The Alberta Pound and Rescue Centre’s (APARC) Airdrie branch is looking for local fosters to help them deal with a recent influx of stray dogs.
“We have no way of contacting or trying to find their owners,” explained Tara Wingenbach, an animal service coordinator with APARC.
According to Wingenbach, the dogs they have been taking in recently have had no identifying tags or tattoos, no microchips, and most are not fixed. They have all been found within the city limits of Airdrie and either brought in by municipal enforcement officers or concerned members of the public who have come across them by chance.
APARC does not accept surrendered dogs from local owners.
What’s unusual is the sheer number being discovered, Wingenbach said, which has driven APARC past its kennel capacity. That’s why fosters are urgently needed.
“We are offering foster to adopt right now,” she explained. “Fostering, if you are thinking about getting a dog, is a great way to trial.”
Foster families also help APARC better understand the temperaments of the animals they have taken in, according to Wingenbach, and whether they are suited to families, kids, other animals, or solitary owners.
All the dogs fostered out are dewormed and vaccinated, and the local foster is asked to hold onto them until at least the animal can be scheduled for surgery to be fixed. This can be anywhere from two weeks to a month.
APARC is also mainly looking for fosters who do not already have other dogs or cats in their households, as the organization does not have any background history on the dogs it is trying to foster out.
“So we can only go by what we see and how they behave in the shelter,” Wingenbach explained. “The majority of our dogs in our care [are] single dog only that need a foster home that doesn’t have any other animals – just because we don’t know how the dogs in our care react to other dogs or other cats. We don’t socialize them together while they are at the shelter.”
Wingenbach said it is likely that most of the recent stray dogs found around town have come in from surrounding farms and acreages, but some have also likely been abandoned by local owners who have had a change in economic circumstances or housing.
“We hate to think someone would abandon their dog or cat, but we have seen an increase in all animals coming into our shelter after COVID,” she confirmed. “We get a lot of calls from people wanting to surrender their animals because of housing changes.”
Besides foster parents, APARC is also seeking donations of large animal crates to help offset some of its Airdrie kennel capacity issues, and donations of bedding, towels and blankets to keep the animals on hand as clean and comfortable as possible.
For more information visit aparc.ca or follow APARC Airdrie on social media.
