A new partnership between the Ottawa Humane Society (OHS) and the Ottawa Food Bank (OFB) stands to feed more than 600 of Ottawa’s pets-in-need each month and make emergency pet food accessible throughout the city.
“The OHS Emergency Pet Food Bank has already fed more than 5,000 pets during the public health crisis,” said Lindsey Marcon, OHS manager of community programs. “By working together with the Ottawa Food Bank, the service will be available where people need it most and will help even more of Ottawa’s pets.”
Over the 133 years since its founding, the Ottawa Humane Society has accumulated a large archive to remember our history. Our most precious artifact is the stunningly beautiful memorial book. The book contains the names of those who remembered the animals in their wills, all written in calligraphy by hand, surrounded by hand-painted drawings of all sorts of animals. The book sits in a glass box in the reception area in the shelter. When I remember, I turn a page daily.
More foster volunteers are needed at the Ottawa Humane Society to address the shelter’s growing animal population and help homeless pets find their forever homes.
“Foster volunteers make a huge difference for the animals,” explained Bruce Roney, OHS President & CEO. “Foster volunteers increase the OHS’s capacity for care and help homeless animals receive some much needed TLC.”
In June of this year, I wrote about serious failures in the system that let down a Rottweiler-mix puppy named Bane. Bane was tortured and killed at the hands of his owner, Jake Garvin, after authorities repeatedly failed to respond appropriately to the information given to them by neighbours.
Several years ago, I received an email from a former OHS board member who I hadn’t heard from in years. The subject line was: “My soul is breaking.” You see, she had moved to Italy with her military husband and she was volunteering at a shelter. In Italy, there were thousands of homeless dogs with no prospect of a home, essentially warehoused for life because the government declared the country “no-kill.” She asked if the OHS might import some of the dogs to Canada.
The Ottawa Humane Society is alerting the community to a burgeoning bunny crisis in Ottawa and the province. Shelters across Ontario — and even in other parts of North America — are seeing a growing bunny population with few homes willing to adopt the rabbits.
Every couple of weeks or so, I receive a call from a reporter or producer. Invariably, it’s because they want to do a story about pandemic puppies: the thousands of dogs supposedly surrendered to shelters by owners returning to work who no longer want their pets. I calmly explain that this story isn’t real, not at the Ottawa Humane Society, and not at any shelter in the country that I am aware of.
For those following this blog, it will come as no surprise Marineland disturbs me. The OHS, of course, stands against the exploitation of animals for profit. Marineland instinctively thrashes against efforts to improve the wellbeing of the captive animals at their amusement park. It is Ontario’s petulant poster child of exploiting animals for entertainment.
PAW monthly donations and one-time gifts made to help animals in the care of the Ottawa Humane Society (OHS) will be tripled until Wednesday Sept. 15.
COVID-19 has had a major impact on the community, and the OHS continues to rely on its generous supporters to provide life-saving surgeries, medications and care for Ottawa’s animals.
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.
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