Canadian animal shelters pushing overcapacity amid inflation, staff shortages
Canadian animal shelters pushing overcapacity amid inflation, staff shortages
A caged cat reaches out its paw inside the Toronto Humane Society building on Friday November 27, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Animal shelters throughout Canada are struggling to make room for surrendered pets as resources are stretched to a breaking point, according to the federation of humane societies and SPCAs.
Barbara Cartwright, CEO of Humane Canada, says overwhelming waitlists at shelters across the country, and a lack of resources such as medical support, food and foster care are creating “the perfect storm.”
“We’re seeing that the number of calls and emails and messages coming into shelters for help are going up significantly,” she told CTVNews.ca. “Shelters are close or at capacity.”
Cartwright said this pattern of owners no longer being able to care for their animals extends to cities all over the country, and complications are rising as staffing shortages make caring for animals all the more difficult.
There are numerous factors at play that could be the cause of increasing numbers of surrendered animals, Cartwright explained, pointing to return-to-office trends and animal behavioural problems that are difficult for families to cope with.
“What we’re seeing is a shift in the types of animals coming into shelters,” Cartwright said. “And we’re seeing an increase in behavioural issues and medical issues, and that requires more resources from the shelter in order to prepare the animal for adoption. That means the animal stays in shelter longer before they could be put up for adoption.”
Aside from medical and behavioural issues causing more dogs to be brought to the pound, and causing them to stay longer, Cartwright also recognizes a major force responsible for pushing shelters to capacity: inflation.
“There is the fact that families cannot afford to feed their animals, anymore. They can’t afford to feed themselves anymore. So that cost of inflation is stretching the family budget. That’s where we see an irregularly increasing demand for pet food banks.”
Cartwright says that another major obstacle is that accessible vet care is getting increasingly difficult to find.
“In the past we might have only seen that as a financial issue, but now we are seeing a vet shortage happening across the country. Since it’s very hard to find a vet, you can end up at the emergency vet, which costs even more money.”
Lenore Hume, with the Winnipeg Humane Society, told CTVNews.ca that her shelter is overwhelmed with animals in ways her and fellow staff have not seen before.
“Right now we have over 120 cats and 60 dogs on the waitlist to be surrendered,” she said. “We simply do not have the space to take them in.”
At any given point, Winnipeg Humane Society is managing 400 plus animals, she explained.
“Right now we’re taking in six injured strays, and we simply don’t have the space to take all the surrendered animals. We think it’s only going to get worse.”
Photos released by NASA taken from International Space Station show the immense scale of the wildfires in Nova Scotia, with billowing smoke engulfing the landscape.
At the moment, wildfires are burning across six provinces and one territory in Canada — and they’re still spreading in what’s being called an unprecedented fire season. While firefighters work tirelessly to battle the merciless flames and prevent further destruction, scientists say the wildfires are linked to climate change and that this will be the new normal.
A 38-year-old sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined $3,000 and issued a severe reprimand after he made what a military judge described as 'utterly disgusting' anti-Jewish comments while conducting an infantry training course in 2021.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.
Convicted murderer Daniel Jolivet, in prison for the past 30 years, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. W5 reviews the evidence he painstakingly assembled while behind bars.
W5 Producer Shelley Ayres explains how she was in awe to meet what the Guinness Book of World Record's has named the World's Tallest Teenager, a 17-year-old from Quebec who plays for Team Canada.
CTV W5 investigates what authorities knew about plans to smuggle cocaine out of the Dominican Republic on a Toronto-bound Pivot Airlines flight. The airline's crew is demanding justice following their eight-month detention.
Gordie Sampson has written hit songs for some of the biggest names in country music, including Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan. CTV W5 speaks with the Grammy winner from small-town Nova Scotia about his creative process.
A CTV W5 investigation reveals that a critical shortage of volunteer firefighters in this country is having a potentially deadly impact, especially in rural Canada.
Sandie Rinaldo tells the story of the largest Black military unit in Canadian history, whose members had to fight to serve for Canada in the First World War as they faced rampant racism at home.
Three Toronto men have been charged with attempted murder after they allegedly shot an innocent dog walker in Schomberg, Ont. in a case of mistaken identity.
As baseball leagues get underway across Ontario, many are struggling to find umpires. Hundreds of umpires are needed, and even large tournaments are calling in replacements from out of province.
Gatineau police arrested an 18-year-old man in connection to the investigation into a hidden camera discovered in the washroom at an elementary school.
Police charged three men, believed to be members of a street gang, with the attempted murder of a 65-year-old man who was shot 13 times while walking his dog in Schomberg in February.
Multiple sources have told CTV News that the WSIB is now eyeing the 3M building at 300 Tartan Dr. near Veterans Memorial Parkway as a new headquarters.
Around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, officers responded to two separate calls where citizens believed they heard gunshots in the 100 block of Albert Street near Talbot Street.
The defence has completed its closing summations in an ongoing Windsor murder trial involving the shooting death of 20-year-old Madisen Gingras in April of 2020.
Shoppers with a sweet tooth completely sold out a small town bakery in the Town of Essex recently, while streetscape construction continues in front of the Essex Centre store.
Parts of Quebec's controversial language law that took effect Thursday could still be tweaked, according to the minister responsible for the French language.
Planning to pass time in Montreal's many parks this summer? Check yourself for ticks, warns one woman who recently contracted Lyme disease. Jasmine Rochereul, 23, says she spent much of last summer sprawled in city parks, where she believes she picked up the tick-borne illness.
It's the start of a new season at Moraine Lake and for the first time, you will have to take a shuttle bus to access the famous landmark -- no matter how early you're willing to show up.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.
Pierre Poilievre is off to Manitoba to rally Conservative supporters ahead of a byelection that Maxime Bernier is hoping will send him back to Parliament. The far-right People's Party of Canada leader lost his Quebec seat in the 2019 federal vote and lost again in the 2021 election.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Racial bias built into a common medical test for lung function is likely leading to fewer Black patients getting care for breathing problems, a study published Thursday suggests.
Researchers at Carleton University's Department of Electronics in Ottawa created a ground-breaking testing device to detect early signs of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s through biomolecular activities in a person’s saliva.
Twitter's head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, told Reuters on Thursday that she has resigned from the social media company, which has faced criticism for lax protections against harmful content since billionaire Elon Musk acquired it in October.
Deep in an open coal mine in southern Greece, researchers have discovered the antiquities-rich country's oldest archaeological site, which dates to 700,000 years ago and is associated with modern humans' hominin ancestors. The find announced Thursday would drag the dawn of Greek archaeology back by as much as a quarter of a million years, although older hominin sites have been discovered elsewhere in Europe. The oldest, in Spain, dates to more than a million years ago.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, director Christopher Nolan offers a guide to his favourite formats, explaining why it matters and even where he likes to sit so that audiences don't feel like they need a film school degree (or one in theoretical physics) before settling on a theatre.
Cynthia Weil, a Grammy-winning lyricist of notable range and endurance who enjoyed a decades-long partnership with husband Barry Mann and helped write 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling,' 'On Broadway,' 'Walking in the Rain' and dozens of other hits, has died at age 82.
Air Canada says travellers should be prepared for further flight disruptions as it works to return service to normal following a technical malfunction Thursday.
The wildfires plaguing residents in Alberta and Nova Scotia are part of a larger trend that's driving up the cost of home insurance as extreme weather becomes more common, insurance experts say.
Memphis guard Ja Morant not being charged with a crime for twice displaying a gun on social media will not prevent the NBA from handing down more discipline, Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday.
The Detroit Grand Prix, coming off Josef Newgarden's win at the Indianapolis 500, provides drivers and teams with a chance for a fresh start for the rest of the season.
America apparently needs more car seats. So, when Volkswagen unveiled the ID. Buzz, a retro-styled electric van, last year, it noted that the version for the North American market would be longer and would have three rows of seats.
A caged cat reaches out its paw inside the Toronto Humane Society building on Friday November 27, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
