THUNDER BAY - The Thunder Bay District Humane Society hopes a new low-cost spay and neuter clinic will not only make affordable veterinary care accessible to the pets of Northwestern Ontario, but will also help ease the pressure on its local facility.
“In a month, our intake numbers are averaging minimum of 1,500 animals right now, which is very alarming,” said Thunder Bay Humane Society executive director, Cassandra Nordal. “Maybe about 100 of those animals are spayed or neutered. So I think that is something that is obviously really important and that we need and should have had a long time ago.”
Construction on the new low-cost spay and neuter clinic at the Rosslyn Road facility is expected to begin on Jan. 15 and will see three existing rooms repurposed into a prep room and a surgery room for the clinic.
“In our isolation unit, we are adding on dog kennels,” Nordal said. “One of the biggest struggles we have in Northwestern Ontario is all the dogs that are coming in from our communities or our hoarding situations, we don’t have enough space in our building, so we are adding onto that as well, so we are really excited about that.”
The low-cost spay and neuter clinic has been in the works for the last three years, but Nordal said it has been something needed in the region for many more years.
A $300,000 grant from Pet Smart Charities will cover nearly half of the cost of construction, fundraising efforts expected to cover the remaining cost.
“There are a lot of changes that are going to be happening,” Nordal said. “We are non-for-profit, and I think a lot of our community sometimes forgets that. We do not receive government funding and to bring in the spay and neuter clinic is a huge risk. We are obviously very excited, but we that constant fundraising, we are always going to need that help.”
With the expansion, Nordal said several new staff positions will be created with grants from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and filled in the coming months, including a volunteer coordinator and a receptionist for the clinic.
“We are expanding, everything is getting bigger and better right now, but we are going to need extra hands,” Nordal said.
The low-cost clinic will be available to anyone and while Nordal said she did not have the final specifics worked out on what the cost will be, she expects it will remain under $200. The average cost for spay and neutering services in Thunder Bay is between $400 and $600.
Construction is expected to be finished in April, with the clinic becoming operational in early to mid-summer. During construction, the animals at the shelter will be transferred to shelters in Southern Ontario, and as of Jan. 8, the Humane Society is no longer able to take in any animals until further notice.
“Our dream and one of our missions and our values and our goals from day one was that every animal in Northwestern Ontario has that accessible veterinarian care,” Nordal said. “I think this is something so huge for not only Thunder Bay, but the district as well. It’s going to be a huge life changer here.”
