While many people are staying home during the pandemic, for the Estevan Humane Society these times weren't all that quiet. While their adoption and foster rates went up significantly, they still have many animals to take care of and the need for resources remains as well.
The fundraisers are currently on pause, so the shelter announced a bottle/can collection. Not only will it help them to feed the animals and take care of the medical bills, but it will also allow people to declutter their houses while SARCAN is closed.
“We are asking that people do drop them off at the shelter,” said shelter president Angela Prette. “GFL Environmental has donated some large bins for us to collect the bottles and cans in at the shelter. This will help us minimize handling by our staff and also provides us with a place to store them all.”
She added that if someone is unable to bring the donations over, they would pick it up.
“We don’t want to turn anything away right now, because we rely so heavily on fundraisers and community donations just to stay running. The medical costs, the cost of upkeeping everything, that hasn’t changed. Our intake stats are still the same, still on par, so we still rely really heavily on that financial aspect,” said Prette.
Usually, during this time of the year, the shelter is fully engaged in getting ready for the Dr. Howard Memorial Dog Jog, collecting pledges at the schools and fundraising in the community. The board hasn’t made a decision about rescheduling the dog jog yet, but the big part of the fundraiser that involved school children is obviously not happening this spring.
So while they are still in need of support, the non-kill shelter operators tried to think of something that many people could do.
“This is just something that I had as an idea looking at my own recyclables stacking up here, trying to think of something that could bring in some money and that wouldn’t maybe hurt too badly. I know it’s not the same right now and it’s not going to be, people won’t be able to donate as much,” explained Prette, adding that they will always be happy to accept the bottle and can donations, which can be dropped off at the shelter or at SARCAN when it opens again with a tag to the Estevan Humane Society.
Another donation that the shelter is always happy to accept is Canadian Tire money. They are always in need of supplies such as bleach, extra-large garbage bags and dish soap. The spring traditionally brings in an increase in kittens, so they need good quality kitten kibble and kitten milk replacement.
Prette also said that there were Iams coupons for a free bag of cat or dog food that many people have recently received in the mail. Those, who would prefer to donate it, are asked to cash them in first and donate the food, because the humane society is only allowed to bring in one coupon at a time. If someone is willing to make a donation, they should call the shelter to schedule a drop-off.
The bottle drive announcement was made a week ago, and Prette said that so far the amount they’ve gotten in “has been unreal.”
The adoptions and foster rates have been quite impressive as well lately. Over the last month, they adopted out 11 cats and nine dogs.
“Nine dogs, that is huge,” said Prette. “Just to compare in February we had seven cats and one dog.”
Usually, the shelter does see an increase in adoption during this time of the year, but Prette believes that the pandemic also played its role.
“People are being home more and are more able to take care of animals,” said Prette.
Even though it’s always exciting for shelters to see more animals going to their new homes, they always do a thorough assessment of all applications to ensure that when the situation changes those animals won’t find themselves at the shelter doors again.
“Pet owners can say that it’s good for mental health, it can release stress. It’s really great for people right now, but they do have to think long term. When this is all done, are they still going to be able to take care of the pet? And that’s something that we are asking as well. We want to make sure they are going to the right home, to the forever home,” said Prette.
As of last Friday, there were seven dogs and 24 cats available to be adopted. All animals available for adoption can be viewed on the shelter’s Facebook page in two separate photo albums. There are no walk-ins, so if someone considers adopting or fostering, they should first contact the humane society.
