Making the regional parklands a better place for pets
Mars Petcare is one of the largest employers in Albury Wodonga, with more than 400 employees. Every year Mars Petcare gather their Associates together to volunteer for a community project.
Parklands have provided the focus for many of these Mars Petcare volunteer days in the regional bush parks we manage. Over 20 years Mars Petcare Associates have participated in a wide range of Parklands projects, both in terms of scale and activities. All have focused on creating spaces to make it a better world for pets.
Some of the many projects include:
- Waterworks Upgrade: In 2012, 400 Mars Petcare Associates rolled up their sleeves for a significant upgrade to the popular dog walking Waterworks Reserve on the Murray River. In one day, half a kilometre of Murray River frontage was opened up to the public with 500 bollards cemented in, ten picnic tables and 4 tonnes of mulch spread around previous planting sites. With plenty of open space to walk the dog, usage of this popular swimming and picnic reserve has increased significantly.
- Ryans Lagoon Wetlands Restoration: 4,000 native seedlings were planted and guarded into this nationally significant wetland. This site is just upstream of the Waterworks Reserve and is planned to become part of the Murray River Adventure Trail.
- Huon Hill Revegetation Challenge: The Mars Petcare Challenge was to volunteer with the community, in this case to clamber up some of the steepest gullies on Huon Hill Parklands to plant shrubs! Team Extreme went on a steep hike to reach their planting site, carting all their tools, materials and plants with them. Meanwhile Team Awesome ensured that more than one thousand seedlings were planted and guarded by afternoon tea. Thank you to Mars Petcare for both their mega efforts and for their donation of $1,000 towards the regional parklands.
- Support for the Bhutanese Community Farm: Mars Petcare donated ‘Winston’ – a small tray truck – to support the efforts of the Bhutanese community to establish a market garden on Gateway Island.
These projects have provided excellent opportunities for the company’s employees to contribute back to their local community in an environmentally sustainable way, generating significant levels of community pride. In addition, they demonstrate Mars Petcare’s commitment to making a difference in the local community.
“An employee who participated in the planting event was watching the television in his local bar just after the event, when a news report of the event was shown. A lady sitting next to him remarked that it was fantastic to have such a wonderful company doing great things like that in the community.
Our employee couldn’t help but feel proud of the company he worked for, which we have found is very common among those who participated in the event. Every time we visit Waterworks we see pet owners interacting with their pets. We feel a lot of pride in giving to our community.”