Dogs are being left behind, abandoned and forgotten, and it’s causing problems for Alberta agencies left to care for them.
Unfortunately, rural communities in southern Alberta like Coaldale are feeling the brunt of these decisions by pet owners and the town is seeing an increase in the number of calls for wandering animals.
According to Mark Anderson, manager of Community Policing in Coaldale, the town doesn’t have the space or capacity to handle the number of dogs being called in.
He shared that 2023 started out with a few dogs and puppies being abandoned in nearby fields, parking lots and on the side of the road, and it’s since continued to be a problem.
“We don’t have an animal shelter in Coaldale at the present time,” said Anderson. “We’ve had to rely on the good graces of a number of town employees who have taken in dogs for us to look after, also in other communities around us.
“There’s such a problem now finding space for animals and animal shelters.”
Recently, in order to mitigate the problem, a group of concerned citizens has come together to create the Coaldale and Regional Wellness Society to help animals find fosters and forever homes.
While still in the early stages of formation, the Town of Coaldale is also looking to create a permanent animal shelter that could be built within the next 18 months to two years.
In the meantime, the town continues to look for volunteers who are willing to foster dogs as they are quickly running out of options to house animals.
Staff at the Lethbridge Animal Shelter feel for Coaldale as they are dealing with a very similar challenge.
“These communities don’t have shelter staff to care for these animals long term,” explained Skylar Plourde, director with Community Animal Services in Lethbridge.
“We are lucky that we have that, although our facility was built at a time where animals weren’t being abandoned at the shelter.
“We’re kind of pushing our limits here too.”
Plourde said that while Lethbridge implemented a system in 2022 to manage the intake of strays being reported, it is reaching capacity.
Even with the systems in place, Plourde pointed out there’s trend of people making false claims about stray animals.
Allegedly, people in the community have been calling Community Animal Services indicating that a stray animal has been found on their property, but once the dog is collected and brought back to the shelter, staff are discovering that those pets are chipped and actually belong to the address they’ve been picked up from.
Which would mean that, rather than re-homing, some individuals are passing off their own dogs to the shelter.
Rescue groups have also been overwhelmed with the number of dogs being left behind, with A Better Chance Animal Rescue in Pincher Creek attempting to take in dogs from across southern Alberta.
“In some situations, there is nowhere to go. Every shelter is full.
“We’ve been trying to accommodate where we can, so we don’t have to turn away these dogs,” said Melanie Glen, owner of A Better Chance Animal Rescue.
Glen said this summer has been busier than ever, with the discovery of abandoned dogs in strange locations.
“We just had one from the Twin Butte area, which we’ve never had stray dogs there before, along with local campgrounds,” Glen said. “People are just finding them all over the place and bringing them into the shelter.”
Overall, many of these communities, shelters and rescuers are asking pet owners to take responsibility for their animals and find better options to re-home them rather than leaving them in obscure places.
In addition, those who are in a place to adopt or foster are encouraged to reach out to local shelters or rescues to alleviate the pressure.