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The Petbus carried animals great and small, from dogs to ants to geese.
A modern day Noah’s Ark traverses the country every month carrying one of the nation’s most treasured cargo – pets.
Petbus is Karyn McLauchlan’s solution to New Zealand’s impersonal and stressful pet transport options.
McLauchlan used to be a dog breeder, and had a terrible experience transporting puppies by airline in 2004, with two puppies dying on the journey to Wellington.
“I decided to deliver them myself from then on,” McLauchlan said.
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The service grew through word of mouth and breeders caught on to what she was doing.
The business ran two buses, complete with air conditioning, and McLauchlan did most of the driving.
The smaller shuttle bus was used when the bigger bus was fully booked, and followed the main bus. It was also used for special runs between the monthly trips.
Their website allowed people to track the bus in real time, travelling from Auckland to Invercargill.
Her nephew recently got involved with the trips, and her daughter was beginning to take over the office work.
They operated as an essential service during Covid-19 alert levels 2 and 3.
“I hope it becomes a family business,” McLauchlan said.
They carried every household pet you could think of, plus some you wouldn’t.
The strangest in McLauchlan’s memory was a young man’s ant farm. She had also transported big spiders and feathered friends like geese and peacocks.
The largest animals they took were Great Danes and Saint Bernards, but no horses made the cut.
They ran similar to a courier service, with pets hopping on and off at various stops. In one journey they normally transported about 150 animals.
Amongst the good times and interesting passengers, McLauchlan had issues with her business being associated with scammers in the breeder community.
She had received a call one day from a woman expecting a $2500 puppy to be delivered the following day by Petbus, paid for by the breeder.
McLauchlan had to tell the woman that Petbus was not even on a run at that time, and the puppy she had bought likely never existed.
“It annoys me that they claim to use Petbus. It’s happened four or five times now,” McLauchlan said.
Petbus’ policy had now changed, and the buyer must book the animal on the service themselves, not the breeder.
McLauchlan acknowledged it was human instinct to trust others, but warned that people needed to be careful when purchasing animals online.
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