Sean Baker hopes a new $20 animal calendar will make the perfect Christmas gift for at least a few dozen animal lovers in Langley this holiday season.
Baker credits animal control officer Stephanie Thiessen with coming up a new way to raise a little extra money for the Langley Animal Protection Society, while at the same time sharing some of the success stories of cats and dogs that have found permanent loving homes after a time at the Patti Dale Animal Shelter.
Each year, the shelter staff and volunteers work with photographers Trav & Ash to put together a series of Furry Tail Endings. While those stories are displayed on posters at the annual gala, and each appear briefly on the LAPS website, there’s a lot of effort that goes into the stories for little exposure, Baker said.
By repackaging the stories and photos of former shelter cats and dogs in the form of a calendar, Baker hopes to not only trumpet more of the shelter’s successes, but to also raise a bit more money for a new centre for sick cats that the team hopes to build next year.
A new six-bay isolation facility will cost upwards of $560,000. While LAPS aims to raise about $225,000 (including $108,000 from this year’s gala), Baker recently went before Langley Township council to ask for a matching grant.
“We want… no, we need… to get all the sick cats out of this building, for the sake of the other cats but also for the dogs,†said Baker, who said the grooming, food prep, and offices are frequently taken over by sick cats, thereby increasing the risk of spreading diseases – such as ringworm – to other sheltered animals.
The calendars are a small way to help that fundraising effort along, and a great way to bulk up the stockings for animal lovers, Baker said. The 2015 calendars are available at the shelter until Christmas, at 26220 56th Ave. in Aldergrove.