Canadian Business Awards 2020

4 CORPORATE VISION / Canadian Business Awards 2020 , Carla Martinelli-Irvine had been associated with animal welfare for years before founding the Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter. Witnessing the distress of pets in these and many other circumstances gave her a unique perspective on which she drew its selling point. Not only would the Shelter exist to ease the suffering of neglected and unwanted pets, it would give these unfortunate animals the chance to experience new and improved lives. No animal would be turned away and no animal would be killed on her watch. The vision hasn’t changed in the last twenty years. “The Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter aspires to a society in which pets are accorded the right to life and are recognized as beings with feelings that have the right to loving care” is the statement that forms the heart of the organization. To modern eyes, this Reverence for Life With its notoriously harsh climate and extreme temperatures, Winnipeg, Manitoba is no place for stray or unwanted animals. Left outside in the wilderness, these neglected pets would be unable to survive, suffering in the cruellest way. Unwilling to let this come to pass, the Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter was formed to give animals a new lease of life. With a dedicated ‘NoKill’ policy, it hasn’t been an easy journey, so we thought we’d share a little of it where they’ve been, where they are andwhere they’re going. Dec19001 Best Animal Welfare Charity 2020 - Western Canada might not seem all that strange, but when the charity was founded in 1999, Carla was fighting against the three-fold challenge of indifference to the welfare of pets, rampant overpopulation of pets as well as the widely accepted practice of euthanasia. This made the Shelter’s stringent “No Kill” policy very much the exception rather than the norm. It also has greatly diminished the worry amongst owners having to relinquish their pets for a variety of reasons including the owners poor health, their age, moving etc. The Shelter followed, and continues to follow to this day, the belief that spaying or neutering was the solution to pet over-population, with euthanasia an unacceptable option for any living creature. While this approach naturally leads to veterinary and other medical costs that average $180,000 per year, it also ensures that creatures once abandoned receive another chance at happiness. In spite of the inherent challenges to the movement, the Shelter was recently able to celebrate its 20th anniversary, under a banner of thorough success. Carla has remained CEO throughout that time and has understandably been a major part of the charity’s success. It is now able to employ eight full time and two part time staff to work alongside the volunteer staff, all of whom are well experienced and familiar with animal care. Her tenacity and intuition have ensured that any animal who needs their help can be taken in and looked after. We asked her what inspires her to keep going after all this time. “Often pets coming into the Shelter are in deplorable condition and need urgent care,” she explains. “Our job is to ease their suffering, restore their health, and allow them to recover so that we can arrange adoptions to suitable and loving homes. There is no time limit to an animal’s stay at our Shelter.” As a long-standing Rheumatoid Arthritis sufferer herself, Carla readily recognizes evident distress and pain in other beings, including animals. In fact, she maintains that animals may possibly have even greater pain levels than we do in that they are unable to rationalize and hope for the best. “For a pet suffering is suffering and pain is pain. Their despair is visible.” Visitors to the Shelter are always made welcome. By design, it is a place of warmth and kindness; a place where distress is replaced by comfort; where fear is replaced by trust; a place where needy pets are given another chance; and a place of refuge. Staff members are happy to show people around, answer any questions and explain the Shelter’s mission in depth. Visitors usually find the progress being made by those innocent creatures who have experienced hardship and are now recovering particularly heart-warming. Sometimes these recoveries take a long time, as deep wounds both physical and emotional struggle to heal, but the team ensure that at least this process can happen in a place in an atmosphere of love and compassion. As CEO, Carla is effusive in her praise of the staff members. Their work is challenging in physical and emotional ways. Many of Carla’s staff have been working for her for over 10 years, one for 20 years. They are committed to making the animals lives better and take immense joy when a loving home is found. Of equal importance is the work of the Shelter’s volunteers. These members constantly attend to the tidying and cleaning associated with dogs, puppies, cats and kittens. These workers are sometimes