Alberta’s animal welfare community is in crisis
Adoption shelters and humane societies are at capacity, especially with dogs. It’s harder than ever to rehome the animals our Peace Officers remove from situations of neglect and distress.
There are many reasons for this, and our team, with your support, is working to address them – but in the meantime, we need your help to ensure all animals have the lives they deserve.
In just the first eight months of 2024, we’ve taken more than 350 animals into our care, including 319 dogs and cats. There has been an unprecedented number of large seizures, which is placing an extra strain on an already overloaded animal welfare system.
While we don’t maintain a shelter facility, we do have animals in care across the province. Some are with our adoption partners, including local humane societies, but many are at caretaking facilities, receiving the medical and behavioural support they need before they can be rehomed.

Caretaking comes at a tremendous cost, but I know you’d agree that it’s worth the expense if it means animals get a new chance at better lives.

One of the biggest challenges we face is finding the space to house and care for animals as they recover. We know that having a reliable space where we can place animals in emergencies is critical to their recovery and eventual rehoming.
To accomplish this, we’ve partnered with caretaking facilities across the province to hold spots we can use at any moment, exclusively for animals that our Alberta SPCA Peace Officers
remove from neglect and distress. By planning ahead, we can ensure there is always space for any animal that needs our help.
But even with pre-planning, caring for this many animals is incredibly costly, which is why I’m asking for your help today. Your generosity ensures our province’s most vulnerable animals have a safe place to go when they need it most.
