The Estevan Humane Society is having a very different year, just like everybody else, but being one of the very few no-kill shelters in Saskatchewan, it has to stay on top of everything and keep going to take care of the animals.
New president Tayja Zimmerman took over the position at the end of the summer and now is navigating the organization through what's definitely not the easiest of times in its history. Most fundraisers that the shelter relies on have been postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic, but the community once again has been great support despite all the challenges, which also helped Zimmerman's during the first month in the new position.
"It's been good. It is interesting and it's different. I mean in the current world situation it's not what I expected it to be; we are having to change our tactics on how we can fundraise this year. So it's been an interesting learning curve on what we can and can't do and what we usually do, we can't do so we are having to take a step over and change how we do things. But it's interesting," said Zimmerman.
Zimmerman had been on the humane society's board for about two years before taking over the presidency. She said that the previous experience helped her to adjust better, but there is still a lot to learn.
Currently, the shelter is selling their Duck Derby fundraiser tickets, which can be found in many stores across the community as well as at the farmer's market on Saturdays. The fun event will take place on Oct. 18, but it will be held in a different format. All the participating rubber ducks will be dumped off the bridge into the Souris River south of Estevan, but no members of the public will be allowed in the area. Like a real big-scale derby, this one will be aired online so people could cheer on their champions safely from the comfort of their homes.
"We'll be doing it virtually on our Facebook page, live streaming it."
Ticket sales have been strong with over half already sold. The winner will take home up to $10,000 cash, and the equivalent amount will go to the shelter for their daily needs. Each duck is $10 and there will be up to 2,000 ducks participating in the race.
The full list of businesses where Duck Derby tickets are sold can be found on the Estevan Humane Society's Facebook page.
The shelter is also currently working on a few other smaller scale fundraising ideas that they hope to hold before the end of the year. The bottle drive they started at the beginning of the pandemic is ongoing. But people are asked drop off cans and bottles directly at the SARCAN with a label for the humane society.
The annual Whiskers and Wine Gala hasn't been called off, and the humane society is looking into how they can still host it, but probably in a different format.
"We are still expecting to do that in February, I'm hoping. We'll have to see how it plays out when we get closer," said Zimmerman.
The shelter is staying as busy as it always is. Zimmerman said they have a really good staff and shelter manager, so things are going as smoothly as possible. However, they always need community support to keep delivering their service.
"Our needs are never-ending with the amount of cats and dogs we have with us right now. We've had 80-plus some cats for the last month or so," said Zimmerman.
The shelter is running a cat promo, where if a person adopts two furry friends they receive a discounted rate for both of them. Keeping in mind that they all come with spaying and are up to date on vaccinations, it's an unbeatable deal compared to a free cat that would need all the medical care.
There are a few dogs available as well, and soon there also will be 11 puppies ready to be adopted. The humane society is now asking the community to name them. The pictures are published online. People can offer their options for names and bid on them, and the highest bid has the name rights for each puppy.
Volunteers can now come to the humane society and spend time with the animals helping around the shelter.
"The easiest way is either call down to the shelter or message via the Facebook page. And they set you up with the time, whatever times work for you. This way we can monitor how many people we have in the building at a time," said Zimmerman.
If people don't know what they want to do but want to help, the staff will help them out with a few options.
"We need dog walkers if that's what you are comfortable with; socializing with animals, if that's more interesting; or we have dedicated volunteer positions when you dedicate a certain day a week and then you help the girls with our day-to-day activities."
And if people want to help the shelter in a form of donations, Zimmerman said that monetary donations are always good since they allow the staff to stay on top of the never-ending vet bills. Food, litter, cleaners and other basic animal necessities are always welcome as well.
