By Adam Foley
The Hamilton Burlington SPCA is raising funds for a new animal welfare campus, aiming to address a growing crisis in access to affordable pet care in the community.
The Hamilton Burlington SPCA is raising funds to help low-income pet-owners access more affordable veterinary care amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
The “Unleash Love” campaign, which started in November, is seeking money to finance a new animal welfare campus. The plan is to build a community centre that would offer a wide range of affordable services including: low-cost veterinary services, spay and neuter programs, wellness exams, vaccinations and adoptions and foster care.
With one of the biggest struggles for families today is the cost to provide for your pet and keep them healthy, this facility is meant to help more families and more animals. In fact, almost every pet owner surrenders an animal to HBSPCA. The soaring cost of care is often the cause.
Brad Grabell, Director of Strategy for the Hamilton Burlington SPCA, says that offering resources to low-income families to care for their furry loved ones is the key.
“We’re not talking about supporting another 100 animals,” said Grabell. “We’re talking about 50,000 more surgeries a year. We’re talking about 10,000 more vaccinations. We’re talking about almost 2,000 more adoptions a year.
The target of this project is estimated around $35 million. So far, the SPCA has raised more than half of that.
Around 70 percent of households have a pet, as many as 30 to 40 per cent are unable to access regular veterinary care due to cost. Pets in lower income households are more likely to go untreated.
The Hamilton Burlington SPCA is projecting to have an increase of 40 per cent in shelter population by 2030. This is one of the toughest challenges for the SPCA, and one of the biggest needs for this new build.
CEO John Gerrard has made it very clear that this organization is going to do anything they can to help any problems that the community is facing with their pet.
“There’s no integrated wraparound services for people who have a lower income or people who have an animal because of the desire from a support mechanism, whether it be mental health, whether it be physical disability, whether it be through the need for a companion,” said Gerrard.
As a not-for-profit organization, the HBSPCA runs largely through donations.
An event held last November introduced the “Unleash The Love” campaign. It brought over 300 people from Hamilton together to learn more about how to help, while also highlighting the current crises animal welfare agencies are facing such as over-breeding and puppy mills.
“Our event was to educate people that we are now doing commercial lending investment through community bonds and through charitable donations. So, adding three levels, a much more integrated approach, which is why we have the event, to tell people that we’re different, tell people why this is a different approach that we’re taking, because we have to raise $35 million and it’s not going to happen through the traditional model,” said Gerrard.
The Hamilton Burlington SPCA is continuing to search for donations to get this build started and to help the community of Halton with their furry companions. For more information, or how to donate visit the Hamilton Burlington SPCA website. https://www.hbspca.com/unleashlove
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