Corner Brook -
There could be more animals euthanized in Corner Brook because they've got nowhere to go.
Pet Transfer has fallen on hard times recently. The organization, run by Corner Brook businessman Rod Lyver, moves animals that would otherwise be destroyed to shelters, foster and adoptive homes.
With demand for transferring of animals high and donations falling off, the organization is in need of help. He said a couple of dogs required medical treatment recently which also cost a fair amount of cash.
Running out of money might not be fatal to Pet Transfer, but it will make it harder to get animals out of the pound before they are euthanized.
Right now there are three dogs at the Corner Brook pound waiting for a home. Lyver has arranged a ride to the Clarenville Area Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) for the canines if they're not adopted, or spoken for, or claimed by their owners before then. He said as long as the Clarenville shelter has space or foster homes, they'll take animals.
"The (Corner Brook) pound will let us know they've got them" Lyver said. Then (city impounder Wayne Peddle) the animal control officer will say, 'Rod, we've got them here' and he'll take pictures and bring them up to me. I'll send them out to different people and say 'this is tentative, but if you've got people who want animals, it looks like these might be going.' A lot of times we know they're not going to be claimed."
Since May, Clarenville has taken 44 dogs and two animals with non-fatal medical conditions that required attention have been transferred.
Pet Transfer provides a token amount of cash to the receiving shelter to help defray the cost of taking the animal. Since May, not including roughly $500 for medical expenses, sending the animals to the Clarenville SPCA has cost $1,100. Pet Transfer sends along $25 per animal to the receiving shelter as an acknowledgment that it costs the shelter an average of $100 per animal to house them.
"Sometimes they take more animals than we have money," Lyver said. "What's happened here is we're just broke. I'm really pleading with people if you have recyclables could you drop them off."
Lyver acts as a committee of one, but Const. Ken Dean of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary in Corner Brook, helps administer the bank account at the BMO Caribou Road location. Monetary donations can be dropped off there or at a number of counter cans at businesses around the city, including Rod's New To You. Lyver will also accept donations of recyclables at the shop, at Scotia or Westlane Recycling in the name of Pet Transfer, or he'll pick them up if you call 634-5152 to arrange it.
The organization doesn't receive any financial aid from the Corner Brook SPCA.
Lyver also needs medium to large pet carriers to help transfer animals. At one time he had 65 pet carriers of assorted sizes. Now he has a dozen small, six medium and two large pet carriers for a total of 20.
"Our carriers are out there in the system," he said. "Sometimes they show up, sometimes we never see them again.
"We don't worry about that, we're just concerned about the animal - getting them to a good home. If they need a carrier we give them a carrier hoping we'll get it back at some point."
