The SPCA has received thousands of pounds of pet food thanks to the Pack-the-Pickup event. (Submitted Photo/Pet Planet Prince Albert)

By Rob Mahon

Pack the Pickup

Pack the Pickup nets thousands of pounds of pet food donations

Dec 6, 2021 | 6:00 PM

Keeping all the cats and dogs fed at the Prince Albert SPCA is not always an easy task. Fortunately, however, it got a lot easier thanks to help from several local sponsors over the course of last week.

With help from the Prince Albert Raiders and Mann-Northway, Pet Planet Prince Albert gathered over 6,200 pounds of food during their Pack the Pickup event. The Raiders also raised $640 through their puck toss at the game on Friday, December 3, against the Regina Pats.

“It was overwhelming in a very, very good way,” said Ashlee Bober, manager of the Prince Albert SPCA. “We were absolutely blown out of the water to see how much donations we received and the generosity and support of our community.”

Bober said she had high expectations for the event even though the pandemic had made fundraising trickier for the past year and a half. It still exceeded her expectations, however, and made it far easier to help keep the animals well fed.

“We on average will go through anywhere from one to two large bags of food a day,” Bober said. “That’s between both dogs and cats. Obviously, we can go through more when our numbers are higher here. We go through quite a lot of food here. I don’t know the exact weight off the top of my head, but it’s a substantial amount of food.”

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Cats make up the bulk of the animals at the SPCA shelter, though there are plenty of dogs as well, so donations of food are still greatly appreciated even with the event now in the rear-view mirror. In fact, those donations are one of the most important things in the shelter being able to remain open.

“We couldn’t do it without the support of our community,” Bober said. “This is a place where we need the support of our community and we can’t do it by ourselves. We need all the help that we can get, every little bit that somebody helps out is helping animals in need.”

Food donations weren’t the only part of the event as the Raiders raised money with their chuck-a-puck as well.

“Those donations are primarily used for veterinary bills,” Bober said. “We have quite high vet bills for the animals that come in here. Obviously, spaying and neutering animals, when they come in sometimes animals may have parasites that they need to treat, sometimes they may have injuries that require surgery or other sorts of things. Our vet bills are quite substantial.”

Pet Planet Prince Albert said they would provide the first bag of pet food free for every adoption at the SPCA.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP