The Moose Jaw Humane Society was kept busy in 2019 as they saw an increase in animals at their shelter.
Over 340 cats were adopted in 2019, compared to 305 cats in 2018.
Humane society executive director Dana Haukaas says one of the trends the shelter is seeing every year is people waiting until the weather turns cold before bringing in stray cats.
“For us to help most effectively, bring that stray cat in right away when you see it,” Haukaas said. “Don’t wait until it is cold.”
The humane society saw a fairly large intake of dogs as well. About 170 dogs have been adopted in 2019, up for 135 dogs in 2018.
“This year we had a few people who had unexpected litters of puppies that they needed a little help with homing,” Haukaas said.
She added that the intake of animals this year is part of the ebb and flow every year and it hasn’t been trending up or down.
The shelter also sees an influx of animals each year depending on the season.
“It’ll stay pretty steady, more often with the stray cats, through the winter,” Haukaas said. “Stray dogs come in more frequently in the summer time when people decide it’s a nice day, they’ll leave their dog in the backyard and the gate gets blown open.”
One of the major changes to the humane society over the past year was making their bookstore open year round at the shelter.
In the past, the bookstore would only be open a couple times a year at different locations including the Exhibition Grounds.
“There is no overhead for us to have the bookstore here. It gives the people the opportunity to see what we do here every day as well as all the adoptable animals,” Haukaas said.
“If we are at another location we can just take a couple of animals with us. Here everybody gets to see every animal that we have available for adoption.”
The humane society has also been highlighting their Emergency Medical Fund this past year. Belle, an orange tabby cat at the shelter, is living proof of how important the fund is.
Belle was brought into the shelter was a badly broken hip. Veterinarians could not salvage the hip, meaning Belle needed surgery that cost over $700.
“Because we had such generous supporters who donated to that fund, we knew we had the money in the fund and were able to make the decision to save her hip and her life,” Haukaas said.
She added that having funds in the Emergency Medical Fund is literally a matter of life or death. Without the donations, difficult decisions would have to be made and sometimes those decisions need to be made quickly.
“We don’t always have the opportunity to raise those funds while the pet waits for surgery,” Haukaas said.
“Often times the surgery has to be done right away, so it’s wonderful to have that money sitting in that account waiting for when the animal in need comes in.”
Donations can be made to the Emergency Medical Fund by visiting the Moose Jaw Humane Society’s website. There is a donation button that, when clicked, will give different options as to where the money will go, including the Emergency Medical Fund.
