News

The OHS is struggling to care for 16 stray rats brought to its care over the Victoria Day long weekend. The rats – all male and predominantly juvenile — were found in a cage outdoors in the Britannia Park area. Many of the rats are underweight and in poor health; one has already died.

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Surrendering a pet is a tough and personal decision. We’ve shared before some of the reasons that would bring a pet to the OHS and how we’ll do whatever we can to keep a pet with a family who loves and cares for them.

There is a unique story behind every animal who comes to the OHS, but we have noticed a common thread over the past year. One of the most frequent reasons owners need to surrender their pet is that they simply have too many.

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They roam your house, use a litter box, are best kept indoors, should be spayed/neutered, and their homeless population has been exploding.

Sound familiar? Well, I’m not talking about cats, but rabbits.

Around September 2021, we declared our rabbit population a burgeoning crisis. Rabbits were coming to us in entire litters, easily cruising into the double digits. It was a bunny-palooza.

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High temperatures forecasted for Ottawa this week pose a great danger to pets left alone in cars, warns the Ottawa Humane Society.

“Dogs die in hot cars,” said Sharon Miko, OHS President & CEO. “Temperatures in vehicles rise extremely quickly — even with windows open. Pets can overheat, leading to brain damage and even death.”

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It’s that time of year when we start to see a rising number of kittens and momma cats who need our help. During the winter months, we were taking in somewhere between 150 and 200 cats each month. During the spring and summer months, this increases by more than 100 cats monthly.

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In all the years I’ve worked for the Ottawa Humane Society, I haven’t seen an end to the different ways an animal might need our help.

A cat with a gunshot wound in his leg. A dog who had crawled into a car engine to escape the cold. A Guinea pig with ovarian cysts. Floods of homeless bunnies needing shelter, care and love. A momma cat who needed a C-section to save her life and the lives of her kittens.

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Many hands make life-saving work at the Ottawa Humane Society possible. One of these essential groups is our amazing team of volunteers — close to 800 strong.

This past week, we celebrated National Volunteer Week, and we took the chance to showcase a few of the people who are a part of this selfless team. 

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In a historic move, the Ottawa Humane Society has eliminated fees for owners to surrender their pets into the organization’s care.

Previously, surrendering could have cost a pet owner $25 to $125 depending on the species of their pet.

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I had the honour last week of meeting with shelters, advocates and people who care about animals from all over North America and even around the globe at the Humane Society of the United States’ Animal Expo.

We talked about the challenges we are facing as leaders in the humane movement. Ways that we can better serve our communities. And, of course, how we can do more for animals in need.

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You may have heard the news earlier this month that Kiska, the world’s loneliest orca, died after 40 years in captivity.

The solace I take in Kiska’s death is that she is no longer suffering and the knowledge that no orca will ever endure a similar fate in Canada — Bill S-203 made sure of that even if it excluded Kiska and other animals already locked away behind Marineland’s walls.

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