At Ravine Vineyard on Saturday, a music trivia fundraiser for the Niagara SPCA and Humane Society came with a blunt message from shelter staff: more animals are arriving sick and harder to house.
The evening gave the animal rescue group a public stage in St. Davids for staff who warned that rising costs and crowded shelters are straining animal care across the region.
The night included four rounds of music trivia, with money from a 50/50 draw, door-prize sales and part of each ticket sale being set aside for the shelter organization.
Amelia Canto, chief executive officer of the Niagara SPCA, said the money will help pay for animals whose care goes beyond what staff can handle on site. The organization runs three shelters and a clinic in Welland, where it has offered spay and neuter services since 2013 and now also provides wellness visits at lower cost.
“The animals that come in, they’re sick, they’re injured, and we need to provide extraordinary veterinary care above what we can provide in the shelter,” she said.
That pressure starts with pet owners who can no longer keep up with basic costs, she said. Food, rent and other bills leave some owners unable to pay for routine animal care, which can push more animals into shelters already short on space.
The Niagara SPCA also relies heavily on volunteers to keep operations moving. Canto said the organization has about 200 volunteers across its shelter locations, including dog walkers and foster homes for animals that need time away from kennels before adoption.
“Affordability is such an issue for people in our community. They’re struggling with food and housing, and that impacts their animals as well,” said Canto.
Tanya Gaboury, animal care manager with the Niagara SPCA, described a system that feels the strain from several directions at once. Medical cases arrive often, she said, and staff are also seeing puppy litters from owners who cannot afford spay-neuter services.
Shelter space remains one of the hardest limits. When adoptions slow, animals stay longer, and the stress builds for both the animals and the staff responsible for them.
“Capacity issues have been a huge challenge for us where so many animals coming in, so many people needing to relinquish and we only have so much space,” said Gaboury.
For Ravine, the fundraiser also carried family history. Alex Harber, co-owner of Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery, told the crowd his family has adopted animals through the SPCA for years and has kept rescue animals on the property, including retired racehorses.
He also spoke about fostering six dogs from a northern Ontario community during the first year of the pandemic.
“When you support such an important cause, we’re all winners,” said Harber.
