More homeless animals driving up shelter costs

Animal Rescue Care Society asking public for help

The Alberta Animal Rescue Care Society is appealing for donations as the shelter faces mounting costs due to an influx of homeless animals.

Deanna Thompson, executive director with the society, said AARCS has brought in nearly 200 cats and dogs in the past few weeks, boosting the total number of animals in care to more than 600.

“We work at capacity most times, but this is kind of over and above what we are used to,” she said.

“We did see the calls start to increase when the (cold) weather came. We thought maybe now that it’s nice out, maybe it would die down a bit, but it just hasn’t.”

The society currently has 200 animals available for adoption, with another 400 in foster care almost ready for a forever home.

“That’s 600 mouths to feed, that’s 600 spay-neuters, vaccines, microchips — it gets expensive,” Thompson said. “It’s tough to care for this many animals, and the last thing we want to do is say no to an animal.”

A go-to shelter in the Calgary area, AARCS has its own on-site veterinary hospital, currently caring for 125 animals with various medical conditions. One of the new intakes, Carson, a border collie cross, was hit by a car, leaving the dog suffering from extensive road rash and a dislocated hip.

The society is caring for 314 cats and dogs less than six months old. There are nine moms with puppies, a litter of orphaned puppies, seven moms with kittens and nine orphaned kittens.

“It seems to be a lot of the younger ones right now,” said Thompson.

“We normally get a lot more adult dogs that need to be rehomed. We do care for a number of young animals, but right now, especially this time of year, it’s a little bit unusual — usually we see the influx in the spring. Part of it may be that adoptions are down, so we’ve got more in because we don’t have the adopters there.”

AARCS is hopeful Calgarians will step forward to adopt some furry friends or donate to help them care for the ones they have.

For more information, visit aarcs.ca.

Deanna Thompson, executive director with the Alberta Animal Rescue Care Society, said nearly 200 cats and dogs have arrived in the last few weeks, boosting total numbers to more than 600 animals in care.

The Alberta Animal Rescue Care Society is caring for 314 cats and dogs less than six months old, including nine orphaned kittens.