Paige Desmond
Following the closure of the Kenora-Dryden branch of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) shelter back in January, a new organization is in operation to deal with the needs of abandoned and neglected animals.
Rescue North is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization created with the goal of providing for animals.
Opened at the beginning of June, the shelter is still in the start up stage.
“We’re very, very new,” said Darlene Lever, chairperson of the Rescue North fundraising committee. “We’re progressing.”
And though the OSPCA’s sheltering services are no longer available, cruelty investigations will continue.
“The OSPCA does still have investigative services here,” assured Lever.
She said Rescue North is similar to the OSPCA but is an independent organization. “We do have the same basic goals, though.”
Currently, the shelter is having difficulties reaching their full potential due to funding and staffing issues related to their relatively new status.
Despite these issues, Rescue North is currently caring for 25 cats and five dogs.
“We are taking some really high priority surrenders,” Lever said.
Since opening, the organization has seen a lot of mother cats, kittens and puppies come to them, a reflection of the breeding season. But they are trying to limit their intake to only the most high-priority animals.
This means, for example, the shelter is more likely to take in an injured or abandoned animal in need of medical care than a cat whose owner does not want it anymore.
Using a wait-list system, the group is trying to take care of the most needy animals first, while still looking out for the welfare of animals lower on the wait-list.
This is not to say the shelter will not take surrenders, only to say they will take in animals based on space.
By shifting animals to other shelters and sending some cats for adoption out of a pet store in Kenora, Rescue North is performing a well-planned and balanced juggling act.
“We’re trying to get all this organized,” explained the fundraiser.
At the moment, the base of volunteer staff are busy dealing with the influx of animals, something Lever believes is indicative of a larger problem.
“There is no organization between Thunder Bay and Winnipeg that helps dogs,” she explained, emphasizing a rescue facility just for dogs is desperately needed.
There is Friends of Animals in Fort Frances, a cat shelter in Kenora and then Rescue North. But to Lever, more facilities are urgently required to deal with the number of animals in need.
“We want to service the whole region,” Lever revealed, adding fundraising initiatives for the region will be underway soon.
The vastness of this region and the distance between communities makes the situation of abandoned or lost animals more dire.
“We have a well documented problem with dogs running at large. There’s a lot of abandoned and neglected animals.”
“The fact that there is so much space for them to roam [freely],” adds to the difficulty.
And when she speaks of abandonment and neglect, Lever is not talking about the occasional pet surrendered by its owner, Lever speaks of something more serious.
“They’re not just cute little pets someone wants to surrender,” these animals are malnourished and covered in lice-really bad shape detailed the volunteer.
And the most needy animals are also the most expensive to care for. They require vet bills, rehabilitation and special attention beyond that of a typical house pet.
This is why, she said, Northern shelters are without a doubt more expensive to operate than urban centres.
So as the newborn Rescue North resolves funding and staffing issues tit is providing care for those animals “in most desperate need.”
