SURREY — From a large animal barn to a building just for seized cats, the Surrey SPCA has big plans for its five-acre property on 168th Street.
Thanks to $5 million from the provincial government, announced in the B.C. budget this week, the plans have been solidified.
"Surrey's obviously one of our key cities," BC SPCA CEO Craig Daniell told the Now. "In Surrey we deal with companion issues, but because of the rural basis in Surrey, we see a large number of animal investigations. We have a very significant presence from a cruelty investigations perspective."
The organization is constructing a large animal seizure barn, which will be managed by the cruelty investigations department.
"We've never had that capability anywhere in the province," Daniell explained. "When we seized large animals in the past, for the most part, we would have to find somebody to board those animals for us. So the property in Surrey will actually provide the first large seizure facility for our organization. It will be adaptable and multi-purpose in nature so we can have large animals, which could be horses and cows, even sheep and goats. It's incredibly exciting."
While the organization had embarked upon the project before learning it would be receiving provincial dollars, Daniell said it's wonderful news because they hadn't had assurance they would receive it.
"We considered the large animal facility to be a major priority, so we had already gone ahead with that.
"But what it allows us to do is put in a few extras we would have had to put in later if we didn't get the funding."
The "extras" include an outdoor area for horses to roam.
"But really, what the funding will help us cover for 2015 is... a cat seizure facility in Surrey," he said. "We're going to be retrofitting one of the existing facilities to be a cat seizure site. This will give us the opportunity to be able to accommodate more cats."
Cats far outnumber dogs in their shelters, Daniell explained.
Late last year, a group called the Surrey Community Cat Coalition formed to try to get a handle on of the overpopulation of cats in the city. The group, which includes the BC SPCA Surrey Education Adoption Centre, estimates Surrey has between 12,000 and 34,000 free-roaming community and feral cats.
Rodney Weleschuk, Surrey SPCA's branch manager, said the new facility will mean more feral cats can be helped, "which is one of our main visions here in Surrey."
Weleschuk said the new cat facility will also be useful for investigations when a large number of cats are seized at once and need somewhere to be assessed, treated and held before moving on.
Daniell expects the cat and large animal seizure facilities should be complete by the end of the summer.
"From a cruelty investigations perspective, we'll be set up," he added.
The dollars will allow the organization to continue with expansion beyond 2015.
Top of mind for Daniell is a facility for exotic animals.
"There really isn't any capability to house exotic animals anywhere in the province, to be honest," he said.
"The government has no facilities and our own aren't well set up to do that. Our facilities for the most part have been focused on dogs, cats and rabbits."
Education is a big part of what the SPCA does out of its Surrey site and that facility will also see expansion thanks to the government funding. The organization is also looking to upgrade its adoption facilities in Surrey.
"We'll plan those in 2016 and probably construct them in 2017. We can't do everything all at once," Daniell said.
The Surrey SPCA moved to the new site at the beginning of 2014, initially opening just its adoption operations there, then bringing in its education component, which includes children's programming and summer camps.
Daniell stressed the organization's desire to better the lives of animals in Surrey.
"We see this property as a great opportunity to bring the community in. Education isn't just for youth," he said. "We've got the space and we've even fenced off an area to partner with people for obedience training, for example. With our community partners, we can improve overall animal welfare in Surrey."
The Surrey Education Adoption Centre, located at 16748 50th Ave., is open from noon to 5:30 p.m. Friday through Wednesday, and from 2 to 7 p.m. on Thursdays. For more information visit Spca.bc.ca/branches/surrey.