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IQALUIT
Despite the fact Iqaluit's animal shelter had been closed for more than a week, the first thing Janine Budgell saw when she arrived at the building on Thursday was an abandoned lab/husky mixed breed tied to the front steps.

Janine Budgell, president of the Iqaluit Humane Society, consoles a dog abandoned on the Iqaluit animal shelter's doorstep on Aug. 18. The shelter had been closed since Aug. 9 due to a lack of volunteers. - Terrence McEachern/NNSL photo

"Even though it's been public knowledge that the shelter closed last Tuesday (Aug. 9), we've still been getting inquiries about picking up dogs and cats or people dropping off dogs and cats," said Budgell, president of the Iqaluit Humane Society. "It's pretty apparent that the service is still required, even though we're shut down."

After a quick glance at the dog's stomach, Budgell noticed the dog was pregnant. All she could do was call municipal enforcement and give the dog a bowl of water and food, both of which disappeared in minutes.

Budgell and a friend started the Iqaluit Humane Society in 2007 and opened the shelter in April 2008. What motivated her to get involved in animal rescue and care was the initial shock of seeing animals mistreated when she arrived in the north, especially seeing animals tied up outside during the frigid winter months.

At its peak, the tiny and cramped shelter was once overcrowded with as many as 31 animals spread out in 10 cages and in travel kennels.

"The reality is if we don't take them into our care and try to find them a home, they're going to be destroyed."

But on Aug. 9, after three years of providing care to abandoned animals, the shelter closed its doors.

Eleven animals were in the shelter at the time – seven were relocated to shelters in Quebec, one relocated to Ontario and three animals were adopted locally.

The reason for the closure wasn't financial, she said. The shelter shares a property owned by the city that also houses the municipal animal pound rent-free. The shelter also received food contributions from local businesses.

Instead, the downfall of the animal shelter was a lack of volunteers. Fifty volunteers are usually needed to help with caring and feeding the animals as well as fundraising activities. In the end, only eight volunteers had committed to shifts for August. The main reason volunteers were difficult to retain is Iqaluit's transient population, she said.

Another challenge facing the shelter is the small size of the facility. When animals are brought into the shelter with contagious diseases, there is not enough space to adequately quarantine the sick. She would like to see the shelter re-opened with an expansion to the building for sick animal care, although in the long-term, a new facility would be ideal. The problem is that a new facility would cost about $750,000 to build, she said.

The shelter's closure hasn't meant that the Iqaluit Humane Society has stopped operating. The society is regularly meeting with the city to work towards solutions to the shelter's needs. One idea that has been raised is to allow inmates in the city's jail to volunteer with the animals.

Overall, she said the shelter, if it re-opens, needs to be more sustainable in terms of fundraising activities and needs to have improvements to the facility to make it more enticing to volunteers to participate. Also, the society needs to improve its education and awareness campaigns to the public.

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