There’s no place like home, especially when it’s -39 C.
Tragically, there are a lot of homeless people and animals out there who don’t have a warm refuge to call their own, so these frigid polar temperatures of late, with more still to come, not only put lives at risk, but take some.
Homeless humans thankfully have some shelter options available to them, but animals not so much.
Perhaps most tragic of all are the animals who do have homes, but are left outside to survive as best they can in any and all weather year-round, with too many losing their lives due to sheer neglect.
Generally, if such cruelty is happening where witnesses can observe and report it, a call can be made to the Winnipeg Humane Society (WHS) emergency response line at 204-982-2020, following which the WHS Investigations and Emergency Response Unit will come out for a look.
Lenore Hume, communications strategist for the WHS, provided me the January call numbers regarding "failure to provide protection to owned animals" hereabouts — and that number was 91.
For animals that have homes!
Thank God for Good Samaritans, who stepped up in response to the arctic cold, placing those 91 calls this past January as opposed to 58 in January 2018. Bravo. Keep that phone number handy, folks, and please use it when necessary.
The total number of January calls received, reporting animal concerns in general, was 339. The WHS non-emergency helpline number is 204-982-2030. Always nice to be reminded that there are lots of kind, caring people out there.
As for the plethora of truly homeless animals desperately trying to survive this particularly frigid Prairie winter, what can be done for them? Many remain unseen until their frozen remains are found — or not — once the warm weather returns.
Maybe I can be of some help in that department, as I have what I believe to be a stray cat. I don’t think it’s feral, even though it’s living in a shed at the back of my yard. I didn’t know I had a "resident" until just before this past wicked cold snap. One semi-frigid day, just prior to the deep freeze, I noticed a cat out in the shed area, checked up on it, and sure enough, it was occupying the stray cat penthouse (also for any animal that wants to use it, including raccoons), in an old granary I hauled home many years ago.
In very short order, and this is equipment anyone can install in any old building or shed that has electricity available, I put in a heat lamp (250-watt bulb), a heated pet bed and a heated water dish. So this particular cat, which I also leave a good supply of food for, is doing very well. He won’t let me catch him yet, and since I don’t want to scare him off, once the temperatures rise, I’ll rescue and re-home him.
If you’re wondering, as I did, what the cost might be to run a 250-watt heat lamp 24 hours a day, Manitoba Hydro public affairs officer Bruce Owen kindly calculated that for me, and it works out to about 51 cents a day. Now that is a cheap way to save a life. I leave it and the other heat sources on 24/7, and will until kitty is caught.
If you have a doghouse big enough, it might be a thought to install a heat lamp in the "rafters" for use in overly chilly conditions.
No doubt, there are many places to purchase the heat equipment mentioned above. I happened to find them, at very affordable prices, at Princess Auto.
So today, just a reminder to all of us with homes that keep us warm and safe, to remember those vulnerable people and animals at risk due to circumstances beyond their control, and whenever possible, to do what we can to relieve their suffering.
Comments or feedback, I’d love to hear from you at lmustard1948@gmail.com.
