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Vol. 3 No. 2
YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER - LANARK & NORTH LEEDS
FEBRUARY 2016
Lanark Animal Welfare Society (LAWS)to stop taking in dogs Smiths falls-Sally Smith ‘Drastic’ solution hoped to get shelter back on its feet. The Lanark Animal Welfare Society (LAWS) will not be taking in dogs for the time being as it works get the beleaguered shelter back on its feet. Board members decided at its Jan. 29 meeting to “stop taking in dogs” until it’s “in a better financial situation,” according to LAWS president Kathy Hoyland. “It’s a drastic step,” she said. “But we won’t be around for any animals.” Hoyland says looking after dogs is costly. From June to December, she says cats brought in $51,000 and the cost of looking after them was $41,000. In the same time, dogs brought in $15,000, with a $70,000 in wages to care for them.
“Dogs have a lower revenue and they’re with us longer,” she says. “This is just common sense when you look at the numbers.” On top of staying longer, dogs eat more. Hoyland says one six-monthold dog has been there for five years. She says the rule isn’t necessarily hardand-fast. They’ll accept healthy dogs in dire need of immediate care, like dogs from people entering retirement homes or who are otherwise no longer able to care for their pets. “The cats are flying out of their cages,” Hoyland says. “Our numbers [of cats] are dramatically down.” She says the shelter expects an influx of pregnant cats and their kittens in the spring. The shelter has organized several fundraising events including a performance from Elvis,
Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis March 5 at the Gallipeau Centre. Hoyland says if that event is at-capacity, there’s a possibility of making $4,000 for the shelter. The shelter is also selling a van Hoyland calls “infamous,” after it was involved in an August collision. Hoyland says the van needs work but for someone handy with cars and tools, getting a van for a very little money and working on it might be worthwhile. It will either be sold or raffled. Hoyland says she’s also very happy the volunteers seem to be coming back and she says they try to use volunteers “in the daily caring of the animals much as possible.” “We only have $40,000 to play with and we lose $10,000 a month,” to heating, electricity, the old and draughty building, plus other costs, she
Olivia, one of the many dogs who hav found a forever home through LAWS. says. “We need to start putting money aside for a new building.” At the end of March other municipalities, including Tay Valley, Montague, Beckwith, Brockville, will start taking in dogs that might have
otherwise been sent to LAWS. “Other options are available,” Hoyland says, adding as LAWS is one of the only “no kill” shelters around that concept might be compromised. Once this drastic step
has been launched, Hoyland is “guardedly optimistic” that the animal shelter can still be a viable operation with a future. She reiterates that the shelter will “still take cats until we’re back on our feet.”
Local doctor receives support in efforts to bring internationally recognized program to area to help those with PTSD
Perth - Dianne Pinder-Moss
Randy Hillier has seen firsthand how therapeutic it can be for military veterans to share with one another about their experiences. In early 2015, the Member of Provincial Parliament for La-
nark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington was on a train ride from Toronto with his son Dillon, a Canadian Forces veteran of Afghanistan who had recently returned from fighting the Islamic State group alongside Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq. By coincidence, the
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man sitting directly across from them on the train was a Canadian who had served in the Iraq war with the U.S. Marines. Another Canadian who had also served with the U.S. Marines in the Gulf War in the early 1990s was seated across the aisle. “We ended up
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just having a tremendous conversation,” Hiller said in calling the train ride “the most therapeutic three-and-a-half-hours.” Having been “enlightened” by that train trip and having other members of his extended family who have seen military service, as well
as his work with constituents who have family members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the MPP has become one of a local doctor’s biggest supporters in her efforts to bring the internationally recognized Spiritual Process and Resiliency
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[SPARTA] program to Canada to help military veterans and first responders dealing with PTSD. “I just felt these people had it right,” Hillier said of the program, spearheaded by Dr. Manuela Joannou to start the first Canadian cohort. -continued on page 9
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