Calgary animal shelter in need of home

CALGARY- An organization dedicated to getting abused animals off the streets is now looking for a home of its own.

The ‘Feline Rescue Foundation of Alberta’  has less than a month to find a new space.

A tight rental market and low donations have left it with few options.

More than 100 cats live at the shelter. It’s a non-stop job run by the kindness of volunteers.

Dawn Hanson is one of the volunteers that takes care of the cats and she says the vast majority of the cats they take in were feral or severely abused.

“You have to work them through their bad behaviors and establish a trusting relationship with them before you can make any progress at all.”

The ‘Feline Rescue Foundation of Alberta’ also known as ‘FRFA’ has called their current place home for the last two years after Heninger Toyota donated the space in North Hill.

“This property is actually slated for demolition and repurposing. Other businesses going in to the area would want to have to do a lot of renovations and everything. FRFA was able to make use of the space as is,” Michael Bickert from Heninger Toyota said.

But now the property has been sold and Hanson and her team have less than a month to find a new space.

“It was one of these things that from the beginning it was known the property was for sale and there was a shelf life to the donated space.” Bickert said.

FRFA was prepared for the inevitable but then last year’s floods took a major toll on its donations and suddenly a provincial grant was also discontinued.

“So we went from 25 thousand to 0 and with the shortage in donations it’s been really difficult plus the cost of leasing in calgary is just horrific,” Hanson said.

Until move out day, Hanson’s focus remains on finding forever homes for the cats and hopefully the organization.

FRFA is also trying to find more foster homes for the animals.