Stray animals in the MRC Avignon and Bonaventure will no longer be cared for
It is with a heavy heart that the employees and volunteers of the Baie-des-Chaleurs Animal Protection Network announced, via Facebook, that it will no longer welcome stray or abandoned animals.
“For each care, you have to find a host family. We have to find the money to take care of the animals. Eight years, we start again forever. It’s Groundhog Day. We start again with each animal, it’s exhausting. “, sighs Mia Sainte-Marie, director of the Animal Protection Network of the region.
The animal service must try to recover its financial health. The lack of volunteers, the work overload and the constant search for foster families monopolize a good part of the budget.
“We put so much energy into saving animals that we no longer have the time and energy to fundraise. “, adds Mrs. Sainte-Marie
The Protection Network is obviously sorry for the situation, but explains that the general exhaustion of its workers forces it to act in this way. And uncertainty now hovers in this case.
“Who will take over if there is no one? We do not know. There is no one else in the area but us. Before we got there, the citizens were left to their own devices with the problems of animal wandering. “, worries the volunteer
Long promised, the animal shelter project is still on the shelves.
“I say that the municipal world is there. The solution to make a refuge tomorrow morning, it is not done by snapping your fingers. It’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Yes, a refuge is fine, but it takes a business model around it to make it viable. “says Mathieu Lapointe, prefect of the MRC d’Avignon
The fact remains that the situation is pressing. Stray cat problems are known.
“There is no help with stray cats, abandoned cats. There are a lot of them in the area. In fact, we have no help. We don’t have help for that. No level of government. “, explains Mia Sainte-Marie
“Yes, we are working on it. But the miracle solution does not exist. We will continue to work with them but that will happen over time. “replies Mathieu Lapointe
The tensions are palpable and the file continues to cause ink to flow. We will follow the developments in the coming weeks.