Animals Rescued From Hoarding Situation

Animals Rescued from Hoarding Situation by the NL West SPCA (Bay of Islands Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Corp.)

On September 30th we received a phone call alerting us to an animal hoarding that was discovered at a residence in Corner Brook. That day SPCA volunteer representatives went to the home to assess the animals. The animals were found to be in deplorable living conditions. We knew immediately they would have to be removed from the environment, and the owners agreed to surrender them to our care. As an SPCA, with an animal shelter that was already over capacity, we were truly terrified by this situation, with no clue how we would ever accommodate all of these new animals. However, we learned that these animals were suffering from severe neglect and desperately needed our help. We immediately knew we had to do everything in our power to save them! We worked late into the evening to quickly put a temporary plan in place. The next day, on October 1st, a small group of our SPCA volunteers removed 26 cats, 4 rabbits and 3 guinea pigs from the home. Many of these animals were extremely sick when they came into our care. Their poor physical condition was no doubt exacerbated by poor nutrition, lack of recent vet care, and the horrific living environment they were in. Upon entry into our care, all of the animals received urgent medical examinations, and we began immediate treatment and supportive care plans!

In order to care for all of these additional animals, we had to independently rent a commercial space to open and operate a second full animal shelter. The cost of this undertaking has been tremendous. As an SPCA we rely solely on donations and fundraising efforts to pay for our expenses. We have not received any funding from our municipality or any level of government to assist with these efforts. The cost of caring for animals is very high and continuously growing. We were struggling to afford our ongoing expenses prior to taking in all of these animals from the hoarding situation. Our expenses for accommodations, utilities, supplies, food, staff, vet care, etc has all doubled since this incident. We were in no way financially prepared to stand to these immense additional costs, and it has been incredibly challenging for our organization!

The animals from the hoarding situation have all settled well into their new space, and have begun a long road of recovery. We have spent thousands and thousands of dollars to save these animals. Many have already required extensive vet care for infections, one required a leg amputation, and several required extended hospitalization! Despite our best efforts, unfortunately two of the cats were unable to be saved. We were fortunate to avail of assistance from a small animal rescue who took in the guinea pigs and 3 of the rabbits. The remaining rabbit and 24 cats in our care are now considered medically stable, however, many of them still have a lengthy recovery ahead of them.

14 of these cats have severe dental infections that require urgent surgery. In the rescue world it is virtually unheard of to have so many cats require such extensive dental work at once. We feel there must be an environmental component from their previous living situation that caused this. As you can imagine the cost for these surgeries will be enormous on top of all of the other expenses we have right now. These cats have been through so much, and we didn’t come all this way to give up on them now! We strongly feel their lives are worth saving, for 14 of these cats, dental surgery is the only way to make that happen!

These animals have amazing personalities and will be highly adoptable! They have totally won over the hearts of all our volunteers! They have been though so much, they truly deserve every change at a good life, and our goal is to see that happen!

We desperately need help to continue to care for these animals and give them the life they deserve! We are now faced with the challenge of raising funds to ensure these cats have the dental surgeries they require to save their lives. Thank you so much to those who have donated along the way! We are incredibly grateful for the assistance we receive from our supporters! We are continuing to accept donations for the hoarding situation cats to assist with their ongoing expenses and veterinary care. We cannot go ahead with these surgeries until sufficient funds are raised. Please donate!!

(Some of the included images are disturbing, including those showing glimpses of the environment the animals came from. We are sharing these photos with permission from the landlord of the home the animals were removed from. As you can see from the more recent photos these animals now have a much better quality of life, they are loving their new location and their freedom to play, cuddle up on their cat beds and climb their cat trees!)