Animal shelters struggle to keep up with demand as food prices skyrocket for pets – Halifax
Animal shelters across Nova Scotia are struggling to keep pet food pantries stocked, highlighting a 50-per cent increase in demand since last year.
Bide Awhile, a shelter in Dartmouth that runs a pet food pantry to support low-income families and students in taking care of their pets, noticed its pantry began to run low last week. It reached out to the community for help and was quickly inundated with almost 200 Amazon packages.
Liesje Somers-Blonde, the executive director of Bide Awhile Animal Shelter, was overwhelmed.
” So far, we’ve received 197 Amazon packages,” Somers-Blonde says. “Five local pet food stores have contacted us to pick up food to supply our pet food pantry, and the community has provided us with overwhelming support with drop-offs and donations, online and in person.
“And I’d just like to thank the community from the bottom of our hearts here at Bide Awhile for everything that they’re doing to help us help you keep your pet.”
She adds that the increase in donations since making the post on social media is a double-edged sword. With more people learning about the shelter, usage also goes up. She says that despite monthly donations from other organizations and a recent $10,000 grant, it’s still not enough to keep up with the rise in demand.
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“Because of our plea on social media being shared, people then find out about us. They then use the pet food pantry, our usage goes up, our demand goes up as well. And so there’s just got to be a happy medium of constant deliveries at our door, as well as constant people taking the food out the door,” she continues.
Bide Awhile isn’t the only shelter experiencing an increase in demand.
The Nova Scotia SPCA says that demand in all six locations in the province has increased, but donations remain low.
“When donations come in of food or litter, what we can’t use in our shelters, we then put into our pet pantry. And so we’re never guaranteed that that’s going to be full,” says Sarah Lyon, the chief communications and marketing officer with the Nova Scotia SPCA.
“And so we do supplement. and we fundraise to help supplement the shelves to make sure that they’re full.”
She adds that just last year, they helped 1,700 families care for their pets.
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