The Kamloops & District SPCA took home this year’s BC SPCA Branch of the Year award at the society’s Annual General Meeting on May 5. The award recognizes a branch that has made exceptional strides in the previous year.
Parm Takhar, chief operations officer for the BC SPCA, says the Kamloops & District Branch was selected in part because of the efforts made to reduce the length of stay for cats and dogs in the shelter by utilizing the society’s Drive for Lives transfer program.
“Our goal is always to ensure that animals in our care find their forever homes as quickly as possible,” says Takhar. “The Drives for Lives program is designed to move animals to areas where they have the greatest potential for adoption.” By increasing use of the transfer program by 22 per cent in 2017, the Kamloops & District Branch was able to reduce the average length of stay for cats in their care from 17 to 12 days and their average length of stay for dogs from 10 to 7 days. “The increase of transfers not only gives those animals opportunities to find homes but also opens up space for other animals in need from the community to enter our Kamloops shelter,” says Takhar.
Work on a new Community Animal Centre for the Kamloops & District Branch is slated to begin later this month. To find out more, visit spca.bc.ca/highfive.
