The Alliston & District Humane Society (ADHS) is looking for help from the community after rescuing over 50 animals from a hoarding situation in north Tosorontio on Wednesday.
Thirty domestic rabbits, 21 cats (a dozen or more to come), five chickens, two guinea pigs and a dog have been removed from the premises so far at the request of the OPP when it was discovered the owner of the property had passed away.
“We think by the time we are done we will be well over 70 (animals),” said Vice President of the ADHS Jane Clarke.
Clarke says most of the animals are in poor physical condition and require extensive medical care.
“This is one of the worst situations we’ve seen,” said Clarke, noting not just because of the amount of animals they are dealing with but because of the poor state of health they are in.
“It’s a hoarding situation and neglect situation,” Clarke said noting that some people on scene had to wear masks when dealing with the animals.
In one case, a volunteer had pulled a cat out of a cage that had been sitting in 8 inches of feces with no food or water.
“Rabbits were outside, covered, and they had to rip floors a part to get to them. There was no water, the water was frozen, there was no food, they have frost burn, frost bites, bite marks and wounds and we have half a dozen on pregnancy watch,” added Clarke.
She said all the cats have upper respiratory infections, some even bleeding from the nose because of how bad they are. There is also matting on the rabbits that need to be shaved. All cats are on antibiotics, and all the animals will need to be spayed and neutered and vaccinated once they get their health back.
When news broke out about the incident, volunteers stepped up to help, providing transportation of the animals to the society as well as temporarily homing them.
“At the moment we have our volunteers doing double shifts,” she said.
“The medical coordinators are working non stop and we are running the worst animals out to vets and having vets coming in as well.”
ADHS works with multiple vets in the community that they work with regularly.
Clarke says they are running out of space to keep the animals.
“We’ve got cages stacked in our boardroom, our isolated room is stacked to the ceiling, we’ve got rabbits in dog kennels at the front,” she described.
Half a dozen cats have been sent to foster homes already, and all the guinea pigs and chickens are also in foster care.
“We’re kind of triaging, we need these animals to be cleaned up, settled down, put on antibiotics, eating and having bowel movements regularly,” she said, noting they can’t give unstabalized animals to foster homes.
Right now, ADHS is looking for monetary donations to help provide the needed medical care and rehabilitation for the animals, including medications, antibiotics, vaccines, deflea, deworming medications and vet bills, which she predicts will be tens of thousands of dollars.
They are also looking for items for the rabbits including exercise pans 30x36, litter boxes 10x14, Timothy hay, Martin’s Original Rabbit Pellets, cleaning vinegar, unscented softwood shavings (no cedar), or even gift cards to stores like PetValu and TSC.
Anyone looking to donate financially can click here.
