Richard Froese
South Peace News
A society has been established to promote and support the Big Lakes County animal care facility.
Council heard the news at its regular meeting Jan. 22 from Pat Olansky, director of community services and planning.
She expects Big Lakes to get stronger support for the facility with a fundraising organization.
“The newly-formed Big Lakes Animal Care Facility Society has several initiatives in the planning stages to fundraise for the facility which should increase cash donations,” Olansky said.
While the society was incorporated on Dec. 12, 2024, she told council the organizational meeting is being planned.
Cash donations offset “other general expenses” unless a specific expense is designated by the donor, she noted.
Olansky added the facility was busy in 2024 as she presented a brief report.
“Over the course of 2024, staff has done an exceptional job in increasing awareness of the animal-care program through the website, social media and animal adoption events,” Olansky noted.
“There has been an increased emphasis on securing foster care and promoting the animals for adoption, as well as making connections and partnering with other rescue organizations.”
She noted the program did very well in 2024 compared to 2023.
“Animal-care complaints continued to be the top priority in 2024,” Olansky said.
The County does not accept animals that people want to surrender.
“However, there have been cases of kitten and puppy litter dumping at various locations and a couple of dogs dropped off as stray dogs,” Olansky said.
But, she noted, that after investigating, staff discovered that two of those cases involved animals that were brought in by their owner.
“These animals were not returned to their owners due to the obvious lack of care they were being given,” Olansky said.
“This will continue to be a challenge for 2025 for staff due the number of calls animal control receives from individuals wishing to surrender their pets.”
Olansky also provided various statistics for complete year of 2024.
Big Lakes took in 75 dogs in 2024, compared to 77 in 2023. The figures do not include dogs from the Town of High Prairie.
A total of 33 dogs were adopted in 2024, up from 28 in 2023.
The average length of stay for dogs in the facility before leaving was 8.5 days in 2024, down from 42 days in 2023.
The average length of stay for dogs before being adopted was 54 days in 2024, down from 75 days in 2023.
Cats at the animal care facility increased significantly in 2024.
Last year, the facility took in 88 cats, up from three in 2023.
A total of 62 cats were adopted in 2025, up from three in 2023.
The average length of stay for a cat before leaving was 7.25 days in 2024, up from one day in 2023.
The average length of stay for a cat before being adopted was 93 days in 2024, up from one in 2023.