Help Animals First Help Others

Hi, I am one of many volunteers at Animals First Haileybury. Here is our story.

Since 2019 Roxanne St Germain and Animals First volunteers have provided a variety of services for Temiskaming Shores and area.

Most of these are common. Trap, neuter/spay and return feral cats so colony size decreases over time. Rescue animals in bad situations, socialize, provide needed medical care and re-home. You've heard all these stories before.

Our most important step in helping reduce the number of abandoned or surrendered cats and dogs is by providing access and transportation to low cost spay/neuter clinic. For every cat or dog spayed, hundreds of unwanted kittens and puppies will not be born.

Some help has been provided locally by funding 50 spay/neuters this year but mainly for animals already in shelters.

However numbers don't lie. Over 400 animals including pregnant cats and dogs, unneutered/unspayed adults, kittens and puppies are found in rural areas or wandering in town. Many were loved and are now traumatized. The lucky ones wind up at over-whelmed shelters.

How is Animals First helping? By recognizing the reason for this cycle.

Low income families, those on ODSP and the homeless benefit greatly from their companion animals. Most are unable to pay the high cost of regular vet care. Vet clinics within driving distance require owned animals to be pre-vaccinated. This alone is costly, and many people are unable to make the 2 hour drive to the nearest clinics.

So when kitten Tommy begins to spray and puppy Roxie to come in heat, these animals are often abandoned, released to shelters, or worse, turned over to backyard breeders.

So how does Animals First help? Two or more times per month Roxanne St Germain has driven to a clinic in Kitchener Ontario with a vehicle filled with up to 30 cats, and towing a trailer with 12 dogs or more to the clinic where they are spayed/neutered, and vaccinated. From here this is about a 9 hour trip. They are returned the next day to their owners, with any medications that may be required.

So why do we need help?

Roxanne's vehicle is finished. Her current one can not pull a trailer. She has had to miss several appointments now, and has broken down several times on the way. There is no funding anywhere that can help!

What is needed would be an SUV type vehicle that can hold up to 30 cat carries, and a sturdy trailer hitch to accomodate a utility trailer.

I would like to buy a vehicle for this great organization so these vital runs can help our most vulnerable people enjoy their beloved pets for the lifetime they deserve.

Prices here for these vehicles run between $10,000 and $20,000.

Please help if you can.