Safe Haven at last

By Melissa Shaw - mshaw@chilliwacktimes.com

Only six months since it formed, the Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven Society has found a home.

"The main thing is the animals will have a place," said a grinning Ena Vermerris after the society's chair, Steve Crawford, announced financing had been approved for a 30-acre farm on Chilliwack Central.

"That's what it's all about...The animals. It's not about me."

The society formed soon after the SPCA announced it would close its shelter in Chilliwack-devastating news for Vermerris, who had just built a $30,000 cat shelter on the site with cash from her own retirement package and donations she collected from around Chilliwack.

Though the SPCA has since said it will keep its Hopedale-Road facility open indefinitely, several volunteers and hundreds of community supporters decided to build a new shelter anyway.

"I want a home for animals in this community for the rest of their lives and a long time after my life," said the society's chair, Steve Crawford.

In the months that followed, close to 400 people paid $10 to become Safe Haven Society members, and fund-raising efforts-including many garage sales-amount to close to $250,000.

The farm, Crawford explained, includes 5,000-square feet in barn space and a house, but needs a lot of work. The barns need to be

cleaned and renovated, with lights and windows installed.

"It's going to take us a couple of months to get it up and running," Crawford explained, and the society needs lots of help.

"Everything has got to be pressure-washed, scrubbed out, de-bugged, de-wormed and a fence has got to be built."

Plus, he said, the barns need to have lights and windows, to make the space bright and cheerful.

"We need tradesmen; we need electricians, roofers...Bring us your bodies and we'll give you something to do," he laughed.

Ultimately, volunteers will also be needed to help care for the abandoned pets who live there.

"Come and sit with the animals and play with them...That's what we're going to need."

Soon, he hopes, the society will have built a shelter similar to the one Al Brew, founder of the Chilliwack Chiefs, has helped establish in Richmond. With a no-kill policy, the shelter is home to 600 healthy, happy cats who sleep in bunk beds, can play outside and be cuddled on old arm chairs.

And the Richmond shelter runs on $150,000 per year, compared with the annual $300,000 Chilliwack residents donate to the SPCA, which put down more than 2,000 animals last year. That's why, Crawford said, it's important for the society to learn from others' mistakes. The society won't be hiring staff and if paid work is required, it will be done by contract. That way, he said, they can be sure the money they raise is spent caring for the animals, not on salaries.

Those savings, he said, must be spent having more pets spayed and neutered.

"A single female will produce 340,000 kittens if left to her own," he explained, if each subsequent litter goes on to reproduce. But if the pet population comes under control, the number of unwanted pets will plummet. Crawford is hoping to set up a voucher system for spaying and neutering animals at local vets, where pet owners who can't afford the usual fee are subsidized by the society.

Already, Vermerris is at work every day trapping strays and driving them to Abbotsford, where a vet gives them a good deal on the surgery.

"Ena has no rubber left on her tires," Crawford joked.

w To find out more about the Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven Society, become member or find out about volunteer opportunities, call 604-795-5757 or visit www.safehaven.ca.