January 2022 Volunteer Profile: Nancy King

When Nancy King retired, one could presume that taking in and fostering puppies for the Winnipeg Humane Society came somewhat naturally for her.

You see, she’d spent 30+ years working at Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg – and much of that time was spent in the zoo nursery, Aunt Sally’s Farm and the Kinsmen Discovery Centre, all of which provided her with lots of interaction with young animals. But not the types of animals most of us would associate with having in your house.

She began fostering for the WHS in February 2011. Since then, she’s fostered 143 puppies, including 10 moms with litters and another 14 little ones that required bottle-feeding. The older pups are fostered for two weeks, then returned to the WHS for adoption. “But one time we had a mom with three-day-old pups and they were here for two months,” Nancy said. “Generally, if they are healthy, pups are returned once they are eight weeks old.”

The number of dogs Nancy fosters varies from year to year. But one she remembers clearly was one she got last March. An eight- or nine-day-old pup was found outside on its own, its eyes still not open. “Animal Services had picked it up and we took it in from the WHS,” Nancy explained. “When her eyes started to open, we noticed they were puffy. The vet said there was an infection in them. She is blind in her left eye.”

This little pup soon won over Nancy and her husband Philip (who also worked many years at the Zoo) and became a foster fail named Amber.

Amber doesn’t let her vision problems (she also has a small spot in her right eye) stop her from watching when geese go over or helicopters fly by, Nancy said. And what started as a small pup has certainly grown. “We thought she was going to stay small but she’s a brindle and she’s sort of Boxer-ish and now she’s about 26 kilos,” Nancy said. “She’s now a lot bigger than our two other resident dogs (rescues Gem and Ruby).” All three dogs welcome the pups, treating them like their own babies.

Like so many WHS volunteers, Nancy has loved animals for many years. But unlike other volunteers she did not have many pets growing up. She had one dog.  And while she and Philip were working, she didn’t feel comfortable leaving a dog alone at home all day. She retired in 2001 and adopted a dog four years later. Four years later they adopted a second. These first two eventually passed away, and one by one, Ruby, Gem and Amber were adopted by the Kings.

Nancy said their house is well set-up for fostering. It’s a split-level, with big pens downstairs for the pups. When they get old enough and learn to climb the stairs, puppies are allowed to come up for brief visits or taken out to their large back yard, supervised. The back yard is important because the fostering period is like a quarantine. The puppies don’t go out for walks or to dog parks. Instead, they get to explore in the yard.

In the basement, the puppies currently get to watch and listen to Nancy’s four birds, including a Cockatiel that turns 28 this year. She said they have had up to 20 birds down there “but now we’ve stopped rescuing and adopting them.”

Nancy hasn’t had any cats in the home (she’s allergic), but between her career, bird rescuing and fostering there has been a huge variety of other creatures.

“I was one of a small group of people who did the hand-raising at the zoo, when needed” she noted. “We’ve had all sorts of baby animals at our house. Everything from primates, vicuna, lynx, otters, lemurs and more.”

Over the years she also raised 13 snowy owls from the egg. She also raised two baby meerkats who were rejected by their mother, and ended up staying with them for 10 years. She said the meerkats had cages downstairs but more or less had the run of the house. Their favourite spot was by the front window, where they could look at traffic and people going by.

The need for around-the-clock feeding sometimes meant keeping these animals at the house overnight. “I’m used to bottle feeding, but when you’ve got five puppies who need to be bottle fed every three or four hours and it takes half an hour to feed them, there’s not much room for sleep,” Nancy explained.

And Nancy also acts as a mentor for prospective fosters. If someone is interested in fostering or is just starting out and has questions, Nancy is one of a few experienced fosters that can be called for advice.

“People say ‘I don’t know how you do it, having all these puppies in the house and then taking them back to the Humane Society,’ she said. “Taking them back is OK because while you love them, you’re returning puppies who are ready to find their new homes and having up to 8 puppies who aren’t yet fully housebroken can be exhausting! The hardest part is seeing these pups on the Humane Society website waiting to be adopted.”

Written by: Brian Kozak, Volunteer MVP Writer
Photo by: Jim Harvey, Volunteer MVP Photographer