Ottawa Humane Society issues urgent appeal for volunteers

The Ottawa Humane Society is issuing an urgent appeal for volunteers to shelter animals after having to turn eight pets away this week.

The organization offers a Sheltering Animals From Emergencies (SAFE) program, offering pet owners the opportunities to have their pets fostered by volunteers when experiencing housing instability, fleeing violence or experiencing other emergencies.

Now, the Ottawa Humane Society is seeking 30 foster volunteers for the SAFE program.

“This week alone, we had to turn away eight pets from SAFE because we don’t have enough volunteers.” Debbie King, Manager: Veterinary Social Work at the Ottawa Humane Society, said in a statement.

“The shelter’s population is rising and many of our foster volunteers already have another animal in their care.”

Under the SAFE program, pets could be in the care of volunteers for a few weeks or a few months. The humane society says one of the groups most often accessing SAFE is seniors without a support network, who are facing short-term hospitalizations.

“Keeping pets with the people who love them is the whole point of SAFE,” Sharon Miko, Ottawa Humane Society president & CEO, said in a statement. “Without SAFE, our clients might have had to make the difficult decision to surrender their pet because of a temporary hardship. SAFE supports the well-being of the person and makes sure the pet can go home once the crisis has passed.”

The Ottawa Humane Society says it has supported more than 500 pet owners through the pet food bank, wellness clinics and spay/neuter services so far this year.