Nunavut’s first and only animal shelter is growing! Thanks to First Air we have been able to continue sending rescues to the SPCA of Western Quebec for re-homing, do more outreach to the whole of Nunavut, rescuing more animals while still serving Iqaluit's rescue needs. Thanks to the Globe and Mail exposure we had last winter we have been able to save the legs of 6 pups, run a free vaccine clinic for Iqaluit, and we brought the Chinook Project to Iqaluit offering free spays and neuters, as well as health check-ups and vaccines to dogs and cats (over 150 animals helped in 5 days!). We have also brought nearly 50 animals now from communities to be re-homed and anticipate more and more as people get to know us and what we do and know that it is possible to ask us for help no matter where in Nunavut they live. On top of all of this we have been able to do something we have never had the ability to do in the past … have three staff! WOW! What a game changer for an animal shelter to have people dedicated to the care of the animals and helping with everything from paperwork, to vet visits, establishing foster homes and finding homes.
We have come so far in the last few years and we are excited about the future. We dream sometimes of a new building, more cages, a bigger medical fund, and now that we have seen the benefits of staff it has opened our eyes to the possibilities.
We run on donations and volunteers. We work month to month, fundraiser to fundraiser, taking it all one step at a time. We have no government funding or contracts to support us and what we do. We make every fundraised dollar count and we always make do with whatever we can. Since experiencing running with staff we have had the opportunity to care for more animals, spend more time rehabilitating the ones that need extra attention, we’ve been able to manage the additional workload of bringing community animals into our care, caring for animals sometimes several times a day for the young, ill or weak ones.