Editor’s Note: On a 2008 research trip to Canada, our reporter visited the Prince Edward Island Humane Society’s headquarters and animal shelter. Although the specific animals in residence and some of the shelter staff have changed since then, the dilemma of homeless pets remains exactly the same.

By Jay Scott Kanes

CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI, Canada – Humans who love animals struggle with the same problem almost everywhere. Should homeless pets face euthanasia because no one wants them or they’re difficult to handle?

Even for the kind-hearted people operating animal shelters, the regrettable answer may be “yes”. Much of the blame goes to pet-owners who allow their animals to reproduce.

“We have an over-population of companion animals,” said Heather Irving, then executive director of the Prince Edward Island Humane Society. “There are too many animals, and not enough people come to adopt.”

The Humane Society operates the only animal shelter in Canada’s smallest province. It fills a two-acre site, partly fenced off as a public dog park. Normally, the shelter has 11 employees, dozens of volunteers and capacity for 150 dogs and cats. The volunteers give temporary “foster homes” to more critters, sometimes even rabbits, birds, hamsters, ferrets, gerbils or pot-bellied pigs.

Most shelter employees and volunteers have multiple pets at home. “For us, adopting the animals can be an occupational hazard,” said shelter attendant Tammy Bevan.

“It’s really important for the people working here to know their limits,” Heather said. “Otherwise, they’ll become basket-cases or animal hoarders. It’s easy to do. Everyone here has had some significant trauma-related event involving an animal so it’s a stressful place. We never know what’s coming through the door. But probably we’d have different problems if we were a closed-door facility accepting only adoptable animals.”

The idea of spaying and neutering pets “gets around in the community, but lots of people still don’t act. They think their dog or cat should have a litter first, or they don’t believe it’s their responsibility. Sometimes cost is a barrier too.”

The non-profit Humane Society, funded mainly by donations, memberships and bequests, has operated on PEI since 1975. Constantly, it needs volunteers and donations of cash, pet food, towels, blankets, cat litter, pet-toys, leashes, collars and more.

Volunteers help to feed, clean, care for and socialize with the animals. “Dog-walking is a big deal,” Heather said. “For the dogs, it’s enriching to get onto the end of a leash with a human who’ll give them attention and go outside.”

Each year, the society arranges about 800 adoptions while sheltering more than 2,000 animals. New arrivals are assessed for health, behavior and adoptability. There’s no limit on how long an animal can stay, but those consistently not adopted face the risk of euthanasia, partly to make space for new arrivals.

“We do the best we can,” Heather said. “We’re an open-access shelter. If you have an injured or homeless animal, bring it in and we’ll take it. We have limits, but we don’t put a guardian at the door deciding who gets in, based on adoptability.

“In communities with no-kill shelters, there’s always another place to euthanize the animals that aren’t adoptable. Sometimes this isn’t explained by people who are proud of being from an organization that never euthanizes. Then who deals with the animals so far gone that they won’t take them?

“Our shelter manager is committed to giving every adoptable animal a chance. But we don’t want to warehouse animals. We could build a big warehouse with rows and rows, shelves and shelves, but that isn’t realistic.”

Some animals have health or behavior issues that make them unsuitable, even dangerous, in homes. “People looking for animals aren’t going to say, ‘Give me your most vicious dog and one with lots of health issues.’ When we have a dog or cat with special needs, we sometimes headhunt to find a special person for that animal. We want the animals with manageable or treatable problems to be adopted.”

Certain animals spur their own demise by disliking life at the shelter. “If all we see is angry behavior, then by our best judgment, that animal probably won’t settle,” Heather said. “Then we have an obligation not to knowingly release what we think are dangerous pets.”

Part of the adoption process involves behavior evaluation by a trained staff member, often a veterinary student working in a positive-behavior training program. In that sense, life-and-death decisions aren't made arbitrarily.

The shelter’s annual statistics show more than 1,000 instances of euthanasia. Eighty-four per cent are cats, 13 per cent dogs and three per cent small mammals, like rabbits or hamsters.

For dogs, a typical stay at the shelter lasts 20 days. For cats, it’s 25 days. On average, each animal costs the shelter Cdn $10 per day. Medicine is expensive, but so are food, heat and electricity.

“We don’t work in isolation” Heather said. “Our community contacts are extensive. For example, we’re fortunate to have good relationships at the nearby Atlantic Veterinary College. When we send dogs or cats to the veterinary college for medical care, the animals may not return. Often there’s someone there who works on them, feels a real bond and goes through our adoption process.”

The shelter charges adoption fees: Cdn $195 for a dog and $145 for a cat, but the fees cover a lot. Each adopted animal is spayed or neutered, vaccinated and implanted with a microchip.

“We think that adopting animals brings responsibility and should have a price,” Heather said. “No one should regard animals as free for the taking.”

Twice as many cats as dogs arrive. Most dogs find homes. The cats fare much worse. A contributing factor is that more people make an effort to properly identify their dogs through licenses, tags, collars and microchips and to make serious efforts to look for them if they go missing.

The society’s animal-protection officers travel the province at all hours on emergency missions and sometimes even help wild animals, like raccoons, foxes, coyotes or seagulls. The officers crawl under barns, enter old sheds or rescue creatures hit by traffic.

Some towns hire the society for dog-control. Staff members also investigate pet-cruelty, neglect or abandonment, although any complaints involving farm livestock go to the Department of Agriculture.

“Our biggest concern is the surplus of companion animals, especially cats,” Heather said. “But the answer isn’t to build warehouses or even a bigger shelter. It’s for fewer animals to come here in the first place.

“That means creating more chances for pets to be spayed or neutered. Recently, a low-cost spay-neuter program started. But believe me, there won’t be an animal shortage.”

For more information: www.peihumanesociety.com


A large area outside the shelter
serves as a public dog park.

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