P.E.I Humane Society struggling to keep up with surrenders

By, Marley Durant, Nov. 25, 2022

Lori Kelly had to give up the family dog to the Humane Society. It was her daughter's 10 year-old Chihuahua, Cash.

After her daughter left her abusive husband, she was staying with her mother but the landlord didn’t allow pets.

Because he was a senior Kelly was worried he wouldn’t end up getting adopted at the Humane Society and would end up dying there.

“It broke my heart.”

The Humane Society of P.E.I has seen an increase of 134 per cent in surrenders this year.

It's because of the housing crisis. More people are surrendering animals at a rapid rate because there aren't pet friendly accommodations available, according to Ashley Travis with the Humane Society.

Every kennel is packed. Because of the sharp increase, animals can sense the anxiety in each other and are starting to become stressed, said Travis.

“We see a lot more animals come in that have a loving family, and have had training and have been looked after for years and years, but purely due to housing people are having to surrender them.”

She is doing everything she can, she wishes there was more that could be done.

The Humane Society offers a temporary housing program called Safe Haven for people that have housing or medical problems.

Ashley Travis wants to see better regulation for those that have animals on the Island. (Marley Durant photo)

Recently, two cats were housed under the program for four months while their owner was searching for accommodations after a house fire.

“The biggest contributing factor to animal stress is length of stay,” said Travis.

Veterinarian Emily Pringle at Crossroads Animal Hospital says that overcrowding can lead to immune infections in animals, and cause stress-borne illnesses in crowded kennel situations.

“I’m worried that's where that situation could end up heading.”

Crossroads Animal Hospital has been working with the Humane Society to help with their veterinary needs.

This year, there has been a sharp increase in surrenders of cats, and rabbits but even more dogs, Travis said

Despite having a very high adoption rate at the Humane Society, they are unable to keep the space open to maintain all the surrendered animals.

“Our adoption intake officer is giving tissues and giving hugs telling them we are going to do everything they can for their animals, but the fact that these people have to even be in that office in that situation, is emotional enough.”

Since 2017 the Humane Society has been looking to expand it’s facilities, but there have been a lot of hurdles to get through.

“The problem is, the place has to be zoned for office space, and animals. The neighbors around us have to okay it because we are loud and we have barking dogs all the time.”

This year, after lots of discussion and planning, the Humane Society finally decided to rebuild the structure on the back of the current property. It will be open by 2024, said Travis.

Part of the new design will include a “fear free design” which means more open space to reduce the animal stress.

“And we are designing it so that as education evolves we will be able to make updates over the years without having to start from scratch.”

More landlords should be open to having pets in their rental units, said Travis.

“Whether that means asking for references from past landlords, or veterinary records, there are a lot of places where it is written into law, and we don’t know if we will ever see that happen on the Island.”

“But to bring it to the forefront of landlords minds that animals are a key part of human resilience, we see so many animals surrendered from people who don't have any support systems.”

For Kelly, she was glad to see that Cash was adopted quickly despite being a senior dog.

When the family got the update that he was adopted, they were happy to hear he was adopted as soon as he was able to be. She was happy to be her daughter's support system.