Demand for humane society’s pet food bank skyrockets – Winnipeg Free Press

The cost-of-living crisis is getting ‘ruff’-er, as demand for the Winnipeg Humane Society’s emergency pet food bank spikes.

The humane society is providing food to 100-150 families per month, up from about 40 a month when the service began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Inflation is certainly a thing. Prices overall have increased for pet care,” Anja Richter, the non-profit’s director of intake and animal care, said Thursday. “It’s something that can end up on the backburner, because other financial needs your family may have are more important.

“If there’s no relief with the economy, I think the demand will continue to be the same, if not grow — we’re expecting it to grow.”

The service was initially created to assist seniors and others who weren’t able to leave their homes to get pet food during the early days of the pandemic.

“We started with that, but a lot of people now need financial support, and simply can’t afford to keep their pets anymore, and the shelters are overloaded now,” she said.

“We expanded the program to support anybody, no matter their financial situation, with pet food.”

Pet owners can access animal food for up to four animals monthly.

The program provides food for dogs and cats, but other pets as well.

“We give out food for bunnies, for guinea pigs and birds. If needed, for exotic pets too,” said Richter. “Whatever we can do to maintain this animal in the home, it really doesn’t matter to us what species they are.”

City shelters are overloaded with animals, Richter said, so the main goal of the food bank is to keep pets in people’s homes.

“We want to keep the pets in a home with an owner who knows them, who knows best how to care for them,” she said.

And many of those who use the food bank rely on their pets for companionship.

“If they can’t maintain their pet, they would be forced to give it up, and then they wouldn’t have any connection. We have lots of people who are really thankful they can keep their pet in their home,” Richter said.

Much of the food is purchased with donations, but more support is needed, particularly cat food, she said.

The humane society also needs volunteers drivers to deliver the food.

“There’s so many ways you can help,” Richter said.

The humane society is hosting its first mobile pet food bank on Saturday, in partnership with the Bear Clan Patrol and Feed the Furbabies Canada, at the Bear Clan’s headquarters at 584 Selkirk Ave., from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Richter said many of the people who use the pet food bank have limited access to transportation, and the humane society’s location in Lindenwoods is inconvenient to access.

“Most of our (food bank) clients are in the city centre or in the North End, so we’re trying to bring access to our services… to make sure everybody can access them,” Richter said.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca