The BC SPCA Shuswap branch received a $3,000 donation, benefiting from a partnership between AIM Roads, Canoe Forest Products and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI).
When Canoe Forest Products (CFR) was working on a road rejuvenation project and needed road barriers, the company got approval and help from the MOTI and AIM Roads and barriers were moved from another stretch of road, to be purchased by CFR for their project. There was an agreed-upon price that CFR would pay for the barriers and the agreement was unanimously made that the profits would be donated to the SPCA.
“We all, believe very strongly that the SPCA does great work, and this time of year they could really use the support,” said Dale Ogston, AIM Roads area 13 senior foreman.
Meranda Dussault, BC SPCA Shuswap centre manager, said this sizable donation was amazing because as a non-profit organization, they rely on the community.
“We get no funds from federal or provincial governments, so we depend solely on donations and local grants,” said Dussault. “Things like this really help us to continue our mission to help the animals in our community.”
Ogston and Kent Kwasny, another representative from AIM Roads, and Candace Bingham from Canoe Forest Products visited the branch to deliver the donation and meet the SPCA team and an adoptable dog named Scout.
The organizations plan to keep up with donations to the BC SPCA in the future, Dussault said.
Ogston said AIM has donated to school programs and food banks in the past.
Dussault had asked all the donors if there was a specific cause they wanted the money to go towards within the SPCA, and she said they agreed to let her decide what was most important. The only stipulation was that the money stay within Shuswap communities.
The funds will go towards reducing overpopulation of cats in the area using trap, neuter, release and control programs. Dussault’s main goal for 2023 is to get control of overpopulation in vulnerable areas in Shuswap communities. Overpopulation needs to be addressed quickly, she said, so the animals can’t continue to breed and further increase the chance of spreading disease to other pets.
The Shuswap SPCA team will trap the feral cats, spay or neuter them, and give them internal and external parasite treatments before releasing them back into the colonies they came from. The cats are only released if there is a person managing that cat colony, feeding them and making sure that breeding in that area has stopped.
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