Shell of a shelter

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

Kings County’s SPCA president can’t say when the society’s brand new animal shelter in Waterville will open.

“Our goal is to be open just as soon as we have the funding,” says Carol Doucet, acknowledging “some pressure” to get the doors open.

“This is a milestone of where we want animal care to be in the county, and it’s awesome to finally be able to look at it - it was always ‘someday’.”

Today isn’t actually here, though, Doucet says. “Now we have to equip the building - there’s nothing here.

“Until we have paid staff, secure funding to operate to the provincial SPCA standard, equipment, supplies and medications - we have to, this is an SPCA shelter - we can’t and won’t do it.”

Doucet says the SPCA shelter itself can’t operate on volunteers.

“God love volunteers, but life gets in the way, you get busy, there’s weather.... We want to be ready.”

Plus, the shelter is a half-million dollar facility. There are rooms for 30 cats and kennels for a dozen dogs; there is more space again for isolation care for animals as they are rescued from harsh situations.

“We have three completely separate ventilation systems here: we have to be careful of parvovirus, feline leukemia, infections....”

There is a storage area, an examination room, food preparation area and reception space out front where visitors and prospective adoptive families can be met. The plan is to have two full-time shelter workers, but there will likely be a need for a couple part-timers as well - and property maintenance, and medications and vet care for up to 60 animals, and on-going spay and neuter, adoption and education programs.

The sad thing is, Doucet says, “this will never be big enough for the problem that’s out there.

“It’s a community service and, if they want it, we need help.”

With $27,000 from the most recent SPCA lottery, the group needs just $20,000 more to pay off the building fee. Doucet says it would take another $40,000 to equip the shelter, with everything from dog beds to dishes, office furniture to garbage cans; and over $100,000 a year to operate.

“Our big push right now is - and it comes back to the simplicity of this: if everyone who cares about their pets in their homes in this community committed to $10 a year to be an SPCA member (there were 240 members in 2007), it would give us the room to run.

“Every animal that comes through here is just as valuable as every pet who’s lavishly loved as your pet.”

SPCA volunteers are approaching business, community groups, governments and individuals for support.

“They all have a part to play. Limiting responsibility to just one of those limits what can happen here.

“A lot of time and love has gone into this, and we want it to be the best for Kings County, we want the community to welcome us, and we want to offer all the programs we’re dreaming of.”

That’s been hard to communicate, and volunteers understand it as well: the shelter campaign started fundraising in 2002, building in the summer of 2006 to find costs had doubled in just a short time, called a halt through the winter of 2006/ 2007 and finally has its “shell” today. Along the way, a basement for storage, an outdoor dog play area and an outdoor cat climbing area were dropped because of their expense.

“And, in the meantime, we get almost 3,500 calls a year from people in this county looking for help with their animals, we’re fundraising year-round, we go on calls and rescues, we match people and pets, we run a foster home system.

“People don’t understand but, if you go through what we do, they’d be amazed.”

WEBLINKS:

kingsspca.com/