The Truth of the Matter: Animal Welfare Needs Outweigh Funds In Our Community

Five out of the twenty four small mixed breed dogs from this case who were seized.

Last month, our Investigations and Emergency Response team, in partnership with the Provincial Chief Veterinary Office (CVO), received a warrant and seized 24 small mixed breed dogs from a dark squalor-filled home – thankfully they have all since been adopted.

One dog gave birth in our care, bringing the number up to 28 dogs. These rescued dogs were so matted and unkept that they had binding leg constrictions, hair dreadlocked with fecal matter, plus urine scalding and secondary skin infections. It took hours of gentle, loving care from our dedicated WHS team to start to take away the pain of those injuries. Sadly, this is happening in our community every day.

You may have seen us bring this mass seizure situation to light thanks to the dedication of our local media. Many of these important cases go to court and must follow and respect the litigation process. This makes it difficult to fully apprise the public of each situation. But today, we are talking about it.

The truth is, we are currently estimating over one million dollars annually going towards the cost of care of animals seized and investigated in conjunction with the CVO. This case alone cost upwards of $25,000 in care. As many of you know, our annual WHS operating costs are already between seven and eight million dollars. These cases are utilizing one-seventh of our operating budget. We KNOW we can do more.

From animal abuse to backyard breeding to other animal welfare concerns like this case, they all originate from social issues that affect our community. Issues like poverty, mental health, addiction, and abuse. We have put many WHS programs in place to help those in need, both human and animal, and they all come with a cost.

We offer low income spay and neuter to manage population control, we have urgent care to help keep animals with their loving owners when an extraordinary medical bill plagues the family, we have an Emergency Pet food bank for those experiencing homelessness or job loss, and we also have emergency boarding for domestic violence situations, fires, and emergencies – but still there are cases that we cannot “fix” through this programming.

The moral of the story is – our Investigations and Emergency Team does tough work. Through the Animal Care Act, they bring abusers to justice. We want to continue doing this work and you have our commitment that this will be a part of the WHS’ portfolio of work as long as there is a need.

The 28 animals in this particular case were lucky enough to rejoin our community with a new lease on life that they so deserved, thanks to loving adopters and donors.

Together, we can make our community a better place for animals each and every day, through our shelter, Adoptions, Clinic, Intake, Behaviour, Animal Care, Foster, Education, Volunteer programs – AND through our Investigations, with your help.

Give your time, give your money, give your home. There are so many ways to give. Thank you for giving. Visit our website to donate and cost recover the $25,000 incurred from our last large seizure case.

With love and compassion,

Jessica Miller

WHS CEO