Weyburn Humane Society president Dave Frayn gave an update on their animal shelter at a Weyburn Rotary Club luncheon at the Legion on April 17.

Frayn began by giving some background about the Humane Society. It was incorporated in 1991 because the old dog pound was not in good enough condition to keep animals. The pound was built in the 1920s and had no running water, no insulation and no ventilation.

The Weyburn Humane Society held their first meeting in November of 1991. In 1994, the Society had fundraised enough money to build a shelter and it officially opened in the fall of 1994.

"We have now made it into quite a viable animal shelter," said Frayn.

In 1998, the Society was approached by the City and asked to take over the contract for animal control. Ever since, the Humane Society has been doing animal control for the City.

Staff take care of animal control during regular business hours at the animal shelter and after hours it's taken care of by volunteers.

Frayn said the Society currently have two staff members and have taken in cats, dogs, rabbits, ferrets, pet birds and pet mice. He added that they do not take in wildlife because it can become a strain taking in a wounded animal, only to release it into the wild to be killed by a predator.

"With wildlife, we leave that to other resources," said Frayn.

The shelter currently has room for 10 dogs and 24 cats and, on a yearly basis, have an animal population of about 500.

Frayn added that their animal control and operation costs are about $60,000 per year. About one-third of this cost is covered by their contract with the City and fees and revenue from rental property covers about half of the yearly cost. The rest of their revenue comes from fundraising.

Frayn acknowledged that there are a lot of good causes and fundraising can be difficult sometimes.

"We appreciate any help that we can get. The other challenge is recruiting and retaining members for our volunteer board and volunteer members in general," said Frayn.

One of the main reason for the low number of volunteers, according to Frayn, is from burning out. He said that a lot of the people involved are very passionate about the cause and it can feel like a lost cause.

"Animal welfare has one of the highest burn-out rates. By the time you think you are doing a really good job, there are sick animals, euthanasia and over-population," Frayn said.

Frayn said that about one-third of the animals that come to the shelter are reclaimed by the owners, another one-third are adopted and the balance, which are usually old or sick, are euthanized.

"Some of the animals come through animal control, some are relinquished by owners who can't keep them or they come from the Saskatchewan Society for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty and have been seized from somewhere," Frayn said.

When it comes to euthanasia, Frayn said that, for the most part, the Humane Society has to pay the bill unless it has to do with animal control, in which case the City will then pick up the bill. He did acknowledge that larger centres can do euthanasia at their shelter.

"In our case, we don't have a large enough shelter to do euthanasia and we don't have anyone trained to do it," Frayn said.

He added that the shelter cannot expand at the moment because they don't have the room or manpower to do so.

Frayn wrapped up by reiterating that the Weyburn Humane Society is always looking for volunteers for the board or to help around the shelter.