Concerns from the Greater Moncton SPCA over the number and types of animals coming into the shelter in June.
Executive Director Dan Fryer says of the 28 dogs brought in last month, nine of them had to be euthanized, eight of those due to medical or behavioural issues, “Certainly of those numbers, of the eight we can say pretty conclusively that four of them had significant behavioural issues to the point they had come to us for biting one of more people and the other four were at end stages of life in terms of their medical care. These are conditions that could have been dealt with elsewhere at a vet clinic, We are close to almost 90 percent of those animals being euthanized because of concerns we didn’t see prior to the pandemic. There are real problems that people are not taking out to vet clinics, or vet clinics are turning them away because they don’t like to do behavioural euthanasia.”
Fryer adds the high cost of living, means pet owners are having a hard time caring for their animals, and they’re ending up at the shelter instead, “Medical care is just expensive, and it is one of those areas that you can’t cut corners on. I think someone had told us that they had been quoted almost $300 to euthanize a dog. It’s expensive for people who don’t have extra funds to spare. It’s also one of the reasons we have been looking to provide our own low-cost spy/neuter program for some time now.”
Overall adoption numbers at also down at the Greater Moncton SPCA.
“It’s a combination of the pandemic and general inflation. Our call volume for medical reasons has increased significantly, but overall adoption numbers are down,” Fryer states. “We know that isn’t just a local thing, that is something other shelters are noticing. too. We think, potentially the massive influx of adoptions during the pandemic has led to a lot less available homes post-pandemic. Then you combine that with inflation, where everything costs more, Medical costs have increased along with food costs. I think people are just generally feeling the pinch and it is causing problems.”
Bunny numbers are high at the shelter currently, but Fryer adds cats aren’t as big of an issue right now. He expects a boom during the kitten season, but dogs seem to be the real focus for the shelter recently.
The Greater Moncton SPCA is also still offering its food bank, a program they started during the pandemic.
“We made the decision to make the food bank program a full-time and permanent fixture for us. We’re close to 10,000 pounds that we’ve given away year to date. So we’re constantly giving away food from the Food Bank and we’re constantly seeing new clients,” Fryer says. “We are always looking for food donations, specifically closed bags, or cash to help us buy the food. It is very important to that program. We try not to tell people a specific brand in the same way that when people ask us for specific brands for the food bank because we can’t always match that. So whatever people can donate to us. We’re always willing to take it.”
