Animal rescues in Regina are facing challenges as there are more animals in need of homes than there are foster families to provide them.
Many dogs are currently in the care of Bright Eyes Dog Rescue(opens in new tab), and volunteers say puppies are staying with foster families longer than usual.
“It’s really, really hard for our volunteers and directors to say no to a call for help,” said Megan Folden, a volunteer at Bright Eyes.
“It’s very hard on the soul to have to do that, and then for our foster families, we have puppies in care much longer than we should.”
Adoptions have been very slow lately, according to Folden. This creates difficulties when the need for animal rescue remains high.
While there is no specific reason for the lack of adoptions, volunteers speculate that the cold weather and increased cost of living may be a factor, in addition to the abundance of pet adoptions and returns that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bright Eyes has lowered its adoption fees in hopes of removing some of the barriers.
Puppies are available for adoption at eight weeks of age, and the rescue is seeing an increase in the number of dogs placed in foster homes at three to four months of age.
