About white cats and white elephants

Clearly Adopt a Senior Pet month hasn't caught on here in Kings County. At the beginning of November, somebody dumped this beautiful cat out on the Rafuse Road near Waterville. She's quite a distinctive looking beauty, with lovely long fur and double front paws. She also has one blue eye and one yellow eye. They figure she is somewhere between seven and nine. She was a housecat, because she's kitty litter trained and they strongly suspect she may even be spayed.

Right now she is bunking at the farm near where she was dumped, but they cannot keep her ( if they are like most other kind souls in the country, over the years they have 'filled up' with cats that have been callously dumped in their area.

So where will she go after that? Well I'll tell you where she won't be going. There is a beautiful new shelter in Kings County. Its only a year old and it cost just a hair under half a million dollars to build. Its almost 5000 square feet, with room for 30 cats and 14 dogs in the adoption area. There is room for another 10 dogs and 10 cats in an isolation area.

So why can't Cotton go to the nice new SPCA shelter? Its been finished for a year now. Is the shelter full? Is there no room? Not even close.

There is no room at the inn for Cotton because the shelter isn't even open yet. It has radiant in floor heating and so must be at least be minimally heated in order to keep pipes from bursting. Once a month, the Kings County SPCA ( http://kingsspca.com/index.htm ) is holding a kitty adoption fair for the cats they have in foster. So every month, they drag all the kitties in for a few hours, and then the shelter sits empty again, like a dream that once was.

If you live in Kings County, you will be pleased to know that this issue was mentioned in the house by the MLA for Kings West, Leo Glavine ( Lib ) during the second reading debates for Bill 186:
In the area of the Annapolis Valley where I live, the SPCA has been going through a very difficult time. We actually have no SPCA shelter currently and a number of other organizations have come in to try and support the need for strong animal welfare in our area. It is hoped that the new shelter will, indeed, get open, with a combination of paid staff and volunteers, so that the tradition of the SPCA being a highly regarded institution in our Valley community can be re-established.
If you live in Kings County and wish to express your concern about the still empty shelter, the phone number for his constituency office at the Southgate Court in Greenwood is 765-4083. His office email address is also the better one to use than the one on the government web site, and it is leoglavinemla@eastlink.ca

The appropriate contact email for SPCANS is animals@spcans.ca

The Honorable Brooke Taylor is the Minister of Agriculture. He is the minister in charge of the SPCA, and his email is MIN_DAG@gov.ns.ca

If you live in Kings County, you can Click Here to send a message to all Councillors at the Municipality.

Right now there is an unparalleled opportunity for the Kings County Branch of the SPCA. There has never been a shelter before, so there are no old protocols to undo. Just imagine what could be created with this! It could be the first No Kill SPCA shelter in the province. It could become a living breathing focal point for the animal loving community in the county.

Right now it is nothing but a big fat white elephant. With radiant heating, it must be at least minimally heated to keep the pipes from bursting. There is no way to justify having an empty, semi heated beautiful new shelter in an area with no other rescue options.

Right now, the only rescue options are Berwick Safe Haven Animal Rescue , http://www.valleyhart.com/ and the Valley Animal Shelter . Two hardworking little TNR groups and a cat shelter born of need by a local vet out of his office.

The mercury is dropping and the numbers of stray and dumped animals in need are rising. What time is it? Its time to get the doors of that lovely new building open so it doesn't sit empty for another winter.