With our 125th Anniversary happening we thought it would be fun to give you some facts about our shelter here in Squamish as well as the organization as a whole.
Our new facility is called an Adoption and Education Center. We certainly do adoptions and we now have a great multipurpose room that is for kids’ camps and other events. Sadly we have not had much of an opportunity to use it for the purpose it is here for.
We do not get any funding from the government and rely on public donations to keep us doing what we do.
We were only made an essential service by the BC government during the beginning of Covid-19.
We have over 200 volunteers in Squamish, and we are so grateful to each and everyone of them. Past and Present, we could not continue to do what we do without them.
We do ask for in-kind donations quite a bit, and luckily we have a great community to helps us. Yes, you will often see a post about needing wood pellets for litter or bunny hay for example. We work on a fairly modest budget, so we rely on the public for donations to get us through. We are very lucky to have #Hill‘s Science diet that provides food for our shelter animals at no cost, which is amazing, but we sometimes need a little help with other supplies.
We are not animal control. In Squamish there is Animal Control through the District. We are a small shelter that cannot house dogs, so we take in cats, kittens, small animals, birds, etc. though we can foster out puppies and the odd adult dog. They are either surrendered, stray or come to us through our Drive for Lives transfer program.
We have a low-cost spay and neuter program through a grant from the District of Squamish. Right now the program is on hold due to Covid-19 but we look forward to being able to help our community again soon.
Our doors are locked but we are open by appointment. You can call or email us if you want to stop by. We are not letting in the public just to take a look, but if you have seen an animal online, heard about a critter in our care or would like to make a donation, then please contact us. All adoption applications are now done online.
We love the Sea to Sky community and the support we have gotten in the past and in the present. YOU ROCK! We have such amazing support through adoptions, monetary donations, in-kind donations, event support and items for auctions and prizes. There are too many businesses and people to thank, which is a great problem to have. Then we have our local vet clinics, who are our angels!
Our new shelter was a winery, a dog grooming business and an auto repair shop before we turned it into a state-of-the-art Adoption and Education Center.
We just want to thank all of you and say that during this challenging and often scary and stressful time, we hope that you are doing alright. We miss our helpers, frequent visitors and the normalcy we once had. It is important to stay positive and focus on the good. It is because of you all that we are able to do so.
Krista Unser is the manager of the Sea to Sky branch of the SPCA.
