Carl Hnatyshyn For The Journal
The manager of the Sarnia & District Humane Society is hoping that local animal lovers will come to the society’s rescue this fall, as the organization’s Exmouth Street facility is filled to the brim thanks to a recent and very large influx of stray cats and dogs.
Late last month, Donna Pyette and the staff at the Humane Society put up a post on Facebook announcing that the shelter was officially full, meaning that they could no longer accept surrenders.
With the pace of adoption slowing down and a marked increase in the number of animals being dropped off at the shelter, Pyette said she is hoping that more Sarnians will be able to help out either by picking up a new pet this fall, by dropping off supplies and/or donations or by providing much needed foster care for some of the many pups, kittens, cats and dogs who now call the shelter their home.
COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the pet world, Pyette said, and the shelter has been suffering the consequences ever since.
“Really, since the world re-opened, we’ve been at capacity probably seventy-five percent of the time,” she said. “Capacity for us usually means anywhere around 30 to 40 dogs and 100-plus cats and kittens and that doesn’t even count the ones in foster care, those are just the ones who are here at the building.
“Even before COVID we took in (many) cats, but it’s happening much more frequently than it used to,” Pyette added. “And for dogs we’ve definitely seen a huge uptick, it’s definitely unusual.”
There are many reasons why the number of strays at the shelter is on the rise, Pyette said.
“A lot of it comes from people who went back to work who couldn’t take care of their pets,” she said. “There were also people who jumped on the breeding bandwagon, because during COVID people were paying ridiculous amounts of money for purebred and mixed-breed dogs. They were continuing to breed then all of the sudden everything turned around and it was over. We’ve had people come in here and drop off entire litters in here, four month old puppies…they’ve told us ‘no one is buying anymore’ because of the economy, vet prices and life has gone back to normal.”
“Much of it has to do with the economy,” she continued. “People are worried, people are having a tough time making ends meet, vet costs and the cost of living are going up so it’s almost become a luxury to own a pet, which is extremely unfortunate because they continue to multiply and end up here.”
At present, the shelter is using every means possible to safely house the animals until they can find them a permanent home, Pyette said. Even so, the number of long-term residents at the shelter has grown exponentially, she added.
“We’ve had dogs sit here for months on end waiting to be adopted…it’s really not anyone’s fault, not everybody can afford to get a dog.”
“If we get a stray animal, we can’t turn it away, we have to take them. And what ends up happening is we have cats (in the shelter) in crates instead of cages, or in community areas, because there’s really nowhere to put them. Our administration team have pets in their offices, medical has a couple of puppies in her office, we just look for room and it’s not unusual for us to take them home at night or talk really nicely to our family members,” she said, laughing. “We do what we have to do but the one thing we won’t do is euthanize healthy, adoptable animals so we somehow find a way to do what we do.”
Residents can help by donating much-needed food, blankets, bedding, food or money, Pyette said, and they can also make a big difference by either volunteering or becoming a foster parent.
Ideally, Pyette said she would like to find forever homes for all of the shelter’s current residents.
To that end, the Humane Society will be hosting a fun, family-friendly Halloween-themed celebration on Oct. 26 from 6 to 10 p.m. that will help showcase some of their furry and friendly four-legged denizens.
Animal lovers, their families as well as their pets are invited to show their support by coming to the Humane Society’s Spook-Tacular Adoption Event, which will feature treats, prizes and a pet costume competition.
“We’re transforming the shelter for a little bit,” Pyette said. “The hope is to bring people in and the ultimate goal is to get some animals adopted. But we really want to bring the public in and engage them.” “We’ll have a Halloween pet costume contest – we’re encouraging people to bring their pets – and we’ll have some spooky treat tables, a couple of games set up - it’ll just be a fun night for everyone.” For more information about the Sarnia & District Humane Society’s Spook-Taculary Adoption Event, visit their Facebook page and for information about volunteering, fostering or animals currently up for adoption at the shelter, visit their website at www.sarniahumanesociety.com.