Non-profit animal hospital opens in southeast Calgary

A not-for-profit animal hospital officially opens in Calgary offering accessible and affordable vet care to people feeling financial challenges.

An animal hospital dedicated to affordable treatment for pets opened Saturday in southeast Calgary, and business is already booming.

The Task Force Animal Hospital officially opened its doors Saturday, offering accessible and affordable vet care to people who might otherwise not be able to afford to take their pet to the vet.

“It’s really the first hospital like this in Alberta right now,” said Canadian Animal Task Force executive director and co-founder R.J. Bailot.

Bailot said the group originally started to support Indigenous communities with dog management practices, setting up spay and neuter clinics but could see the need to broaden its reach.

“Over the years, we’ve kind of shifted and expanded programs to now have our own brick-and-mortar space in Calgary, so that we could actually help Calgarians as well,” Bailot said.

He said the group did a soft launch to try to gauge demand ahead of the official opening.

“Within a few days, we had over 300 applications,” he said. “We know we’re going to be slam busy.

“The sad reality is there’s such a huge need for services like this,” he added. “There was recently a study that was published that 50 per cent of Canadians are not bringing their animals right now to veterinarians, and cost is one of the largest factors.”

Bailot said the group is trying to complete its capital campaign, with every dollar donated up to $100,000 being matched by a longtime donor.

“That will really help us get to our goal to really complete this capital campaign,” he said.

The animal hospital is at 3610 Burnsland Rd S.E. For information, go here.