Volunteers had a busy time of it over the weekend at the animal shelter in Chatham.
Pet and Wildlife Rescue (PAWR) took over the shelter from the OSPCA at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, and immediately began renovations.
At the same time, donations of food poured in after someone broke into a garage Thursday and stole a large quantity of dog and cat food, along with a supply of leashes, outerwear and collars. All the food and equipment was earmarked for the shelter, and was being stored until PAWR was to take over the shelter.
A 31-year-old Chatham man faces charges in connection with the theft, and police recovered the stolen goods.
But the outpouring of support was appreciated, Myriam Armstrong, operations manager for PAWR said.
“The community has really come together,” she said, adding that by Saturday morning the donations had nearly matched what had gone missing.
She doesn’t understand what prompted the theft from the Edgar Street residence.
“We were still in shock,” she said of the theft. “We’d been accumulating supplies. They took used cat litter boxes. I wonder what the street value is on that.”
Aside from accepting the donations, volunteers and staff were also busy over the weekend replacing the ceiling and floor, and painting the walls.
Along with PAWR staff and volunteers, a team of Junctura construction staff helped out as well on the weekend. Armstrong said the construction employees donated their time for the renovation work.
The long-term concern for PAWR with the animal shelter is one the OSPCA dealt with for years, a lack of space. Armstrong worries about overcrowding.
“We had no data on how many animals were taken in over a year,” she said.
But she and her crew are getting an idea, as they already took in three cats 18 hours into their takeover.
Armstrong said the OSPCA, the previous operators of the shelter, took all the stainless steel cages that were at the shelter, but left the fibreglass cages.
The shelter has six employees and 80 volunteers, and about 40 foster homes for animals around the municipality, she said.
