The Community Engagement Manager at the Kamloops SPCA says there is a possibility that some pets will be surrendered as their owners go through economic hardship because of COVID-19.

Hayley Bennett says the SPCA is hoping that people who can adopt pets do so, so that they are able to make as much space available in shelters as possible.

“We truly hope that that doesn’t happen but we want to make sure we’re prepared to support them if that does come,” she said.

“Along with you losing your wages, it might simply be not being able to afford the medical expense your animal has, so we also want to make sure that we’ve got enough funding to support those animals coming in in those urgent cases.”

Bennett says its also possible that animals will be temporarily surrendered to the SPCA, before returning back to their owners once their situation improves.

“And they can be due to somebody going into the hospital with no support or somebody trying to leave a domestic abuse situation,” Bennett added. “We have to be really careful about how many we take on with our availability and capacity to afford it.”

She admits for a lot of people losing your pet can be a very difficult situation which is why the BC SPCA is hoping to support people as best as possible.

“Every situation can differ so much,” Bennett noted. “But we’re just trying to make sure that we have the capacity and the availability to support when we can.”