WILL YOU GIVE THE GIFT OF SAFE TRANSPORTATION FOR NEGLECTED AND ABUSED ANIMALS IN ALBERTA?
Please give today!
Help us to raise
$60,000
for a temperature-controlled van and other transportation equipment.
On Giving Tuesday, we’re raising funds so we can transport animals from anywhere in Alberta safely and efficiently.
Animals come into our care from all kinds of situations and from all over the province.
Our SPCA Peace Officers are responsible for taking hundreds of animals into protective custody each year, sometimes transporting them hundreds of kilometres to receive medical care, and to eventually be rehomed. Currently, our team uses pickup trucks and stock trailers to move animals such as cats and dogs, birds and reptiles, and smaller livestock such as chickens.
While this is a safe solution, it’s not ideal.
We’ve all experienced record hot days, and wickedly freezing winds. We can’t use trailers or the box of our pickups during extreme weather, winter or summer.
Our Peace Officers often take dozens of animals into care at a time, and our pickups and trailers are not always big enough to carry all the animals at once, meaning we have to leave some animals behind, at least for a little while.
100% of your donation stays in Alberta and is used for Board-approved programs and projects protecting animals from neglect and abuse and promoting humane animal treatment province-wide. Once a project goal has been met, remaining gifts are directed to areas of greatest need to help Alberta’s animals.
WE'RE SEIZING OR BRINGING MORE AND MORE SURRENDERED ANIMALS INTO OUR CARE ALL THE TIME
Due to the lingering issues of the global pandemic, economic challenges facing many animal owners, and climate change leading to drought and wildfires, we are experiencing more situations where we need to transport large numbers of animals from a single location – be they seizures or surrenders.
A temperature-controlled van will allow us to move large numbers of animals in a single vehicle safely. This van will ensure compromised animals are transported in comfort, and it will also allow us to haul food and other supplies to remote areas of Alberta while transporting animals at the same time.
WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANIMALS IN EVERY CORNER OF THE PROVINCE
Alberta SPCA Peace Officers investigate neglect and abuse in all areas of Alberta (outside of Calgary and Edmonton). Many of the animals we check on to ensure they are cared for and not in distress involve a drive of several hours. Our valuable partners who help us shelter animals in our care are also spread out.
YOUR DONATION WILL HELP US PURCHASE A PROPER VEHICLE FOR TRANSPORTING SMALL ANIMALS
On Giving Tuesday, help us reach our goal of raising $60,000 for a temperature-controlled van and other transportation equipment, ensuring compromised and at-risk animals are transported safely and comfortably.
Removing Dogs From Breeder’s Property
More than 80 dogs needed to be removed from a property, and
the operation had to be done quickly. The smaller breed dogs were placed in kennels and loaded into our small horse trailer. The larger breed dogs were placed in crates and loaded onto a stock trailer. Fortunately, the weather was mild enough to transport them the 150 kilometres to the caretaking facility. We would not have been able to safely take these animals out of their horrific conditions if the weather had been worse.
Pheasant Chicks Left to Die in the Cold
Hundreds of pheasant chicks were abandoned in an alley outside in the rain in north central Alberta where a concerned member of the public spotted them and called us. We needed to get them warm and dry as fast as possible so the Peace Officer placed the chicks in plastic totes in the backseat of a pickup, and turned the heat on full blast (despite the fact is was a summer day). The warmth worked to breathe life into the chicks, but they started getting out of the totes and wandering around the cab of the pickup while the Peace Officer drove them to a safe place.
136 Cats In One Small Home
A collector had more than 130 cats living in horrific conditions in an urban home in central Alberta. Despite their living environment, the cats were relatively healthy. The transportation of the cats happened over four different trips in December and January when the weather was quite frigid. We were only able to use our pickup because it was a short drive to the caretaking facility.
Dog Breeder
Dozens of dogs needed to be removed from one rural property in northwestern Alberta. When the weather is ideal, we place them in kennels in the back of one of our pickups, and we can usually fit 11 or 12 at one time. However, on hot summer days, or frigid winter ones, we cannot use the unheated box of the truck to transport animals. Instead, we load the crates into the backseat of our pickup, which means we can only take 3 to 4 at a time. In this particular case, the dogs were removed from the property over the course of a dozen trips, and involved numerous Peace Officers.
Collector of Cats
The weather is always a factor when we decide how to transport animals from a property. Our team had been removing cats from the property of an animal collector since winter of last year. The Peace Officer noted there were more than 60 cats living outside in the bitter cold, and without adequate food or shelter. Unfortunately, it was a two-hour drive to the caretaking facility and the Peace Officer could only fit 15 cats in crates in the backseat of her truck. She seized the ones in most dire condition and left food for the rest until she could return to the property to remove more animals.
