(file photo/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Care for the animals

Battlefords Humane Society to see more dog intakes; Meadow Lake facility temporarily not taking more cats

Jul 29, 2021 | 4:24 PM

Local animal shelters in the Battlefords and Meadow Lake area are seeing a large number of animals in their care.

The Battlefords Humane Society expects to receive more dogs soon, following evacuations from the La Ronge wildfires.

Currently, the local shelter has a total of 82 animals in its care— 59 cats, 22 dogs, and one rabbit. The shelter is expecting 12 additional dogs to come next week.

“So far we are doing ok,” Battlefords shelter coordinator Michelle Spark said. “We are a little bit over capacity, but we have some pretty good foster homes that have taken on a lot of these animals.”

Spark believes the numbers were lower last year due to the COVID-19 situation when the facility was not seeing as many animals come in.

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Numbers right now she describes numbers as “pretty normal, compared to previous years.”

Spark said usually the facility sees the most animal intakes in the spring when the newborns come in, and in the fall when people drop off cats and dogs, either through surrender or when animals are identified as strays.

“In the fall, early winter, we tend to see an increase in intake numbers because it’s getting colder. People are worried so they pick up every stray they see,” Spark said.

She reminds people to consider whether the cat may just be passing by from a neighbouring home before they take it to the shelter thinking it’s a stray. If the cat appears well-fed, then likely it belongs to someone in the area and is not lost.

Meadow Lake facility

For the Meadow Lake and District Humane Society, cat intakes are temporarily curtailed due to the high capacity.

The facility is currently full for cats and close to capacity for dogs, as of July 29.

During the COVID-19 situation, the shelter had lower numbers for both cats and dogs, but in the past month, numbers have climbed back up for both.

President Jeff McCallum says periodically the facility may be at capacity for cats when it will shut the doors for a short time.

“It’s just until we can move more animals around, and that frees up space again,” he said. “It lasts maybe a matter of weeks, to a month or so.”

The shelter indicates on its Facebook Page it is also not taking in any owner-surrendered dogs at the moment and is limited on the available space for new intakes of stray dogs.

McCallum said if there is an emergency situation, the shelter can make exceptions depending on the case.

The facility receives animals from all over, including as far west as Loon Lake and south to Glaslyn.

The volunteer-run shelter is currently in need of more volunteers.

McCallum thanks all the volunteers for all their support.

“The volunteers have done a really good job, especially right now being short-handed, with people on holidays,” he said. “We’re all pulling together and we’re making it work.”

McCallum added the facility is always looking for shift-working volunteers and foster families.

The Battlefords Humane Society is also looking for more volunteers and people to foster animals.

Those interested are asked to submit an application form expressing their interest.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow