As Bob Barker would say, spay and neuter your pets. (SPCA/Facebook)

By Nick Nielsen

Adoption Prices Reduced

Local SPCA hopes adoption event helps overcrowding

Aug 21, 2024 | 2:00 PM

The Prince Albert SPCA is dealing with an overcrowding problem, which has caused them to start reaching out for the public’s support. Not only are they starting to ask the public to help supply their food, but they’re also running an event this week to help increase adoption numbers.

From now until August 25, the SPCA has reduced adoption fees for dogs and puppies down to $150, and down to $50 for cats and kittens. According to Manager of Operations Ashlee Bober, this is a problem that is just starting to pick up.

“We have been at full capacity now for roughly a month. On an average day we are seeing more incoming animals than what we are seeing go out. This is a high number of animals being found at large being brought into our care and a reduced number of animals that are being reclaimed by their owners,” she said.

Most of the animals that are getting turned into the SPCA are feline moms and their litters, and stray dogs and cats that are ranging from all ages. The biggest factor contributing to this is that people are letting their animals wander too much, causing more litters to be born and eventually turned in.

“The lack of spaying and neutering pets and a disregard for the bylaws that pets are not allowed to be at large are definitely the biggest contributing factors. We have been seeing a high volume of litters and individual pups and kittens coming into our care. Our responsible pet ownership bylaws are put in place to protect our pets as well as to reduce strays within our community. We greatly encourage folks to spay/neuter their pets to ensure there are no unwanted litters and to follow our local city bylaws.”

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While any animal adopted from the SPCA is spayed/neutered, microchipped, and is up to date on their vaccinations, that isn’t that case with all the animals the SPCA takes in. According to the city’s bylaw on pet ownership, the annual license fees for a non-spayed pet are another $50 per year than the animals that are not spayed/neutered.

Since they’ve started to ask the public for donations, the support from the community has been great according to Bober. Still, they need lots more to continue feeding the population they have with a particular need for dry dog, cat, and kitten food, rabbit pellets, aspen wood shavings for rabbit habitats, and a new storage shed.

“We have been blessed by our community with support of fresh veggies for our bunnies, as well as food for both our dogs and cats. We have had a number of local businesses reach out to help, as well as individual community members. With our continual high population of animals in care, we are going through our resources quite quickly. So we still greatly encourage anyone who can donate to help us keep the animals bellies full, to please do so,” she said.

If you wish to make a donation towards the SPCA, you can drop them off in person during regular office hours at 1125 N Industrial Drive, or you can buy your donation from one of the local pet stores in town and have it arranged for the SPCA to pick it up. Monetary donations are also accepted either in person or by e-transfer to donations.paspca@gmail.com.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com