The Winnipeg Humane Society says it has had to stop taking in pets due to diminished shelter capacity.
“As of today, we have 230 animals in the shelter, but we also have 260+ animals in foster, which is another shelter’s worth of animals,” said Carly Peters, Communications Director.
Peters says their staff and volunteers are stretched thin and unable to give the animals all the attention or behavioural training they normally would.
The shelter has reduced adoption fees in hopes of bringing in more adoptions and in turn making room for the staggering amount of pets in its care.
Peters says the influx can be traced to rising costs for food as well as general pet care.
“Veterinary care is a huge part of the influx of animals. At least 70 to 75 per cent of the dogs we see from owner surrenders, is because they can’t afford vet care and probably about half of the cats,” she said.
While the problem is not new and shelters across the country are overrun with pets surrendered by owners, Peters says she sees does not see an end to the issue for the foreseeable future.
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“We’re talking about a capacity crisis now – this is probably the new reality for a little while, and we’ll all have to adapt.” she said,
However, the community of Winnipeg has stepped up and there have been over 80 adoptions since Monday. On top of adoptions Peters says the shelter wants to keep pets out of shelters through low-cost vet services, boarding and their emergency pet food bank.
“We do deliveries, we need volunteer drivers, we always need food donations. We try and top up as much as we can, but we have more applications than food sometimes,” she said.
Additionally, she says people can help out by fostering a pet through an online application.
— With files from Global’s Katherine Dornian
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