Alberta SPCA says it's spent $1M on animal care this year

The Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) says costs for caring for animals this year has reached $1 million.

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The figure only represents care and veterinary costs and has more than doubled since last year, according to officials.

"We've already hit an unfortunate milestone of about $1 million of paying for animals in our care, and that's not covering any of the costs of the officers, their fuel, their vehicles," Leanne Niblock of the SPCA told reporters on Tuesday.

"It's simply shelter, veterinary care, food for the animals that are in our care."

Niblock says rising cost of living and lifestyle changes since the pandemic are contributing factors to the increase in animals in care.

"A lot of breeders were able to move animals through the pandemic more than they are able to now," she said.

"We're going into houses sometimes, and they have 30 or 40 dogs in their house, and they maybe used to be able to sell those dogs and now they're not able to."

She says other animal welfare organizations are facing similar pressures, so the SPCA has to keep the majority of the animals they take in.

As a result, the SPCA has had to turn to private boarding facilities to house many of the animals, which comes at a cost.

"Five years ago, we wouldn't have been using private boarding facilities in the province, and now we're using many of them across the province just to shelter the animals that come into our care," she said.

"You can imagine what that costs. If you have a dog in care for months and months and months, that's a big bill."

Another factor that's driving up the SPCA's intake is awareness of animal cruelty, according to Niblock.

"(The public is) calling our animal welfare line more often. We had about 2,400 calls last year. This year, we're going to be well over 3,000 so I think there's more awareness, which is a good thing."

She says updates are also needed to animal welfare laws in the province.

"The Animal Protection Act has not been updated in decades. It's simply not as strong as we need it to be," she said.

"We're talking to a lot of municipalities who don't have any animal control bylaws. So there's no rule against having 30 or 40 cats in your garage or 40 dogs in your house."

She added Alberta has the lowest fines in the country for violations of the Animal Protection Act and doesn't distinguish between individuals and corporations.

"It doesn't put any regulations in about who can have a shelter. So you could set up a shelter tomorrow and sell dogs if you wanted to."

So far in 2024 the SPCA has already taken in more than 500 animals.

Niblock says the number one animal they've taken in this year is dogs, followed by horses.

You can donate to the Alberta SPCA online to help support the animals in its care. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson