If you adopted a pet this holiday season, you could be waiting up to 8 months to have it seen by a veterinarian in Prince George.
In October, the PG Humane Society was at full capacity for both cats and dogs, with a two-page waiting list growing by the day.
Since then, the “waiting list has actually gotten longer than we had anticipated,” Angela Mclaren, the Humane Society’s Executive Director, told My PG Now.
These wait times were caused, in large part, by a labour shortage in veterinarian offices around Prince George and the province.
Fewer vets meant fewer openings to get pets spayed and neutered, which lead to more litters of puppies and kittens being born, which leads to even longer wait times at the vet, and so on.
Mclaren said this has resulted in wait times between 6-8 months for both the public and organizations like the Humane Society.
According to her, this is the most important problem that needs to find a solution.
“A lot of the time we are referring back to other rescues, and other rescues are referring back to us. The challenges are all around.”
There is usually a bump in adoptions around the holiday season thanks to the Society’s Home for the Holidays program.
“That is where we put animals in foster care over the holiday season,” Mclaren said. “We usually find year over year that people end up keeping those animals, it is a super successful program that has created some space for us in the shelter.”
This program has provided some aid to the shelter this year, but finding foster homes for the other 11 months is the biggest need the shelter is facing, Mclaren added “the more fosters we have, the bigger the capacity is to help the community.”
The Humane Society also asks for people who are considering adopting a pet to take one from a shelter and free up some space instead of going to a pet store.
Mclaren also said people who want to help but cannot adopt a pet can always volunteer.
Volunteers can also get involved with the shelter everywhere from working in an office to being a cat cuddler or dog walker.
For more information on the PG Humane Society, click here.