It's become almost an annual tradition at the Rocky View Weekly to do a story on the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) in early December, to help promote the Madden-based animal hospital's yearly Give the Gift of Saving Wildlife fundraising campaign.
Every time we write this story, the headline remains virtually the same as the year before – 'Local animal hospital faces surge in demand,' or something to that effect. It's remarkable, but also disheartening, that the non-profit continues to have to treat more and more injured and orphaned animals every calendar year.
Usually, AIWC's patients were injured due to some form of human activity. They got hit by a car, attacked by a pet dog, or flew into a window. The cost to rehabilitate these injured or orphaned animal averages $100 per patient, though this can be much higher. According to AIWC, the centre has treated more than 1,900 animals already this calendar year. You can hypothesize how much funding is required to fulfil their mandate.
This week's issue also contains a story about a similar animal fundraiser taking place this December for another animal-focused non-profit in Rocky View County: The Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary. While the wolfdog sanctuary and AIWC have vastly different mandates, their commonality is the passion they have in caring for their animals.
There are tons of charity campaigns taking place around December, which is always a busy month for non-profits. Supporting animals is easily forgotten when there are so many other important charitable campaigns taking place to support people in need.
But we'd urge our readers to remember the wildlife this holiday season as well, and consider donating to the campaigns for either of these two crucial local non-profits.
