Humane Society of Kawartha Lakes works to give every animal a ‘furever’ home

The Humane Society of Kawartha Lakes has one main goal — to find local animals a loving home.

“We work with the City of Kawartha Lakes. We house and care for animals that are brought in through them, and then if they’re not claimed, we take them into our adoption program,” said Rachel Gay, shelter manager.

The shelter currently has just under 100 animals in its system. “They’re not all in the shelter. I would say just under half of them are in foster care,” said Gay. Foster families are vital to the organization, without them there simply isn’t enough room to house all the animals.

Each week, Kawartha Lakes Weekly highlights a pet that needs adoption. Although there are no official statistics on the program’s success this past year, Gay noted that a number of people have come in to specifically look at a featured pet and end up walking away with another one.

The big thing is “it reminds people that we’re here,” she said.

Gay has found there is a false idea of why people make the choice to surrender their animals, one she said is not an easy decision to make. “I find a lot lately it’s financial (reasons). It’s probably the biggest thing right now for people or moving into a location that they can’t take pets,” she said.

The shelter does it best to ensure pets are able to stay in their homes. They have a food bank for owners to use that has a variety of food and treats available to take. The hope is having access to that resource will be enough for people to get back on their feet.

“Just because they don’t have a lot of money doesn’t mean they’re not good pet owners. The animal should stay home,” Gay said.

The pet food bank is run completely on donations, something the shelter is always looking for. People are encouraged to bring in food and litter for the food bank, and the organization is always looking for blankets, towels, and toys for the animals.

They’re also always looking for volunteers. They currently have seven COOP students, but it’s not enough. They need people for even the simplest of tasks, like cleaning dishes and walking the dogs.

Their hope is that when a stray is brought in the owner will be able to be tracked down. “I really, really wish we would get better with the microchips,” Gay said. Microchips are the easiest way for a pet to be reunited with its owner, however the hope is at the very least a lost pet will have a collar with up-to-date information on it.

With the winter season arriving, they expect to see more animals. “Unfortunately, homelessness is becoming more common. Once it gets cold, we start seeing them having to bring their animals in,” said Gay. “We’ll try and hold on to them while they get things sorted, but we can’t do that as much as we would like.”

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer or foster parent can do so at hskl.ca.