Loves Puppies, Hates Blacks: The Pet Rescue Listing ‘Rob And Karen’ Would Approve

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As debate – and memes – continue to rage about Mildura’s most famous couple, ‘Racist Rob’ and ‘KKK-Karen’, attention has begun to swing further north… much further north, where the sun is brighter and the necks, they say, are quite a bit redder.

Welcome to Queensland, birthplace of Pauline Hanson, the state on which South Africa’s Apartheid laws were based, and, as it turns out, the home of a beautiful ‘medium female Kelpie mix dog’ named Sahri, who needs a new home.

Sahri is featured on the national site Pet Rescue, and according to her temporary carers, she’s had a pretty tough life.

“I’m Sahri and if you’re looking for the gentlest dog both my foster mums and their friends have ever met, then I’d love for you too (sic) come and meet me!

“I’m very timid at first as life has been very confusing and I’ve never had a family to call my own… I lost faith in people due to how they treated me, l became very fearful and scared.”

Sahri, at risk of becoming another racist Australian kelpie. Will you help save her?

And so who, exactly, were the people who mistreated Sahri? Well, fortunately, the ‘foster mums’ have that history as well… or so they claim.

“I came from an Indigenous camp where I lived as a stray community dog before Happy Tails rescued me and my belly full of babies from the pound.”

We’ve asked Sahri’s carers if they’ve ever felt the need to list the ethnicity of previous owners before… so far no answer is forthcoming, but we’ll keep you posted if one does.

Interestingly, this is not the first time Sahri has been looking for a home. In August, Pet Rescue listed the same dog, but she quickly found a home.

That listing mentioned Sahri was scared of the cat she was sharing a home with… but no mention of losing faith in ‘people’ (i.e. black people) because of how they treated her (scroll down on the PDF below and you can compare the two listings yourself).

adoption_poster_Sahri

Also of note: Sahri appears to get about one year younger over the same period. So on the upside, she’s a magical Benjamin Buttons dog as well.

Either way, let’s hope a little race-based embellishment helps more Australians feel sorry for Sahri, so we can save her from her racist foster placement quick smart.

You can find Sahri’s listing here.

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Unfortunately, you’ll have to travel to the Toowoomba region, west of Brisbane, to meet her… you might remember Toowoomba from such stories as the ‘E.S. N*gger Brown’ grandstand, which the local community refused to rename for more than a decade, despite a finding by the United Nations that it was clearly racist.

In defence of the broader Pet Rescue organisation, here’s a page on their site which details the organisation’s actual view on ‘Indigenous camps’ and the relationship of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with their animals.

There’s currently almost 8,000 animals available for adoption on the Pet Rescue (more than 5,000 cats and 2,000 dogs). You can support their otherwise excellent work here.

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Chris Graham is the publisher and editor of New Matilda. He is the former founding managing editor of the National Indigenous Times and Tracker magazine. In more than three decades of journalism he's had his home and office raided by the Australian Federal Police; he's been arrested and briefly jailed in Israel; he's reported from a swag in Outback Australia on and off for years. Chris has worked across multiple mediums including print, radio and film. His proudest achievement is serving as an Associate producer on John Pilger's 2013 film Utopia. He's also won a few journalism awards along the way in both the US and Australia, including a Walkley Award, a Walkley High Commendation and two Human Rights Awards. Since late 2021, Chris has been battling various serious heart and lung conditions. He's begun the process of quietly planning a "gentle exit" after "tying up a few loose ends" in 2024 and 2025. So watch this space.

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