A Victoria animal rescue group is struggling with the number of animals needing help and the rising costs associated with the work.
Pamela Saddler with Broken Promises Rescue says she has been in animal rescue since 1996 and has never seen this many animals in need.
“We just have an overabundance of calls for help we’re getting every day, I’m getting a request for people with stray animals or animals needing help, and I’ve been doing the best I can and taking in who I can,” Saddler told CHEK News.
“But unfortunately, we’ve run out of foster homes and now I’ve run out of money. So it’s heartbreaking because we can’t take anybody else in until I can get everybody covered and vet checked and taken care of that we have already.”
“I’ve never seen it this bad.”
Saddler says she is getting calls from people who are struggling with housing and needing to make the difficult decision to surrender their pets.
“I’m getting a lot of people living in their vehicles with animals and they need help. I’m trying to help them when I can,” Saddler said. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen in regards to animals needing help and animals not getting spayed, neutered. We have an overabundance of kittens, puppies, all over the internet, so we’re just trying to do the best we can.”
On top of that, Saddler says the cost of everything, including food and vet bills for the rescue is going up.
Saddler says she just paid off the $20,000 Visa bill that had accumulated in charges over the past month, but now the rescue is out of funds.
“I just paid for last month and I have probably 40 appointments at the vet this month. So we need to be able to cover all those bills as well, as well as food and supplies,” she said.
To meet the needs, Saddler estimates she will need between $10-to-$20,000 for the upcoming month. If not, then she may have to cancel some vet appointments and pay for the necessities out of her own pocket.
“These animals need to be cared for, it’s my responsibility. I need to make sure that everybody gets what they need,” she said. “Hopefully we can get by another month and get everybody vetted, and I have to put a hold on taking any new ones in at this time, which is horrifying because you get calls every day and so tough to say no. It’s heartbreaking.”
Broken Promises currently has 70 animals in its care and Saddler says there is also a need for foster homes for the animals to live in until they can be adopted.
Anyone looking to help out can go to the Broken Promises Rescue website to donate or to apply to foster animals.
Another option is to go to the Broken Promises store, To the Rescue Boutique at 3588 Quadra Street where all the proceeds from sales goes to help the animals in the rescue’s care.
RELATED: Vital People: Saving animals is Pamela Saddler’s passion: ‘It’s Why I’m Here’
Laura Brougham
