How post-tropical storm Fiona affected N.S. SPCA operations and animals in their care
When post-tropical storm Fiona made landfall in the Maritimes on Sept. 23, Cape Breton was hit particularly hard. Many homes and businesses were badly damaged, including the Nova Scotia SPCA shelter in Sydney.
Sarah Lyon, the SPCA’s director of marketing and communications, says while the shelter was damaged during the storm, it was “very fortunate” that no animals or staff were hurt.
“When Fiona hit, there was 300 animals in the shelters. We have a foster program, so there were some animals that were home safe with their foster families,” she says.
While the shelter dealt with its own cleanup efforts and power outages, it continued to provide services to people, and pets, in need.
“When something like this happens we are here for Nova Scotians because we know a lot of Nova Scotians were affected. We have a pet pantry at all of our locations in the province,” says Lyon. “So if you need some cat food, some dog food, some kitty litter, it’s there and we’re there to help and it’s free.”
Another service the Nova Scotia SPCA offers is a Paws and Support program for Nova Scotians experiencing temporary homelessness, or fleeing domestic violence.
“We can help and take your animal and hold them for you while you’re transitioning,” Lyon says. “So, in Cape Breton for instance, there’s an apartment building that has some damage, in our Paws and Support program we’ve taken in some cats and some rats.”
Power has since been restored to the Cape Breton shelter and it is “back up and running.”
“I was up there last week helping with the animals,” says Lyon. “We saw everybody out there working their hardest to help get everybody safe and healthy and the lights back on at the shelter.”
Despite the power being back, Lyon says there were some losses.
“We did have some damages, so there’s a loss when you have no power, there’s loss of medicine, vaccines and food, linens, dog beds that can’t be cleaned. So we had some losses, but everybody’s safe.”
There are two ways people can help the SPCA recover from the storm.
There are currently several pets available for people looking to add a furry friend to their home and the SPCA encourages people to drop by their local shelter if they’re looking to adopt.
“The other way is you can go to spca.ca and you can make a donation as we recoup some food and some vaccines and be prepared for the next storm,” says Lyon.
One of the dogs currently available for adoption is Marley, a six-year-old Labrador who was in the Cape Breton shelter when Fiona hit. He was later evacuated to Dartmouth for X-rays.
“Marley was new to the shelter and we needed to find out if something was wrong,” says Lyon. “Marley does have, because of the X-rays, because we were able to bring him down last week, we were able to find out that Marley has a degenerative bone disease, which is not lacking for the enthusiasm and love that he has to give.”
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