Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

HAY RIVER - Karla Carter has been president of the Hay River Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for fewer than two months, but has loved animals all her life.

Karla Carter was recently elected the president of the Hay River Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"When I was a kid, I had a multitude of animals coming through the house," Carter said of growing up in Sudbury, Ont.

She would bring snakes, salamanders and frogs to her home, along with having regular pets like a hamster and iguana.

"I like animals," she said

Since arriving in Hay River four years ago, Carter said her interest in helping animals has become more focused as she has found more like-minded people who want to help out in the SPCA.

She said when she first arrived in the community, the SPCA was a small group which mostly fostered cats and dogs.

"It's been growing ever since I got here," said the 38-year-old.

The Hay River SPCA now has about 25 members.

Carter also took a veterinary assistant correspondence course since she arrived in the community.

She and her family own lots of pets - two dogs, one cat, two geckos and a guinea pig.

"I think it's the caregiver in me," she said. "You want to help out."

Learning to care for pets also teaches her children - aged eight and nine - about responsibility and having compassion for animals, she said. "It will spill over into having compassion for others, for humans."

She estimated she has fostered approximately 200 cats and dogs.

Just before becoming SPCA president, Carter developed policies and procedures dealing with such things as animal surrender forms, fees and liability issues.

The policies and procedures, which were reviewed by a committee and adopted in June, also established various roles in the SPCA, such as co-ordinators for foster homes and advertising.

"We're a society," Carter said. "We're an organization that should be accountable."

The main long-term goal of the Hay River SPCA is to build an animal shelter.

Currently, animals given to the society are cared for by volunteer foster homes or in two pens until permanent homes are found.

"Definitely, it's far from ideal," Carter said of the pens, adding there are also not enough foster homes.

One of the pens is heated, while the other is covered by a carport tent.

The Town of Hay River has a pound, but that is for animals picked up by the bylaw officer.

The town and the SPCA are separate entities, although the SPCA sometimes advertises pets available for adoption from the town.

"Nothing is formalized between the town and us," Carter said. "That's been the practice."

The SPCA cannot take in stray animals, she added. "That is the responsibility of the town."

In February, the SPCA will hold its second lasagna bake-off, a fundraiser for a shelter.

The shelter fund currently has about $18,000.

The fund has a ways to go before the SPCA can start to think about building a shelter, Carter said. "We're not close enough yet to talk specifics."

The SPCA has also undertaken other projects, such as a spay and neuter blitz.

"That has decreased the amount of kittens and puppies hugely," Carter said.

The SPCA is also considering becoming more proactive by offering pet owners training on dog and cat care.

Carter expects to be in Hay River another three years, as her husband, Cpl. Mike Carter, has begun a new job with the RCMP's traffic services based in Hay River.

"You do what you can with the time you got," she said of her efforts with the SPCA.

Carter added she and her husband like Hay River, adding it has a lot to offer a family.

She has also launched a home-based business KCSolutions, a consulting company for such things as organizing events and training.