Six-year-old Maggie Bonnar and her three-year-old sister Molly had a roomful of curious kittens to play with Saturday morning.
The tiny little fur balls competing for affection from their human friends showed their love by batting their paws at shoelaces and chasing runner mice, in between hugs from the kids.
What better way to spend a birthday party?
For the Prince George Humane Society (PGHS), the party/open house was to celebrate two years of operation since the organization established itself in the city and 15 months since the doors of its adoption and humane education centre first opened at 12A - 1839 First Ave.
In that time, the Humane Society has become a conduit to put abandoned animals into the hands of owners who crave the unconditional love of a family pet and are willing to give them permanent homes.
"The kids love coming here, they visit the kittens and puppies when they're here and they feel so welcomed here, they're so good at supporting the animals in our community and surrounding communities," said Sarah Bonnar, Maggie and Molly's mom.
"It's a full-time job, it's not just nine-to-five with the Humane Society. They take calls in the middle of the night and they travel all over the place and they need all the support they can get."
The Bonnar sisters do what they can to raise money for the nonprofit society, setting up bake sales and lemonade stands in their own neighbourhood to raise money to help the society cover its $180,000 annual operating costs. The organization, a registered charity, is entirely donor-funded.
Hunter Brown, 8, and his mom Deanna dropped by for their first visit to the centre.
"My mom just wanted to see what was going on here and I like it," said Brown, who was hugging a cat but admits he's more of a dog person. "They save animals here."
Just this past week, the centre had more than 30 cats and 10 dogs in foster care awaiting permanent homes. Run exclusively by a team of volunteers, the centre has room to board only about 15 cats and has just three dog kennels at the place it has called home since March 1, 2016.
"We just wanted to check it out and see what the facility is like," said Deanna Brown. "I love that they're so active on social media so we can actually see what's happening with the animals with some of the rescues and the operations the animals have received."
About 90 per cent of the animals brought to the centre are from northern B.C. aboriginal communities which have collected abandoned or surrendered pets. The Humane Society recently found eight puppies (Shih Tzu-cross and husky-cross) which had become infected with the parvo virus and covered the $10,000 medical costs to treat and cure them. They all recovered and were adopted.
"A lot of our animals come in either through the preventative programs we do in First Nations communities or they come through animal surrenders and that's where we focus most of our resources," said PGHS chief executive officer Angela McLaren.
"We focus mainly on cats and dogs but we never know what going to come through our door. We've had everything from chickens to pigs to bunnies, we never say no to any animal. Just to know you've changed the life of an animal, there's nothing more encouraging and inspirational."
Veterinarians offer their medical expertise at discounted rates and pet stores in the city regularly show their love for the Humane Society, donating bags of pet food, some of which are brought to outlying communities. Local airlines - Kwadacha Air, Hill Air, Pacific Coastal Airlines - provide free flights for animals and will also fly in outreach workers from the society to conduct educational seminars on pet care and provide mobile spay/neutering clinics.
The centre now has a team of 10 volunteers and the society encourages animal-lovers to come by to offer their services.
"It's been an amazing two years and sometimes I look at how successful we are and the impact on the community and I can't believe it and I'm very proud of what we've achieved as a team making a difference for the animals," said McLaren.
Animals adopted from the Humane Centre will all have received their first round of vaccinations and will have microchips inserted under the skin between the shoulder blades. The information is shared with the B.C. Pet Registry to help identify the owners in case the animal gets lost and is returned to a shelter.
With summer just around the corner, the Humane Society is making plans for its Animal Champion Kids Camps. Sessions run July 10-14, July 24-28, Aug. 7-11 and Aug. 21-15 at a cost of $150 per kid. The sessions teach responsible pet ownership and the Society brings in representatives from other animal welfare organizations to speak to the kids. The centre also hosts birthday parties.
Andrea Sowers, the PGHS's co-ordinator of humane education, started in animal rescue about 10 years ago, volunteering at the SPCA in Prince George. She wanted to teach her six kids, all between the ages of five and 15, about animal welfare to give them the sense of giving back to the community. They started walking dogs at the city shelter and it grew from there.
"It's all about education, so if I go to a classroom of 25 children and I get through to only one child that it's important to be kind to animals, I've won," said Sowers.
"Angela and I felt it was lacking in the First Nations communities, they don't have the supports in place, there are no veterinarians on staff in the communities and we have the ability to go out there. I deliver food to all those communities either (by air) or I drive our van.
"We've done some pretty great things and we love what we do and not every day is easy," she said. "But we'll keep going and we're looking forward to the future."
For more information, go to www.pghumanesociety.ca or to learn about new fundraising initiatives check out the Prince George Humane Society site on Facebook.
