The Weyburn Humane Society will continue their fundraising efforts this year towards building a new animal shelter, supporters and board members heard at the society’s annual meeting on Wednesday evening.
The organization installed their 10-member board at the meeting, along with hearing reports on how the society has done in the past year, including the financial report.
In her report as society president, Pam Arndt-Schick paid tribute to the volunteers and the fundraising efforts that had been held over the past year, helping keep their operations going, and helping raise funds for their new shelter.
The board visited two possible sites for a new shelter in November and December, said Arndt-Schick.
“Our biggest goal this year is to fundraise and be able to put money aside for our new shelter, as our current shelter is deteriorating more and more, year after year, and more space is definitely needed. We hope to one day soon have a new shelter,” she said.
After the board looked at a couple of possible new locations, she said, “when we recrunched our numbers, we thought it best to hang on for a bit and keep in saving.”
The Humane Society has managed to receive enough funds from fundraising and from community donations to keep going with their operations in taking in cats and dogs, and adopting them out to new homes.
“It’s so nice to see when our shelter needs help, the community comes together and provides for us,” said Arndt-Schick.
The fundraisers in the past year have included their giant garage sale and a smaller one, bake sales and the “Raise the Woof” comedy fundraiser.
“January is the month when we get together and plan the various fundraising events for the year. We are excited to get 2018 going,” said Arndt-Schick.
She noted the shelter is managed by Colleen Morrice, who oversees the staffing, and makes sure the vehicle maintenance is done, vet trips for the cats and dogs are arranged for, and any building repairs are completed.
“She keeps the shelter in tip-top shape, and along with the staff keeps the animals healthy, clean and exercised,” said Arndt-Schick, noting they had a visit from the SPCA who declared the Weyburn shelter “as the cleanest and best-smelling shelter in the province.”
Currently, the Humane Society has five dogs and 21 cats, she said, providing the statistics for the past year.
There were 152 cats adopted this year with seven adoptions returned, 32 were farm cats, and 42 cats were claimed by their owners after being picked up. A total of 15 cats were euthanized this past year.
There were 39 dogs adopted, 126 dogs were reclaimed by their owners, four were returned adoptions and eight were relinquished to the shelter by their owners. One dog was euthanized.
In total, the Humane Society had 333 calls for animal control in 2017, including two rabbits, a turtle, a reptile and a guinea hen.
This year’s board includes Arndt-Schick returning as the president, Cindy Ann Boehm as vice-president, Pat Anderson as secretary-treasurer and Morrice as shelter manager. Board members include Ashly Callan, Carol LaCharite, Kristen Graff, Lisa Webb, Randy Bakaluk, Rhiannon Benjamin and Sabrina Kraft.
