The Winnipeg Humane Society is struggling with an influx of stray cats.
Despite this, a spokesperson says the number of lost animal calls that come in to the society each day would surprise you.
Take the case of Mr. Mouse.
The 12-year-old cat belonged to Earl Calder of Selkirk. Before he died, Calder asked his daughter, Chloe Calder of Winnipeg, to take care of Mr. Mouse.
She agreed and after her father passed, she went out to the Selkirk apartment where her dad had lived to pick up the cat when disaster struck.
“The place where he was staying at, the building burnt down,” Calder remembered. “I had no idea where the cat was. I couldn’t find the cat for two months.”
Chloe put a picture of Mr. Mouse on Facebook and waited for any sign of the cat. On September 7, on what would have been her dad’s 61st birthday, she received a message.
“I got a picture from the Winnipeg Humane Society and yeah, that was him,” Calder said.
Chloe cried tears of joy as she picked up Mr. Mouse at 45 Hurst Way.
Audrey Barnabe has been with the Humane Society for 13 years. She says the calls about lost dogs and cats pour in every day.
“It rings almost constantly, especially during the busy years we’ll have three lines on hold and one ringing,” Barnabe explained. “Not all of them are lost and found calls, but most of them are and most people are quite emotional when they call in. It’s a big deal when your animal goes missing. People get very upset.”
Josh Muyal also takes calls about lost animals.
“For some people, that’s their family. People will come down, we take them into the back, and that’s when we can see the raw emotion of people when they’ve lost an animal,” Muyal said. “When we’re able to reunite an animal, that’s even better.”
Val Poulton is the director of Behaviour and Animal Intake. She says when you call the humane society for help, you can file a lost animal report.
“We will ask for any identifying information like a tattoo, a microchip number, a tag number, a physical description,” Poulton explained. “We can search our database to see if that particular animal is in our shelter or someone called in to report finding an animal that looked like that. If you have a pet with permanent identification, such as a tattoo or microchip, it makes reuniting so much easier.”
A photo of the animal is also very helpful, which you can email to the society.
Despite what some people think, Poulton considers the Winnipeg Humane Society a no-kill facility.
“If we commit to an animal, it comes in, it’s physically and behaviourally healthy, there’s no time limit. That term, ‘no-kill,’ is tossed around and means different things to different people. I consider us no-kill in that we only euthanize for behaviour reasons because we don’t think a pet is going to be safe in a home, or because that pet is suffering or has a disease that we can’t treat.”
If you do find a lost or stray cat or dog, the Humane Society would you to call them first so they can make preparations to find room for the animal.
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