Some cats and their volunteers will be happy that so many Langley residents are fond of cupcakes.
The Feb. 24 National Cupcake Day event has raised almost $8,000 for the Langley Animal Protection Society and its shelter.
“Really successful,†shelter manager Sean Baker said after the event.
National Cupcake Day allows people to host cupcake parties and sell cupcakes – homemade, from a mix, or bought from the store – and donate the money to local animal welfare groups.
LAPS signed up for the first time this year, and it was more successful than the group had hoped for.
The official total raised was a little over $7,000 through the official Cupcake Day website, but several people apparently held fundraisers independently, and have been dropping off money in the last two weeks.
Baker said they are not volunteers at the animal shelter – they were simply people who heard of the event and decided they wanted to help out.
The shelter already has a plan for the money.
The cat cottage at the shelter is about 10 years ago, and it could use a new coat of paint. Completing the building’s flooring, repainting the walls, and repainting the cat cages should be possible with the money raised from Cupcake Day.
“The cat building is really a critical part of our operation,†Baker said.
The cottage is mostly run by volunteers who tend to the many cats, both stray and feral, that come through the shelter every year.
Some of the newest additions to the Cat Cottage got there in an unusual way.
On Feb. 25, the shelter got a call from a Langley City resident. She had found two cats a couple of months before that and could no longer keep them.
Unable to come down to the shelter’s Aldergrove location, she called a cab and had it used as a delivery vehicle to bring in the felines.
By the time the cats arrived, one had given birth to two kittens in the cab, and a third was on teh way.
Instead of two cats, the shelter wound up with two adults and three kittens. The second adult cat was also pregnant, and some more kittens are on the way, Baker said.
The Patti Dale Animal Shelter, run by LAPS, operates on no-kill principals. Healthy animals are kept there until they can be fostered or find a new, adoptive home.