It’s a familiar story at the Calgary Humane Society — a growing number of animals in need of care with resources getting stretched further.
“Every single dog kennel is full and we have 200 on our waitlist. So that number hasn’t changed over the last couple of years, since the pandemic.”
The society’s Anna-Lee Fitzsimmons said the number of people surrendering their pets each day is rising, citing a lack of pet-friendly housing or financial pressures.
“The city of Calgary is growing at a really alarming rate, and with more people coming to this city, come more companion animals,” Fitzsimmons said.
“Our admissions team continues to be busy bringing in animals — 4,000 to 5,000 a year is typically what we see here — and then we continue to support pet owners in the community as well.”
It’s why the humane society is putting the call out for more volunteers, to better help the furry friends who currently call the shelter home.
“The ability to actually spend time with those animals, get them out of their kennels, get them some love, some enrichment, some TLC. When we have an increase in volunteers it just expands those services and it really improves the quality of stay here for our animals,” Fitzsimmons said.
The Calgary Humane Society held an event for volunteers on Thursday at their headquarters.
As the shelter relies solely on community donations for its funding, the work done by volunteers is crucial, especially with some of the animals needing special care.
“The type of animals that we are seeing right now, particularly in the dog population, we’ve seen a lot of complex behaviour, a lot of challenging dogs.
“It can be hard to find volunteers with the right skill set and the ability to handle these more dangerous animals or some of these nervous animals, some of these animal that need that training and introduction to different people.”
Volunteer roles range from caring and training animals, to administration, reception and fundraising positions.
Fitzsimmons said the overwhelming demand for space at the shelter means there are lots of options for anyone looking to adopt a dog, cat or rabbit.
“Now is a better time, more than ever, to adopt if you are considering bringing an animal into your home. Please adopt… we need to get some of these homeless and unwanted animals into safe and secure environments.”
Anyone interested in adopting, donating or volunteering can find more information on Calgary Humane Society’s website.
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