The cost of saving man’s best friend; Local dog shelter $65K in debt

Dog siblings Toga (left) and Lana (right) were brought into the care of Lost Boys after being attacked by a wolf. (Lost Boys)

Between emergency calls and adoptions, the work is never done for any animal rescue organization.

Lost Boys Animal Rescue says their work will be left incomplete if they are forced to shut their doors, which could be a reality in the near future.

The Barrie based organization says it owes $65,000 in veterinary debt to its long term client, who has historically been forgiving of delayed payments but is now asking them to clear their debt before additional dogs can be admitted for treatment.

As a result, Lost Boys is currently on an intake freeze.

Lost Boys is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization and founder Kelley Ward says the shelter helps all kinds of dogs and cats but focuses much of their efforts on dogs in northern Ontario communities.

“In many remote communities, veterinary care simply does not exist, leaving animals to breed unchecked and often without access to basic medical treatment,” Ward said.

The situation is especially bad in places like Kashechewan, Ontario.

In January, a water treatment plant failure forced residents of Kashechewan to leave their homes. In emergency situations, pets are not often accommodated. As a result, over 300 dogs are estimated to have been left behind.

According to the small crew remaining on location, the dogs continue to breed, despite food sources continuing to diminish.

Lost Boys’ ability to help the animals in Kashechewan or other communities now remains in the balance, especially if the shelter has nowhere to take them for veterinary care without paying off its debt.

“The plan involves chartering aircraft into the community, gathering stray and unwanted dogs and transporting them to safety where they can receive veterinary care and eventually find homes,” Ward said to CTV News.

“We don’t receive any funding from any sources. We strictly rely on what our adoption fee covers, our fundraising efforts and the rest are donations from the public,” she adds.

Lost Boys has been in operation for over 10 years. In that time, it claims to have helped close to 10,000 animals. Ward says 93 dogs and 13 cats are currently in the care of Lost Boys.

Many of those animals have required urgent medical help. Ward says since January, 103 animals have needed some kind of urgent medical treatment and the treatments have ranged in price from a few hundred dollars to $4,500.

Every animal in the care of Lost Boys’ rescue program receives some kind of veterinary care, including vaccinations, microchipping, deworming and more.

Every adopted animal also is spayed and neutered.

“Even our healthy animals cost more than the adoption fee we receive,” Ward says.

“Once routine veterinary care, transportation, food, supplies and operational expenses are factored in, every adoption has to be subsidized by donor support,” she adds.

She adds that often, adoption for animals who needed urgent medical care results in no revenue for the shelter.

“We are fighting hard and remain committed to continuing our work. She adds that the public’s response has been overwhelmingly positive, but the reality is that rescue work is emotionally, physically and financially exhausting.

For now animals already in care will continue to receive medical care and adoptions will continue to operate as normal, Ward says.

“If Lost Boys Hope Rescue were forced to close entirely, the impact would be significant. Our northern partners would lose a critical resource for moving animals to safety, and other rescues would be forced to absorb the additional burden in our absence,” she says.

In addition to relying on the public for donations, Ward adds that the shelter is looking for foster homes and families to adopt the animals so they have somewhere to go once they are taken care of.