Latest news with #animal shelter
CBC
15 minutes ago
- Business
- CBC
Happy Valley-Goose Bay SPCA struggling to get by this summer
Labrador's only SPCA animal shelter is once again pleading for help as it struggles to keep operations going. Bonnie Learning, a longtime volunteer with the Happy Valley-Goose Bay SPCA, said the summer months have been financially difficult in recent years. She said fundraising is getting harder for the non-profit organization. "The cost of living is going up," Learning said in an interview with CBC Radio's Labrador Morning on Monday. "There's not as much disposable income to donate or spend otherwise. "It's hard for everybody, including not-for-profits and charities," she said. Learning said the organization spends about $400,000 on its operations every year. Seventy per cent of that money goes toward full-time employees' wages and vet bills for the animals, she said. However, the former vice-president said the SPCA ensures those two expenses are covered, no matter what the financial situation is. The staff instead has to make decisions on what brand of dog food to buy, for example. The small shelter — home to cats, dogs and other small animals for adoption or fostering — holds a variety of fundraisers throughout the year, but Learning said their most helpful ones don't happen until fall. In a social media post, Learning said if the shelter doesn't get more monetary support, it will have to stop all intake of new animals by the end of October. The Happy Valley-Goose Bay SPCA hosts a monthly 50/50 fundraiser, and has several more events planned for the end of July and throughout August.
CBS News
16-07-2025
- General
- CBS News
Oakland shelters no longer required to accept surrendered pets
At Tuesday afternoon's meeting, the Oakland City Council approved a new ordinance that would allow its animal shelter to refuse unwanted or abandoned pets being surrendered to their care. The head of Animal Services said it's a best practice, but some volunteers point out that it's only happening because of budget cuts. On Tuesday, if someone had an animal to turn into the shelter, they were out of luck. Prior budget cuts have closed the facility to the public on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But the new policy, just approved, would allow them to refuse new animals at any time when there just isn't enough room or staff to care for them. Oakland Animal Services Interim Director Joe DeVries said other cities have a similar ordinance. "We want to be abiding by best practices," he said. "But it's also true that by doing that we will make it easier for the staff, so the staffing shortage won't have as severe an impact." Oakland had always been what's known as an "open admissions" shelter. By law, they were required to accept any animal surrendered to them. The new ordinance will give them discretion. But some volunteers, who make up the majority of the shelter's workforce, say it's just an excuse to accept inexcusable cuts to their budget. "What they're changing is, the shelter can say, 'Well, we can't take this dog, we can't take this cat because we no longer have the staffing, the resources, the ability to do it,'" said volunteer Johanna Widger. "And that's the problem. The problem is that they keep cutting the budget. Just recently, they cut eight permanent full-time staffing positions, so we'll have even less people working with the animals. It's just a mess and we want the people of Oakland to know about this." Widger and Willow Liroff donate their time in taking care of the animals in the shelter. They said the new ordinance may be a practical reality, but it will have dire consequences in the future, when people begin abandoning their animals in the community. "We have people in the parking lot letting animals loose. We have people in our streets, at parks. This problem is only going to compound," said Liroff. "We have never seen such a severe and drastic staffing shortage as we have now. To lose eight full-time positions from an already skeleton crew staff is devastating. And the shelter is truly in crisis because of it." And the heartbreaking results were suddenly there to see. A woman arrived carrying a tiny newborn kitten she had just found in the street. "This little baby was under a car, a parked car," she said, expecting to drop it off. But then she was told there was no one available to accept it, and she left with the kitten still in her arms. Whether it lived or died was now her problem. The volunteers said the shelter has been an easy target for the budget ax and they have been dealing with more and more cuts every year. But now, they say they have been cut too far and the solution of turning away animals from an animal shelter is really no solution at all. "I had to bring this up because I think that it's important for people to know that we've had death by a thousand cuts!" said Widger. "With the staffing crisis, there's no easy immediate answer for it, but changing an ordinance is something that is disastrous to the community," said Liroff. Director DeVries said, rather than surrendering their pets, he would prefer a system that tries to connect owners with the help they may need to keep their animals. But the volunteers said, after the budget cuts there is simply no one left in the building to do that.
CTV News
13-07-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Miramichi SPCA asks for support from community during ‘tough times'
The Miramichi SPCA is pictured in an undated photo. (Source: Facebook/Miramichi SPCA) A New Brunswick SPCA was forced to shut down temporarily due to an outbreak of panleukopenia. The closure has also placed a financial strain on the animal shelter. The Miramichi SPCA has reached out to its community to ask for support after facing a month's long closure due to panleukopenia, a highly contagious and potentially fatal disease in cats caused by parvovirus. 'Our operating costs continue to increase in 2025 and with this unexpected viral outbreak we have needed $35,000 to keep our doors open every month,' a Facebook post from the Miramichi SPCA said. The SPCA asked for help from the community as it resumes normal operations, 'whether through donations, volunteering, fundraising or fostering, your support makes a world of a difference,' the post continued. Since September 2024, the SPCA detachment said it has found homes for 248 cats and welcomed 218 new cats into its care. A GoFundMe has been set up to cover the veterinary bills and additional supplies that were needed to handle the panleukopenia outbreak. The SPCA website also offers other methods of donating, including an Amazon Wishlist that lists items needed for the animal shelter. 'Thank you once again for standing by us during these tough times,' said the post. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
