Pet rescue volunteers in Okotoks are getting cold chills each time the phone rings, knowing it’s likely about a stray cat needing a warm place to stay.
With Pound Rescue’s 10 foster homes filled with cats and kittens rescued over the past several months, and not enough adopted out, the volunteers’ hands are tied.
“As soon as winter starts we get calls, but we don’t have enough fosters so it’s very difficult,” said Rosa Kurtz, a Pound Rescue board member and foster volunteer. “We cannot take in any more cats because we’re now full. You feel bad because what are you supposed to do?”
The non-profit rescue organization is one of eight charities selected for the 2019 Western Wheel Cares campaign, and the need for public support is palpable in donations, adoptions and volunteers.
“When the weather changes like this it becomes more critical to help these cats,” said Kurtz. “It’s getting cold so they want us to pick them up, yet we have no fosters. New animals are hard to take in if people aren’t adopting.”
In most cases, the cats haven’t been tattooed or micro-chipped, making it near impossible to find their owners, said Kurtz
She said there’s little else to do.
“We offer food if they can keep the cats but they just say, ‘Where can I drop them off,’” she said. “Compassion has to be beyond that with animals that can’t fend for themselves. In this weather they can’t find food.”
Being unable to help is the toughest part of being a Pound Rescue volunteer, said Kurtz.
“It’s very heartbreaking and it’s very wearing on you as a rescue person,” she said. “They want you to be the person who takes the problem away but they won’t help with the solution, which is spaying and neutering and tattooing.”
Kurtz’ home serves as one of 10 foster homes through Pound Rescue for unwanted, lost or abandoned cats and dogs. Pound Rescue is strictly volunteer run, with no physical facility.
Cats are what the rescue organization struggles to home the most, as many people can find the furry felines for free from farms or online, said Kurtz.
“They feel they’re rescuing a cat but they’re just promoting that farmer to continue to not fix their cats,” she said.
The rescue organization also adopts its kittens out in pairs, making it more difficult to find them a home.
“So many studies show cats need companions, but it’s much harder to adopt them out because people don’t want to,” she said. “We don’t want kittens by themselves.”
Another rule Pound Rescue follows is it doesn’t allow people to adopt cats or dogs out as gifts, including birthday, holidays and Christmas, said Kurtz.
“People say, ‘I want to get my dad a dog because he’s lonely’ or for their kids, but we won’t adopt out as a gift,” she said. “ We don’t know if the person that will be taking care of the animal is on board with it. Just because we think our parents might be lonely doesn’t mean that they want a dog.”
Kurtz said the cost to operate the volunteer run organization is close to $100,000 annually. Expenses include tattoos and micro-chips, vaccinations, spaying and neutering, cleaning supplies, cat litter and veterinary bills – which make up about 80 per cent of the cots, Kurtz said.
“We can get a dog in that costs us $10,000 in vet bills,” she said. “That money can go really fast. Donations are what keep us running, there’s no government funding. If we don’t get donations we would be shut down.”
Kurtz said every animal spayed and neutered by Pound Rescue also receives identification, something she said should be mandatory at veterinary clinics.
“If people understood how important that is it would be much easier,” she said.
Other 2019 Western Wheel Cares campaign recipients are Big Brothers Big Sisters, Foothills Country Hospice, Magic of Christmas, Okotoks Food Bank, Inclusion Foothills, Rowan House Emergency Shelter and Sheep River Health Trust.
Donations to the Western Wheel Cares campaign can be made via credit card, debit, cash or cheque (payable to Western Wheel Cares) at #9 McRae Street, mailed to Box 150 Okotoks, AB T1S 2A2 (please do not mail cash) or by calling 403-938-6397. Visit www.okotokstoday.ca to donate using PayPal.
Donations of $10 or more will receive a 2019 official tax receipt at the end of the campaign.
For more information call the Western Wheel office Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 403-938-6397 or email Gayle Wolf at [email protected]
Anyone interested in adopting a cat or dog, making a donation or becoming a foster home through Pound Rescue can get more details at poundrescue.com
