Surrey/North Delta Leader: May 11, 2005
New animal group on track

Delta Humane Society reports progress

The Delta Humane Society says it’s within budget and on track 90 days after becoming Delta’s new animal control agency.

“We are very happy about that,” says Humane Society director Amber Cottle during the non-profit group’s first quarterly update report to council last Monday.

Cottle said the shelter has had to put down eight animals since the society took over Jan. 1, all for medical reasons.

It was controversy over an SPCA decision to euthanize a young Rottweiler-Labrador cross named “Cheech” for behavioural problems last year that led to a review of the SPCA animal shelter contract by city council and the subsequent awarding of the contract to the newly formed Delta group.

The Delta Humane Society was awarded the three-year animal control contract on Oct.18, receiving $225,000 per year from the municipality and a portion of dog licence fee revenues.

Cheech, who was spirited away by an SPCA volunteer, was reportedly doing well at an undisclosed location.

Cottle said the first 90 days have been a scramble for the fledgling society which had to re-equip the shelter with cat cages and other needed gear.

The society is still looking for a long list of supplies, including a portable building that could be used for dog assessments and public education programs.

“That’s the biggest thing we need right now,” Cottle said.

“We don’t have a home-like place for families to interact with dogs.”

The society is also looking for donations of dog crates, leashes and dog collars, a digital camera, pea gravel for the playground, and washing machines to clean the ”hundreds of pounds of blankets and towels” the society goes through.

“We can issue tax receipts. We are a charity,” Cottle said.

Cottle and shelter manager Nick Henze said the society will be sending canvassers out to encourage pet owners to take out animal control licences.

“If you didn’t pay by the March 1 cut-off date, the fee for a spayed dog rises from $20 to $30,” Henze noted.

More information about needed items and donations can be found at http://www.deltahumanesociety.org .

The Society can also be reached at 604-940-7111.