For many pets, animal transport is a life-saving measure. Here at the Nova Scotia SPCA, we transport pets for several reasons!
- Rescue from Unsafe Conditions – Our SPCA Enforcement Team is constantly on the road rescuing animals from dangerous and deplorable conditions. Enforcement Officers currently travel over 165,000 kilometers a year and receive an average of 2,000 calls annually.
- Receive Life-saving Treatment – We currently operate three SPCA Animal Hospitals and Clinics in Dartmouth, Yarmouth and Sydney, Cape Breton. By bringing hurt pets to our SPCA Animal Hospitals and Clinics we can perform surgeries for our shelter pets at a fraction of the cost and maximize funding to the fullest.
- Manage Capacity – The Nova Scotia SPCA is proudly no-kill and open-admission, so transporting pets helps to manage capacity. We strive to serve the community and local animals the best way possible.
- Better Chance at Adoption – With six shelters throughout Nova Scotia, we have the flexibility to relocate animals to where they will have the best opportunity at finding their new family.
Over the last couple of years, the Nova Scotia SPCA has experienced some exciting ‘paw’sitive trends in the companion animal population. The numbers of stray animals coming into our shelters have been decreasing.
Programs like Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) have helped address the overpopulation of feral cats, while programs like Prevent-Unwanted-Pregnancy (PUP) have helped families who unexpectedly find themselves with a surprise litter of puppies or kittens. These trends in Nova Scotia are very encouraging.
With so many other shelters and rescues overwhelmed with excess populations, we offer a helping paw. For several years we have accepted dogs from other provinces in Canada due to breed-specific-legislation. Furthermore, this past March we partnered up with Frieda Fuzzypaws Animal Rescue, a nonprofit animal rescue based in Pelican Narrows, a Cree settlement, in Northern Saskatchewan. Six cats made the cross-country transport to the Dartmouth SPCA and were all adopted within the week.
Most recently we have brought in 30 kittens to the Cape Breton SPCA from the Southwest Coast SPCA in Stephenville, Newfoundland. The kitties board the Marine Atlantic Ferry and travel to our shelter to find loving families.
The ultimate goal is to transport animals – not diseases… so it is important when implementing a pet transport program to take proper precautions to ensure the health and safety of the animals – both those being transported and those here in our province. Safe transport methods and guidelines minimize risk and maximize life-saving capacity.
You can help! Donations and supplies are especially needed to protect pets and ensure their transport is as stress-free as possible. Together, we can drive animal welfare forward.