Year in Review: North East SPCA’s Harry and Eve Vickar Shelter opens

“It’s very exciting,” North East SPCA Shelter Manager Kristy Mason said. “Everybody has worked so hard to this point. It’s really great to see the final product and be able to start moving along on it.”

The 5,062 sq. ft. building will hold stray animals from as far as Anaheim Lake and Hudson Bay. Mason said the shelter will hold animals for three days for municipalities who don’t have a pound service, along with conducting animal donations and rehabilitations.

For veterinarians in northeast Saskatchewan, the shelter means it will ease their workload. Dr. Victor Kernaleguen from Gateway Services in Melfort said he and other veterinary services work as pounds in their respective communities. And now they’ll be able to send stray animals to a larger shelter where they won’t affect animals already in their care.

“The biggest thing we’re charged with is taking care of the animals and keeping them healthy,” Kernaleguen said. “This will allow us to move animals out so we don’t have overcrowding in our vet clinics. Sometimes you get called after hours and get a litter of puppies or kittens that are found outside of town and you got to put them at the clinic. Your kennels are already full, so it just kind of overloads your system and you need to find space to put animals.”

Mason said the shelter received rave reviews within the first few days of operation.

Funding

The City of Melfort donated land on Hamilton Ave. to the North East SPCA nearly six years ago to ensure the fundraising committee could go forward with all their upcoming hard work.

Mayor Rick Lang said he’s happy to see the shelter’s completion.

“There’s been a lot of cooperation within the northeast with respect to the continued fundraising and the commitment to the shelter that was badly needed for animals who need that refuge,” Lang said. “It’s something that’s certainly for the entire northeast, not just for the City of Melfort.”

Judy Sefton was one of the larger donors for the Harry and Eve Vickar Shelter. She purchased the reception area sponsorship, naming it after her aunt and uncle who loved animals, and added another donation.

“I thought it was important to step up and support it early,” Sefton said. “I was happy to be able to give them a little boost in the arm when it first started. It was substantial for me but I’m certainly glad I did it and I’ll never forget it.”

Cutting the ribbon of the Harry and Eve Vickar shelter was Eve Vickar herself.

Kerry Vickar, Eve’s son, was also one of the larger donors. He said if his father Harry was still alive to see the shelter, he’d be very pleased.

“It’s candidly more than I expected,” Vickar said. “The people here have done a phenomenal job in building out the vision they talked to me about three or four years ago, and I can’t thank them enough for the job and work they have done.”

Vickar said his father and mother’s love of animals go back to their upbringings, with Eve having pets at a very young age and Harry living on a farm near Brooksby. He said their love of animals transcended to he and his brother.

“Melfort is a great community,” he said. “I was born and raised here. It will always have a soft spot in my heart and we feel like we’re always part of this community. To be able to help do something like this today is somewhat of a dream come true.”

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow

by Aaron Schulze

Year in Review: North East SPCA’s Harry and Eve Vickar Shelter opens

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