Stray animals and pets were the focus of Vermilion Council as they considered a donation to Border Paws.
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Council received notice from Border Paws regarding the updated fee structure, which was made effective Jan. 1.
There were two options listed; the first came with a $40,000 annual facility access fee for discounted intake fees. The second would be standard intake fees no yearly donation.
All animals taken to the shelter would require a mandatory two-week quarantine period. Regardless of which option is chosen, there are no guaranteed space reservations.
Interim CAO, Mike van der Torre, told council the item would be out of their budget.
“It’s still way out of our budget, considering last year in 2024 we spent a total of $7,000 with just intake alone,” he said.
He says the city is already running tight with its budget.
“I did meet with the lady from Border Paws, I explained our situation, we don’t have $40,000 to just donate at any point in time when we’re already running really tight in our budget,” said van der Torre.
Consideration was given to other options the town must deal with, including stray and returning lost pets.
“The agreement stands with the Vermilion Vet Clinic. When we take an animal to the Vermilion Vet Clinic, they make every attempt to reunite that animal with the owner,” said van der Torre.
“After a certain amount of time, then it gets turned back over to us, at which point it’s our responsibility to bring it to Border Paws.”
He gave some specifics of how these options would affect the city.
“Without an agreement in place with Border Paws, we have no place for this pet, and for us to bring (animals in) without the agreement, the $40,000 donation, it would cost us $1,000 for a dog and $500 for a cat to bring it in, plus our time. Again, also no guarantee there would be a spot,” he said.
While no specifics were given, van der Torre alluded to an animal group starting up in the county.
“When we had our CAO meeting about a month ago, there’s a group starting up in the County of Vermilion River. Again, they’re just starting up; they’re small, there’s no dedicated space, it’s all volunteer,” he said.
“We’re in a position where we just can’t take them financially … it’s unfortunate, especially with spring around the corner, we know what’s going to happen.”
Van der Torre says they took in between 13-15 intakes last year.
Deputy Mayor Joshua Rayment says this puts the community in a tough situation.
“I see this as kind of an unfortunate situation. I understand the need for facilities like this to be able to have the finances and resources to move forward. It puts our community in an awkward position where we don’t really have the funding to do this, $40,000 donation to a not-for-profit of another community to house animals is a lot, it’s a significant contribution from our taxes,” he said.
“If we were to go forward with that, it would nearly be a one per cent increase for our ratepayers in the Town of Vermilion.”
Rayment encouraged people to be responsible with their pets.
“This also highlights the extreme importance of good pet stewardship in our community. If you’re going to have a pet, be responsible for it,” he said. “Again, register your animal, if your animal is caught and it has a tag on, it’s quite clear who the owner is.”
This won’t impact bylaw dealing with dangerous animals in the community.
Van der Torre said Border Paws would be returning to Vermilion council closer to the summer with another idea.
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