Removals | More abandoned animals, even before the “fateful date”

The Montreal SPCA is struggling with a growing number of animal abandonments even before the 1^er July. A worrying trend that affects all of Canada, according to the organization’s executive director.

“I can confirm that when I talk with my colleagues and when I talk with other shelters in Canada, it is really a phenomenon that we are experiencing,” says Laurence Massé.

In Montreal alone, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) recorded a 21% increase in animal abandonments in the first four months of the year, or 220 more abandoned animals compared to 2023. However, in 2023, the organization was already recording a 21% increase compared to 2022.

“That’s what worries me because we’re seeing a trend. This gives us the hypothesis that it is a long-term problem,” underlines M^me Mass.

The number of abandonments particularly affects dogs. In Montreal, 165 more dogs than last year at the same period found shelter in the establishment run by Laurence Massé.

The communications manager for the Société protégée des animaux (SPA) de l’Estrie, Alexis Savoie, also noted an increase in dog abandonments, 20% more than last year in this region, “which is still considerable,” he laments.

Located at the corner of Jean-Talon Street West and Mountain Sights Avenue, the Montreal SPCA is already at maximum capacity, reports the general director. Due to a lack of available cages, almost every room in the shelter is currently occupied by animals. Improvised cages are installed as a last resort in offices as well as in training rooms.

“We can’t keep a room without animals! », Says Marilou David, director of development and communications.

Laurence Massé explains the abundance of animals in the shelter, among other things, by the fact that it is “extremely difficult” to find adopters.

“We are a last resort”

The approximately 200 employees and volunteers of the Montreal organization expect to see even more abandonments in view of the 1^er July, a day that Alexis Savoie, from the SPA de l’Estrie, describes as fateful for shelters.

“The shelter is practically at maximum capacity at the moment, like the majority of shelters in Quebec and Canada, and we are approaching the fateful date of 1^er July,” said the communications manager.

The latter suggests that people contact their entourage to temporarily accommodate their animal or even to adopt it. He also encourages the population to use the services of animal boarding houses that temporarily accommodate animals during a move, for example.

Financial reasons and housing crisis

Every year, more than 400 animals are abandoned at the Montreal SPCA because their owners cannot find housing that accepts animals, reports Laurence Massé, the shelter’s general director.

This is the case of Chanelle, a 10-year-old dog crouched in her cage where relaxing music is playing, who had to be abandoned by her family.

“It’s certain that in the context of a housing crisis, it’s exacerbated, that’s what comes into play,” explains M^me Mass.

She also points out that it is for financial reasons that people abandon their pets. M^me Massé refers to expensive animal care as well as pet food, which has reportedly suffered “an increase in retail prices varying between 25 and 42%”.