PIERREFONDS – Zina Hussein is pretty used to turning into the parking lot of the Pierrefonds Animal Hospital. She rescues abandoned dogs and drops them off at the veterinarian hospital for treatment before they’re adopted by families in new homes.
“These are two rescue dogs that I actually went to pick up yesterday from another rescue organization,” she said.
While Zina never grows tired of the job, it is taking a toll on her hardware. The Dodge Caravan she uses is 10 years old and falling apart.
“We need a new one. There is no way to repair because it really is the undercarriage that is rusted through,” she said.
The van has logged more than 160,000 kilometres in rescue missions. Zina says a similar one will cost more than $21,000. So far they’ve raised less than 10 per cent of that amount.
“We are struggling to get the funding together,” she said.
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Without a new van Zina has no way of saving dogs like a couple of Labrador puppies she found in northern Quebec.
“They did come from the streets so they’re on preventative medicines to make sure they don’t have worms and parasites,” she said.
Workers at the hospital are used to dealing with strays that Zina brings in.
“I’m so happy this guy was found by them and brought to us because now he can have a life with a family and be taken care of ,” Valérie Geoffroy, a technician at the Pierrefonds Animal Hospital said as she described a dog found by Rosie Animal Adoption.
The people who work at the Pierrefonds Animal Hospital appreciate the efforts made by Zina and other volunteers to save dogs and help them find homes.
“The work that they do with these dogs and the number of dogs that they help every year, it would be tragic if they had to close down,” Maria Cecere, a physiotherapist at the hospital said.
The amount of dogs coming into this hospital from the adoption centre is a fraction of its business, but the team is dedicated to nursing the animals back to health before finding them new homes.
“They bring a huge amount of value to what we do every day in being able to help those cases,” Dr. Florence Erdmann of the Pierrefonds Animal Hospital said.
But continuing that help may be contingent on Zina getting her hands on a new set of wheels.
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