Timmins animal shelter dealing with 'extremely high' number of surrendered pets
The Timmins and District Humane Society is finding itself at full capacity and low on resources, after a shocking surge in animal surrenders this past week.
Executive director Lynn Michaud said while the summer is typically a busy season, seeing more than 50 pet surrenders in just one week is far from normal.
"We've had like 11 puppies come in, we had four dogs come on at one point. In two days, we had 31 cats come in, requiring our care," said Michaud, a past director of the shelter who returned to the role this year.
"The numbers, typically where it's one to two per person, have actually been a larger number from singular families."
People have also surrendered bunnies and other small animals, Michaud said, with reasons for the surrenders varying from financial trouble to domestic disputes.
Michaud said the shelter is now at full capacity, not including spaces it needs to keep open for animal control, and has been forced to triage its intake.
"For example, someone has a child that's all of a sudden really, dangerously allergic to their pet ... or they have an animal that's extremely ill. Those are priority cases, versus someone who maybe isn't able to provide care for their animal, but they can hold onto them for a few weeks, while we sort out the pressure points," she said.
The humane society is appealing to the community for food, supplies and cash donations to help care for all of these new animals.
Michaud said if the situation worsens, she'll have to seek help from other area shelters, but added many also reporting limited space.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.
What's causing the catastrophic rainfall in Kenya?
The torrential rains and deadly floods that have hit Kenya since March have been some of the worst in the country in recent years. Here's how factors combined to create the deadly deluge.