MONCTON, N.B. – The Greater Moncton SPCA is making a public appeal after 50 animals arrived at the shelter in less than 24 hours Thursday and Friday.
Most of the arrivals were cats.
“Last night just before closing, we received a call from a situation that they’re cleaning up a bunch of cats out of a house,” said Nanette Pearl, the director of animal welfare at the Greater Moncton SPCA.
“So we received eight from that location last night, many sick, many pregnant, and this morning morning 16 more from the same location. More still to come,” she said.
The SPCA also received 13 kittens from another home.
It costs the shelter about $100 to care for each cat and space in the shelter is limited.
“It’s everywhere. It’s not just here at the Moncton shelter, cats are a crisis situation in many, many locations,” said Pearl.
Other municipalities have tried to solve the situation by regulating the way pet shops work. Last week, city council in Waterloo, Ontario unanimously passed a bylaw that requires all pet stores within the city limits to obtain their pets from the SPCA or registered shelter or rescues programs.
Similar bylaws have been passed by other cities, including Toronto, Calgary and Richmond, B.C.
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Pearl said a similar bylaw in Moncton would be helpful. Pet stores are regulated in the province, along with shelters and kennels and all must renew their licences every year. Currently, there is no law that requires pet stores to sell pets obtained from shelters.
But all of the animals at PetSmart in Moncton come from the Greater Moncton SPCA and they offer adopt-a-thons every few weeks in the store. This follows a corporate policy by the chain.
“We believe that going into the shelters and facilitating the homeless pets as opposed to selling them means more and it’s reducing the puppy mills and cat mills,” said Mike Baiani, Operations Manager at the Moncton PetSmart.
In the meantime, the SPCA is asking for any help finding homes for the large number of animals that arrived at the shelter and is also accepting donations to help with their care.
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