Second Chance Animal Rescue Society, humane animal rescue team, Edmonton Humane Society

If you need to know one thing about the team at Digital Link, it’s that we love our fur friends! So, when our Web Manager, Bree, discovered that August 26 was International Dog Day, we knew we had to celebrate! We are excited to share three non profit organizations that do incredible work for our four-legged pals in and around Edmonton.  

Let’s find out more about these paw-some organizations! 

Second Chance Animal Rescue Society (SCARS) 

The mission of SCARS is to make a positive impact on animals and people by engaging with others to rescue and care for animals in need, share knowledge, and provide access to helpful resources. Operating within Northern Alberta, SCARS partners with communities that lack access to pet services. They intake pets that are stray, unwanted, or slated for euthanasia. Many of the pets they help are from remote area dog pounds, and veterinary clinics that act as a pound. Every pet receives a veterinary assessment, spay or neuter, vaccinations, micro chip, and any medical care or rehabilitation it requires. Many pets come to SCARS severely injured or sick, so the services they provide are invaluable. 

Using Athabasca Second Chance Country Refuge, and a network of foster homes to care for rescued pets until they are adopted, SCARS finds loving homes for more than 2,000 animals every year. SCARS is dedicated to reducing the number of unwanted pets in Alberta, and they believe there is a suitable home for all homeless pets, young or old. 

Recently, SCARS announced the SCARS Rescue Centre in Morinville, which is expected to open soon once renovations are complete. This facility will provide a place where the public can meet adoptable animals by appointment, a quiet place for animals to recover from surgeries, and new opportunities for volunteers to interact with animals. 

SCARS has helped over 15,000 animals since 2002 

In addition to pet adoptions, they have several programs which help both pets and communities. The Spay-Neuter-Return Program provides free spaying or neutering, vaccination and micro-chipping for owned pets, and the Walls for Winter Program provides insulated pet shelters. They also have a Sanctuary Animals Program for animals with special needs that are not highly adoptable and a Working Cat Program to rehome under socialized cats to barn or shop homes. 

How can you help? 

There are several ways you can support SCARS: 

• Adopt: Adoptable animals include: Dogs and Puppies, Cats and kittens. 
• Donate: Tax receipts are issued for all donations of $20 or more (online donations automatically receive tax receipts for donations of $3 or more). You can also donate items and supplies on their wishlist. 
• Volunteer: Become part of a volunteer team that saves animals’ lives. Watch for their next online volunteer orientation on the website. 
• Sponsor the Athabasca Second-Chance Country Refuge: Help animals by sponsoring their intake facility north of Athabasca. This facility is used to temporarily house many of the animals on their way to foster homes. SCARS also use it to permanently house many of their sanctuary program pets. Your sponsorship makes it possible for SCARS to help animals in need. You can also sponsor their events. 
• Support the new SCARS Rescue Centre in Morinville: This facility will provide a place where the public can meet adoptable animals by appointment, a quiet place for animals to recover from surgeries, and new opportunities for volunteers to interact with animals. 
• Buy merchandise: Branded merchandise includes an annual calendar, hoodies, winter gear, cooler bags and much more.  
• Become a member: Show you care by buying an annual membership.  
• Share stories: Help animals by following SCARS on social media and sharing the stories they post. They are on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. 
• Be a responsible pet owner—Please spay or neuter, microchip and vaccinate your pets. All pets need food, water, shelter, veterinary care, exercise, and lots of love and attention. 

Upcoming Events!

To find out what’s new at SCARS, they invite you to visit their Events Portal. Currently, they are planning their 2022 Critters & Cocktails Gala on November 4. The team is excited to finally be able to hold its annual dinner and gala in person this year.  

humane animal rescue team (hart) 

hart is a non-profit organization committed to rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming stray, abandoned and unwanted dogs as well as providing programs that promote responsible pet ownership and prevent cruelty to animals. An entirely volunteer driven organization, hart relies completely on the skills, commitment, and compassion of its volunteers to give dogs in need a new leash on life.   

hart initiatives include: 

• responding to calls for dogs in need and coordinating rescue/transport 
• providing medical attention and treatment to dogs suffering from illness or injury 
• coordinating the adoption of rescued dogs through a multi-step process that ensures the best possible match for each dog 
• delivering outreach programs that promote responsible pet ownership and bring awareness to the overpopulation problem. This includes subsidized spay and neuter clinics, the Food Program (which provides food for dogs waiting for rescue), and the doghouse program that provides shelter for dogs in their target community 
• active participation and membership in animal welfare coalitions on issues such as rescue standards and animal welfare 
• cooperative efforts with other rescue organizations and shelters on emergency response and regular rescue operations 
• raising funds and awareness to support hart activities 
• strong governance of hart operations and fiduciary responsibility of hart funds.  

Rescue can be so rewarding, but the journey isn’t always easy. Sometimes when you rescue one dog, you end up with 12! Foxy’s mom was rescued, and soon thereafter they discovered that she was going to have a litter. Foxy is one of the pups in this litter of 12 that were born healthy and happy. However, recently, Foxy had a few days of diarrhea, vomiting and lethargy.  She was taken to a veterinary partner where it was diagnosed that she had an intestinal intussusception. This is a disorder that causes the intestines to twist and turn into one another. It can cause obstruction/constriction. This sometimes occurs if a dog had a particularly large worm load which, sadly, they see in many of their canines. 

Surgery was successful and Foxy is stable now! However, the cost of Foxy’s care came out to $6,000 between the ultrasound, surgery, meds, and care at an emergency veterinary hospital.  

Foxy is a great example of why fundraising is so important to groups like hart.  

 They say it takes a village to raise a child; it also takes a village to rescue dogs. 

How can you help? 

Many people are required to provide a safe, healthy environment for dogs that have been rescued. The hart village includes foster parents, volunteers, veterinary partners, behavior partners, donors, supporters. Every single one plays an important role in providing for the dogs in their care.  

Here are some ways you can help:  

You can also provide support to hart through monetary donations, purchase items on their wish list, and in other ways by visiting their website. 

Upcoming Events! 

Rescue Relief  - Homes Alive Pets 

In August, Homes Alive Pets is helping to raise awareness around rescuing, fosters and all the good times (and struggles) in between. For the month of August, Homes Alive Pets is accepting monetary donations at their Edmonton locations and will be matching those up to $10,000.  Please consider donating through Homes Alive Pets and your donation will have double the helping power! 

Sneakers & Strays 

Sneakers & Strays is hart’s most important fundraising event to provide necessary medical interventions and treatments for dogs in our care. Sneakers & Strays is in-person again in 2022, but for dogs who prefer virtual paw-ticipation, they have that option as well. Come with your pooch to run and walk in support of hart on September 11, 2022! Register today at RaceRoster. 

Edmonton Humane Society (EHS)

Founded in 1907, the Edmonton Humane Society (EHS) is one of the oldest and most reputable charities in both Alberta and the animal welfare sector. Each day, EHS strives to be a model of excellence in the advancement of animal welfare and to lead the movement in creating a more humane world.

The animal shelter takes in homeless, neglected, and abandoned companion animals from Edmonton and surrounding communities. These animals are provided with veterinary treatment, behavioral rehabilitation, care, and enrichment from their staff and a large volunteer and foster network, before they are placed up for adoption and find new, loving families.

Beyond animal sheltering, EHS strives to support happy, healthy life-long bonds between pets and their guardians by providing other programs and services such as:

• Humane Education
• Dog training classes
• Spay and neuter programs
• Bingo’s Pet Shop

In 2021, EHS admitted over 2,500 animals. Over 2,100 cats, dogs and rabbits were spayed or neutered in the shelter’s veterinary centre in 2021 to help address and prevent pet overpopulation. This included over 700 pets through their subsidized PALS program, which provides the service for pet guardians facing financial challenges

EHS has been serving the Edmonton community for over 115 years

How can you help?  

It costs over $7 million to keep EHS operational each year, with over 60% of the funds provided from generous gifts from the community.

Three ways to support their efforts:

• Volunteer or foster an animal
• Become a monthly donor
• Purchase an EHS Fall Lottery ticket – early bird deadline is October 13, 2022!

Upcoming Events!

On Saturday, September 3 the Edmonton Humane Society’s paw-pular Dog Dive returns from Oliver Pool from 1-5 p.m. While advanced tickets are now sold out, limited walk-up spots will be available the day of the event! Plus, stay tuned to edmontonhumanesociety.com for information to come on their holiday events, including the MADE for PETS market and Pet Pics with Santa.

These local organizations that work tirelessly to keep our fur-friends safe and aid in finding their forever homes are amazing. We want to thank SCARS, hart, and EHS for their time and for helping us celebrate International Dog Day! 

Have you adopted a dog? We’d love to see a photo of your pup! Please tag us on socials and share your favourite canine candid!