Alberta animal rescues save dozens of frozen animals during cold snap
Posted Feb 5, 2025 12:22 pm.
Last Updated Feb 5, 2025 3:15 pm.
Animal rescues and their volunteers are feverishly trying to save as many critters as they can from this cold.
They’ve been getting a lot of calls about people leaving their pets outside, as well as homeless dogs and cats who have no way to stay warm.
Erin Deems with the Saving Grace Animal Society says one central Alberta call saw the rescue head out to gather a mother dog and her litter of puppies.
“I couldn’t reach this puppy, and my heart just sunk, I didn’t know how I was going to get it,” she said. “I honestly thought, ‘this puppy is going to freeze in front of me while I try and make a plan of how to get under the shed.'”
She’s thankful she was able to get the pup out as the little thing wouldn’t have lasted much longer — one of its siblings had already died.
“That was a really heartbreaking situation to be in, thankfully I did get the puppy out — I ended up finding a stick and being able to kind of scooch it out the whole way and then I rushed that puppy to the veterinary clinic and it took us three hours to even register a temperature on this puppy, she was just so frozen,” Deems added.
So far during this cold snap, Saving Grace has recovered about 12 dogs who have died in the cold.
In Calgary, the Humane Society has also been rescuing pets left out in the cold; 211 are in their care at the moment and with that, a reminder that all pets should be brought inside when temperatures dip this low.
The Humane Society says it is always in need of blankets and flat sheets for its animals in care. More information on how Calgarians can support the non-profit can be found here.
