The Arnprior District Humane Society is asking for community support after severe flooding caused extensive damage to its shelter.
Vice-president of the board of directors, Jan Smith, says heavy rain, melting snow and warm temperatures on March 16 led to water flooding the building from front to back, mostly on the east side.
“We were just really fortunate that one of our staff members was down the road trapping a cat,” said Smith.
“The camera went off to indicate that something was happening and when they came back up to the shelter, they found it was under water.”
While all of the nearly 80 cats inside were unharmed, the shelter now faces at least $30,000 in costs for cleanup and repairs. Insurance will not cover the damage, as groundwater flooding is excluded from the policy.
“There was lots of water at the front opening of the door,” says assistant manager Becca Hanna, who was first on scene.
“There was water inside the building when you first open the door, water in the front rooms, where the outside enclosure is. It was all covered in water as well. I messaged my manager, got people here as soon as we could. Started pumps, started shop-vacs, moved cats out of the way.”
The humane society set a fundraising goal of $20,000 but says it will still have to cover at least $10,000 itself. Smith says the community has already shown generosity and donations have surpassed the halfway mark of their goal.
“We are in desperate need of help,” Smith said. “This animal shelter has been in existence for about 30 years and we get no government support, federal or provincial. Everything that comes in is through donations and fundraising.”
Despite the setback, Smith says the shelter remains open and committed to caring for its animals and hopes community support will help them recover.
