From today's Herald
Great pet digs
Brighter, renovated SPCA shelter to ease adoptions By PAT LEE Staff ReporterMon. Mar 9 - 11:26 AM
Sassy, two, enjoys some attention from SPCA manager Sandra Flemming at the agency’s Dartmouth shelter last week. (Christian Laforce / Staff)
DARTMOUTH — What a difference a few months can make.
The SPCA Metro Halifax Shelter in Burnside, which had been looking a little worse for wear, has had a recent facelift, making the facility more user- friendly for staff, clients and the animals in its care.
"The first of January is when this all started and we’re not done yet," said Sean Kelly, who is on the board of directors of the Nova Scotia SPCA and chairman of the shelter management team.
Thanks to donations and countless hours of work by staff and volunteers, Kelly said they’ve been able to expand and redecorate the entranceway to the building — formerly a dark and cramped space, now open and painted a cheery yellow — as well as renovating a room where potential adopters can meet and interact with the dog or cat they hope to take home.
They’re also going to add a new window and doorway into the cat adoption room. He said these improvements will make the experience of adopting a pet more enjoyable.
"In the past we had been focused on getting the animals in and getting them out instead of fostering good relationships and choosing the right animal for the right person," he said.
Kelly, who is in the navy, said probably the most important change has been the reorganization of the shelter to contain animal illnesses. In consultation with a veterinarian and shelter managers, they have established a new protocol for isolating animals for assessment before allowing them to be near animals already in care.
They’ve also put new staff procedures in place to ensure those dealing with potentially sick animals do not inadvertently infect other animals.
"The proof is in the pudding," Kelly said during a recent tour of the shelter. "In my five years as a special constable, I had never seen the cat isolation room empty. Last week it was empty."
They hope to renovate the kitchen, which has leaking pipes and counters and cabinetry that are prone to spreading germs.
The shelter houses kennels for Halifax Regional Municipality’s animal control services — a contract that helps pay some of the bills at the shelter — as well as providing adoption services for stray or seized cats and dogs.
Kat Horne, also a member of the board, said finding homes for unwanted pets is not part of the SPCA’s mandate but they do it because it’s the humane thing to do.
"That’s not our role, but we do it," she said.
The organization’s primary role is to prevent cruelty to animals, investigate reported abuse and to educate the public about humane treatment of animals.
The provincial body receives $3,000 a year from the province to investigate the abuse of farm animals and relies on fundraising to do the rest of its work.
The renovation of the metro shelter has also come on the heels of an overhaul of the SPCA’s board of directors.
Rocked by the Celtic Pets case last year, accusations of mismanagement led to the resignation of the organization’s long-time president and vice-president. Those positions are expected to be filled at the annual meeting on April 25.
Along with shaking up the board, which included the addition of new members and formation of new oversight committees, Kelly said they also needed to make improvements at the shelter and asked former manager Sandra Flemming to return on an interim bases to oversee changes in conjunction with assistant manager Kathy Thomas.
They are currently looking for a permanent shelter director.
Kelly said despite the positive changes they’ve made at the shelter, there’s more work to be done.
"If there’s something we need to change that hasn’t been changed, it’s probably because we don’t have the funding or the resources," he said.
( plee@herald.ca)