Community Benefits Spending time with an animal reduces stress, with proven benefits to a person’s physical and emotional health. A new facility will dramatically improve opportunity for this type of community engagement. A new facility will strengthen the leadership role of the Regional SPCA St. John’s and enable it to facilitate additional transfers from other shelters throughout the province. In the process of ensuring humane care and adoption, the SPCA provides other important tangible benefits.
AVOIDED COSTS FOR MUNICIPALITIES With a strong volunteer base and huge animal intake, the SPCA offers support to animal control officers in municipalities, providing humane services to homeless animals. The once-common practice of euthanizing animals due to limited space or high rehabilitation costs has been all but eliminated.
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PUBLIC EDUCATION
ACCESS TO GREAT PETS
The SPCA’s low-to-no cost education and awareness programs are respected internationally for their pragmatism. They help people understand, upfront, the responsibilities of pet care and ownership. All this results in increased spaying and neutering, fewer animals being given up or abandoned (resulting in less intake), increased adoptions, and a significant reduction in the amount of time it takes to find good homes for intake animals.
A pet can be an expensive luxury for lower income individuals and families who want companionship and would make great pet owners. The SPCA offers programs that enable lower income families to adopt healthy, well socialized animals. The SPCA even has a pet food bank and a fostering service to avoid unnecessary surrender in tough times.
