Cats and dogs
Residents vote on animal shelter service
For more than 30 years SPCA volunteers have cared for abused, abandoned and mistreated animals in the Powell River Region. They've taken animals into their own homes and hearts because there is no animal shelter.
But volunteers can't continue to foster the number of animals that need care in their own home. A shelter is needed to provide temporary housing for abused or stray dogs and cats, said Audrey Hill, SPCA spokeswoman.
Hill is one of 35 active SPCA volunteers. For the past 16 years she's answered the phone "24/7, 365 days a year" on behalf of the animals.
She responded to the RCMP when they needed to know who would accept responsibility for an injured dog's surgery after a car accident because the dog's owner was unconscious and could not be held responsible. She answered the RCMP's calls when they wanted to know what to do with hundreds of chickens, ducks and turkeys after their owner died.
"They have no place to take animals in the Regional District," said Hill. "If a dog is found running on the road in the Regional District it's not fair that it is left out to die."
In 2009, SPCA volunteers dealt with 320 dogs and cats plus a number of other animals. One third of those animals came from the Regional District and two-thirds came from the City, she said.
"The SPCA has been fund raising for many years to collect funds to build an animal shelter," said Hill. "It is getting increasingly difficult to find people to foster animals in their own homes."
The SPCA will pay 100 % of the building construction costs for a new animal shelter, which is estimated at $400,000.
The City of Powell River has agreed to pay its portion of the operating costs of the new animal shelter service.
The Regional District will hold a vote on July 17 to determine if the majority of its voters are in favour of increasing taxes $2 per $100,000 of resident property value to pay for this new service.
For more information please visit the Regional District's website at powellriverrd.bc.ca and click on under What's New. You can also visit www.spca.bc.ca/powellriver or call Audrey Hill at 604 483-3506.
