Calgary animal shelter issues plea as it hits capacity with stray cats and dogs

The Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (AARCS) is pleading with the public to act as its shelter for homeless animals reaches maximum capacity.

The organization is currently caring for more than 600 animals — half cats and half dogs — with 200 of them up for adoption and 400 in foster care. Half of the animals are under six months old.

“That’s 600 mouths to feed, that’s 600 spay and neuters, 1200 vaccines, so it all adds up when we’re dealing with such a large number of animals,” said Deanna Thompson, AARCS executive director, on Wednesday.

“It’s at a critical point,” she added. “We have a wait list of animals that are in need, that we want to be able to say yes to, but we can only handle so much at one time.”

During the cold snap in early October, AARCS said it saw an increase in calls to take in strays — and the demand hasn’t let up.

“We thought now with the better weather that would change, but the calls seem to be never ending right now: a large number of stray and abandoned animals that need somewhere to go and adoptions aren’t going as quickly as we had hoped,” Thompson said. “In order for us to bring in more animals, we need more animals to get adopted.”

“There are so many amazing animals here that are just in need of a home,” she added. “There’s nothing wrong with them. They just kind of had a crappy start in life and deserve that second chance.”

If you can’t adopt, AARCS said you can donate time or money, or foster animals.