. These programs support people experiencing circumstances such as financial hardship, homelessness, family and domestic violence or unexpected crises, helping reduce preventable pet surrender and keep families together.
Our team values compassion, collaboration and people who are willing to get involved where they're needed. We want our veterinary professionals to continue developing their clinical skills while working alongside people who understand that good veterinary care is about both the animal in front of us and the person who loves them.
For veterinary professionals who want their clinical work to have a broader community impact, SCAR offers something genuinely different from traditional private practice. The work undertaken through our hospital, shelter and outreach programs all contributes to the same purpose: helping animals, helping people and strengthening the connection between them.
