A recent mould problem is causing major headaches for workers at the Moose Jaw Humane Society. Aging infrastructure, compounded with the mould problem has the Humane Society calling out for help from the community.
It’s in living conditions that are unacceptable for most where you’ll find dozens of animals at the Moose Jaw Humane Society. After an investigation it was found there was mould throughout much of the building.
“It’s upper respiratory, it’s breathing problems, it’s problem with their eyes,” Kristyn McEwan, Moose Jaw Humane Society Executive Director explains. “So it’s obviously not safe for animals or the humans to be in contact with it.”
The Humane Society does not have the money to fix the problem, and they are struggling to renovate in order to get rid of the mould. They approached the city of Moose Jaw for help, but their request for funds was denied.
“We did take the route of hoping the city would help us out and we were turned down,” McEwan said. “We’re kind of back to the drawing board because we were counting on some funding from the city.”
City Councilor Don Mitchell says the City sympathizes with the problem the pound is facing, however, they too are short on cash.
“We’re actually close to $60 million in debt already from projects like the Multiplex and those services, so the timing was not good in terms of finding any space in which that grant could be drawn from,” Mitchell explained.
With their plea for help going unanswered, the Humane Society has no choice but to begin doing what they can do. The price tag of $75,000 is tough to accomplish, though.
“We’re probably only at about 20 per cent,” so we’ve probably got another 80 percent of the building to do yet,” McEwan said.
At this point the Humane society is hoping animal lovers will help pitch in to get rid of the mould. They hope some corporate sponsors come on board, as well as people from the community.
“We’re hoping that certain groups or individuals will go ahead and fundraise for us and just gift us the money,” McEwan said.
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