Kamloops Daily News
Monday, June 27, 2005

Re: Relief Fund Switches Gears, The Daily News, June 23.

We live in Rayleigh and were some of the many people evacuated during the 2003 wildfires who were fortunate to receive assistance from the Kamloops SPCA in retrieving our dog from our home. I can't tell you how much relief we felt in knowing that our dog was alive and safe. At the time that Rayleigh, Heffley Creek and surrounding areas were evacuated, the town of Louis Creek was already devastated and the people of Barriere and area had been, or were being, evacuated. The SPCA shelters were filled to the brim and they were shipping animals to other area shelters, farms and foster homes that could take them. Then, the Kelowna fires started and there was chaos since Kelowna shelters had taken a lot of animals from our area already. Many of the people at the SPCA are volunteers and spent countless hours helping retrieve and take care of some very scared animals.

I read in The Daily News last year that the Kamloops SPCA had applied to the North Thompson Relief Fund for some funding to help them with some of the costs they incurred during that time, but they had been turned down.

As I read that the North Thompson Relief Fund has some $500,000 that it is turning over to the North Thompson Economic Development Society, I wonder if they ever did come through with some aid to the Kamloops SPCA? I feel that the fund was created to help the people directly affected by the wildfires, and certainly the assistance to those people with their domestic and farm animals qualifies. I am sure that every family whose pets and livestock were saved and kept safe would agree that the people at the SPCA did a fabulous job and we appreciate their undying commitment.

Janet Hobbs

Kamloops