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Sweet February Bake Sale for CA Humane Society

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Issue: 2023-2 February

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Visit CA Humane

We are here for you!

Tuesday – Saturday

10 am to 6 pm

Cat cuddling, Dog License renewal, Retail store and Bunny cuddles!

Dog viewing is by appointment only,

we do this to reduce the stress on the dogs.

View Available Animals for Adoption 
Cats
  • Altered Adult $125
  • Altered Kitten $175
  • Senior +8 yrs $60
Dogs
  • Altered Adult $375
  • Altered Puppy $475
  • Senior +8 yrs $250

Cat & Dog Adoption prices include:

  • Initial Vaccinations & De-Worming
  • Complete Health Examination
  • Any procedures required for the health and wellness of the animal.

(Dental, treatments etc.)

  • Microchip Implant (pet identification device)
  • Spay/neuter
  • Complimentary Vet Exam within 3 weeks of adoption
  • Initial de-worming
  • Some medications (if necessary)
  • Starter food kit provided

We feed our pets Hills Science Diet!

View Available Animals for Adoption 

Morti Dog of the Month February!

Just in time for Valentine’s Day Morti may be the love you are looking for!!

No more eating alone, he could keep you warm at night, and you could go on adventures together! He is just over 1 year old and is a Shepherd/Border Collie Cross and is extra handsome with 1 bright blue eye!  If you’re looking for an active buddy to take hiking or swimming and then come home to snuggle with on the couch, he may be your perfect match! Morti has lots of energy but he’s also just the sweetest boy! He would just love to meet you! If it sounds like he could be a good fit for your life, please call and book an appointment. Who knows, it could be love at first sight!

For the coming months, Energy Effects & One Smart Cookie K9 Services Inc. are offering a lucky adopter ONE COMPLEMENTARY session of K9 Training and ONE COMPLEMENTARY session of Jin Shin Jyjitsu ~ PLUS discounts on more sessions!! Their goal, as well as ours, is to help new fur families have all the tools to create successful live-long relationships.

If you are interested in meeting Morti, please contact us at

403-342-7722 ext 0

This program is a collaborative effort between Central Alberta Humane Society, Energy Effects & One Smart Cookie K9 Services Inc. to promote one adoptable dog each month.

Foster Families

If you’d like to make a big impact on homeless animals in Central Alberta, consider becoming a foster family.

The ability to provide a temporary home to a shelter

animal in need is an immensely rewarding experience!

We are looking for dog fosters that are interested in having weekend sleepovers with one of our shelter dogs. Specifically, homes with no other pets and children for our long-timers in our care.

Please send in your application to be a part of our Foster Team!

Telisha ~ Animal Care Assistant Manager & Foster Coordinator

403-342-7722 ext 212 E: [email protected]

FOSTER APPLICATION

Volunteer Opportunities!

Volunteers are an important part of the Central Alberta Humane Society. We need volunteers to assist with everyday operations.

Shelter Helpers – We are always in need more volunteers for shelter support. We have various roles that are always needed. Cat Cuddling, Kennel Care, Laundry and some administrative support. Training privided!

Bingo – CA Humane needs more volunteers for our monthly Bingos. The Central Alberta Humane Society is a charity and not-for-profit so it is important for us to do community events and fundraising to make the funds that will keep our shelter running throughout the year. Each bingo requires 4-8 volunteers and has various roles.

Dog Walking/Enrichment – Would you like to help our shelter dogs get out of their kennels, all while enjoying some canine bonding time and sharing some great exercise endorphins?  We need dog walkers to help our shelter kids get some much-needed outdoor enrichment time.

Amber ~ Volunteer Coordinator

403.342.7722 ext. 216 E: [email protected]

VOLUNTEER APPLICATION

Birthday Pawty!

CA Humane is the perfect place to host a birthday party!

2 hours of ‘Pawty’ fun!

$175 Includes

  • room set up and clean up
  • space for up to 15 children
  • lightly decorated room with your choice of tablecloth colour
  • children’s craft
  • mini tour/presentation of the CA Humane Society.
  • Animal visits
  • One hour for your food, cake, and presents.

Book your party now to be assured of your chosen date!!

Contact Lindsay for more information!

[email protected] 

Upcoming dates:

4-day camp February 21-24 (Tuesday-Friday)

Single days also available

CA Humane offers camps for children aged 6-10 on pd days and school breaks that coincide with both the Red Deer public school board and the Red Deer regional catholic school board!

Register early to ensure your spot!

Contact Lindsay for more information!

[email protected] 

Register for Camp

January Volunteer of the Month!

Nicole is the CA Humane Volunteer for the month of January!

Nicole is a cat cuddler volunteer and helps our CA Humane team by doing laundry and dishes. She loves animals, caring for them, and of course cat cuddling! She began volunteering to gain experience as she would like to work in the animal field someday. Nicole loves to help organizations that care for animals by doing anything she can do. In 2022 Nicole made 15 blankets for our animals in care! Nicole is a bright light to have around the shelter and is a huge help to our staff every time she is in. Thank you, Nicole, for your service within CA Humane and our community!

Support CA Humane!

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Community

SPARC Red Deer – Caring Adult Nominations open now!

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Red Deer community let’s give a round of applause to the incredible adults shaping the future of our kids. Whether they’re a coach, neighbour, teacher, mentor, instructor, or someone special, we want to know about them!

Tell us the inspiring story of how your nominee is helping kids grow up great. We will honour the first 100 local nominees for their outstanding contributions to youth development. It’s time to highlight those who consistently go above and beyond!

To nominate, visit Events (sparcreddeer.ca)

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Addictions

‘Harm Reduction’ is killing B.C.’s addicts. There’s got to be a better way

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From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Susan Martinuk 

B.C. recently decriminalized the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs. The resulting explosion of addicts using drugs in public spaces, including parks and playgrounds, recently led the province’s NDP government to attempt to backtrack on this policy

Since 2016, more than 40,000 Canadians have died from opioid drug overdoses — almost as many as died during the Second World War.
Governments, health care professionals and addiction experts all acknowledge that widespread use of opioids has created a public health crisis in Canada. Yet they agree on virtually nothing else about this crisis, including its causes, possible remedies and whether addicts should be regarded as passive victims or accountable moral agents.

Fuelled by the deadly manufactured opioid fentanyl, Canada’s national drug overdose rate stood at 19.3 people per 100,000 in 2022, a shockingly high number when compared to the European Union’s rate of just 1.8. But national statistics hide considerable geographic variation. British Columbia and Alberta together account for only a quarter of Canada’s population yet nearly half of all opioid deaths. B.C.’s 2022 death rate of 45.2/100,000 is more than double the national average, with Alberta close behind at 33.3/100,00.

In response to the drug crisis, Canada’s two western-most provinces have taken markedly divergent approaches, and in doing so have created a natural experiment with national implications.

B.C. has emphasized harm reduction, which seeks to eliminate the damaging effects of illicit drugs without actually removing them from the equation. The strategy focuses on creating access to clean drugs and includes such measures as “safe” injection sites, needle exchange programs, crack-pipe giveaways and even drug-dispensing vending machines. The approach goes so far as to distribute drugs like heroin and cocaine free of charge in the hope addicts will no longer be tempted by potentially tainted street drugs and may eventually seek help.

But safe-supply policies create many unexpected consequences. A National Post investigation found, for example, that government-supplied hydromorphone pills handed out to addicts in Vancouver are often re-sold on the street to other addicts. The sellers then use the money to purchase a street drug that provides a better high — namely, fentanyl.

Doubling down on safe supply, B.C. recently decriminalized the possession of small amounts of illicit drugs. The resulting explosion of addicts using drugs in public spaces, including parks and playgrounds, recently led the province’s NDP government to attempt to backtrack on this policy — though for now that effort has been stymied by the courts.

According to Vancouver city councillor Brian Montague, “The stats tell us that harm reduction isn’t working.” In an interview, he calls decriminalization “a disaster” and proposes a policy shift that recognizes the connection between mental illness and addiction. The province, he says, needs “massive numbers of beds in treatment facilities that deal with both addictions and long-term mental health problems (plus) access to free counselling and housing.”

In fact, Montague’s wish is coming true — one province east, in Alberta. Since the United Conservative Party was elected in 2019, Alberta has been transforming its drug addiction policy away from harm reduction and towards publicly-funded treatment and recovery efforts.

Instead of offering safe-injection sites and free drugs, Alberta is building a network of 10 therapeutic communities across the province where patients can stay for up to a year, receiving therapy and medical treatment and developing skills that will enable them to build a life outside the drug culture. All for free. The province’s first two new recovery centres opened last year in Lethbridge and Red Deer. There are currently over 29,000 addiction treatment spaces in the province.

This treatment-based strategy is in large part the work of Marshall Smith, current chief of staff to Alberta’s premier and a former addict himself, whose life story is a testament to the importance of treatment and recovery.

The sharply contrasting policies of B.C. and Alberta allow a comparison of what works and what doesn’t. A first, tentative report card on this natural experiment was produced last year in a study from Stanford University’s network on addiction policy (SNAP). Noting “a lack of policy innovation in B.C.,” where harm reduction has become the dominant policy approach, the report argues that in fact “Alberta is currently experiencing a reduction in key addiction-related harms.” But it concludes that “Canada overall, and B.C. in particular, is not yet showing the progress that the public and those impacted by drug addiction deserve.”

The report is admittedly an early analysis of these two contrasting approaches. Most of Alberta’s recovery homes are still under construction, and B.C.’s decriminalization policy is only a year old. And since the report was published, opioid death rates have inched higher in both provinces.

Still, the early returns do seem to favour Alberta’s approach. That should be regarded as good news. Society certainly has an obligation to try to help drug users. But that duty must involve more than offering addicts free drugs. Addicted people need treatment so they can kick their potentially deadly habit and go on to live healthy, meaningful lives. Dignity comes from a life of purpose and self-control, not a government-funded fix.

Susan Martinuk is a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and author of the 2021 book Patients at Risk: Exposing Canada’s Health Care Crisis. A longer version of this article recently appeared at C2CJournal.ca.

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