Before she started Axel’s Imprint Rescue and Sanctuary in Shakespeare last January, April Wagler ran other animal rescues in the region and noticed something alarming in the early stages of the pandemic.
Before she started Axel’s Imprint Rescue and Sanctuary in Shakespeare last January, April Wagler ran other animal rescues in the region and noticed something alarming in the early stages of the pandemic.
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“When everyone was at home and bored, everyone wanted a pet,” she said. “There were so many applications and people wanting to adopt and willing to be wonderful pet parents. Then everyone goes back to work and they want to surrender them.”
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Some might have decided they didn’t have the time to properly care for a pet, Wagler said, or they weren’t willing to work on behavioral issues or find a rental property that allowed them.
“Silly reasons that people are surrendering them since COVID, and it seems like adoptions are (fewer) than they were during the pandemic.”
It’s basic supply and demand. And nearly four years since the pandemic exploded in Canada, the supply at Wagler’s cat rescue greatly outweighs demand.
Nineteen of the approximately 40 cats under the care of Wagler and her partners – foster homes and pet stores – will be up for adoption this weekend at Pet Valu in New Hamburg. Most are kittens or cats no older than two, including some who are FIV positive – a feline autoimmune disease similar to HIV in humans.
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The last adoption event in October resulted in someone showing up with eight two-month-old kittens and giving Wagler a couple of options: Take the animals or he would give them away in the parking lot.
Wagler’s foster homes were full, but she felt like there was no choice.
“We took them in because what’s the alternative? These are the silly things that are happening. It’s crazy.”
Two of the kittens have since been adopted, and Wagler convinced the person to have their mother, an outdoor barn cat, paid to prevent further pregnancies and more unwanted babies.
“Luckily, he didn’t just drop them off in a parking lot,” she said, “but we’re all so overwhelmed as it is.
“It’s just crazy thing to do.”
Victoria Baby, the Humane Society of Kitchener Waterloo and Stratford Perth chief executive officer, said she hasn’t noticed the same trend since March 2020. But the organization’s two centers in Kitchener and Stratford are still very full with 120 animals, mainly dogs, cats , rabbits and guinea pigs, which made Wednesday’s Valentine’s Day drop-in adoption event necessary.
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“We want to get these guys and gals into a loving home,” she said. “This is not the best place, and if they had a say it’s not a place they’d choose to be.”
The humane society’s priority, aside from finding animals a loving home, is ensuring they remain there, Baby said.
There is a program to help pet owners having financial trouble, she added, along with spay and neuter clinics at reduced costs. Dogs and cats are fixed, microchipped, treated for parasites and have their first vaccines by the time they’re adopted.
“We want people to keep their animals,” Baby said, “and we will do what we can to help with that.”
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For more information on future walk-in adoption events or Humane Society initiatives, visit kwsphumane.ca or visit them on social media.
For more information about Axel’s Imprint Rescue and Sanctuary, visit them on Facebook. This weekend’s Companions for Change adoption event at Pet Valu in New Hamburg runs from 11 am to 3 pm Saturday and Sunday.
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