Yesterday, the Shirley Kearns Memorial Adoption Centre looked like a child’s birthday party. Why? We were celebrating, not a birth — but a rebirth: the reopening of the centre to visitors.
The day was a long time coming. Several times, we began preparations for reopening, only to delay because of COVID and provincial requirements.
When you hear “service dog” what do you think of? I imagine a guide dog helping his owner safely navigate a busy intersection, or those ubiquitous plastic dogs in supermarkets accepting change to support Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind. But in reality, service dogs fill many roles — some of which may surprise you.
This morning, I got to do something I haven’t been able to do for a year and a half: I greeted a volunteer. She was so happy and so was I. During the pandemic, to protect our staff and thereby our ability to care for animals, all but our super-essential foster volunteer program were suspended. Slowly, though, volunteers are returning and it’s wonderful!
Before the pandemic and ubiquitous Zoom meetings, I would sometimes work late, attending committee or other meetings. As I would leave, visitors and staff would have gone home. The animals would be asleep, or at least quiet. The building was big, empty and lonely, almost like a mausoleum. The shelter was designed to be a meeting place for people as well as a safe haven for animals, and when there are few people, it feels, well, a bit sad. That is how it has sometimes felt through lockdowns and health precautions over the past year and a half.
After a relatively mild July, August is turning into a scorcher. Whenever it gets this hot, I worry about dogs — specifically dogs trapped in overheated cars. We here at the Ottawa Humane Society do our best to get the word out. This, and every summer, we launch public campaigns with dual messages: don’t leave your dog in a car; if you find a dog trapped in a car, report it immediately. This year, we even made a video. But still I worry. I have witnessed the effects of excessive heat exposure in dogs. It’s horrible.
The global pandemic has created multiple crises in our community, in Canada and across the world. The OHS has not been immune — the last 16 months have felt like our work has been full of small crises.
A growing crisis at the OHS is a lack of foster homes. Foster volunteers are a large and essential element of our spectrum of care for Ottawa’s animals.
The recent reports of deceased cats were certainly unsettling to me and everyone here at the OHS. There are persistent theories that the killer is human, but the OHS has come to believe that the evidence points to the perpetrator as a coyote or coyotes. Here is the case:
I’m looking forward to a summer where many of us can safely return to our workplaces and reconnect with friends, family and the community at large. At the same time, I’m worried about our pets who may be unprepared for this transition.
I have always believed that organizations, especially not-for-profits and charities, need to stand for something. They need to provide informed thinking on issues within their domain. After all, if they don’t, who will? This is especially true for humane societies, most of whom for many years have used the tagline, “We speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.”
In 2020, the Calgary Stampede was cancelled because of the pandemic. In 2021, the Calgary Stampede is set to run again, but without chuckwagon racing on the bill. The organizers promise chuckwagons will return in 2022, but the event should never come back.
Here is what I wrote about the stampede and chuckwagon races just two years ago:
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