28-05-2025
Volunteers hit roadblock in push for social media pages for city-run animal shelter
Volunteers at a city-run animal shelter on the east side of Vancouver say bureaucracy is preventing them from taking action they feel could lead to more frequent and faster animal adoptions.
Erin Ireland has been volunteering at the Vancouver Animal Shelter for several months.
She knows rescue dogs – and she knows social media – frequently sharing pictures and videos of her own three adopted dogs with her 200,000 Instagram followers.
She wants to start dedicated social media pages to promote the adoptable dogs at VAS.
'These dogs don't have to sit there in the shelter for so long,' Ireland said. 'There are people who are looking to adopt dogs, but nobody knows that these dogs are there.'
Ireland and other volunteers supporting the idea have hit a roadblock.
The city won't allow them to create dedicated social media pages for the shelter.
They say there are also strict rules for approval before they can share pictures or videos of the animals on their personal social media pages.
'Every other city in the Lower Mainland that I'm aware of has a dedicated, separate page for their city shelters,' said Meghan Forhan, a lawyer advising the volunteers. 'Vancouver is an outlier here and that is a concern to the staff and to the volunteer members.'
The city would not allow CTV News access to the shelter and did not provide anyone for an interview.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson said, 'the city only permits trained staff to establish, grow and maintain city social media channels.'
Coun. Pete Fry adopted a dog named Ruby from VAS several years ago.
Ruby has since passed, but Fry maintains an admiration for VAS and the work of staff and volunteers at the shelter.
'Social media posts about adoptable dogs are very different from daily city business, and I think that's the point a lot of the volunteers at the Vancouver Animal Shelter are trying to highlight,' he said while offering his support for the volunteers.
The city said it has agreed to post about adoptable animals at VAS twice per month on its corporate Facebook page.
Volunteers see that as a good start but feel they could reach many more potential adopters with dedicated VAS pages.
'The main reason I became a volunteer was actually to showcase the dogs because I do have a larger Instagram following,' said Ireland. 'And I feel like the best thing I can do for the dogs is share them and get them more visibility.'
