Edmonton Animal Care & Control pauses intake of healthy animals – Edmonton | Globalnews.ca

Edmonton’s Animal Care and Control Centre is temporarily pausing the intake of healthy pets and only accepting animals that are in distress, injured or sick.

The City of Edmonton facility announced on Saturday animal care and medical staff will focus on looking after the animals already at the centre, as well as ones brought in by City of Edmonton animal control peace officers or police.

“By taking these steps, we aim to ensure the continued safety and well-being of the animals in our facility and the staff who care for them,” the facility said in a Facebook post.

The facility in north Edmonton will accept, by appointment, animals that are in medical distress, injured or sick. Anyone who finds an animal experiencing these conditions is asked to first call 311 for further instructions, ACCC said.

Edmonton residents who find lost animals are encouraged to attempt to find the owner of any healthy, lost or stray animal. If the animal has a tag with a licence number on it, they can call 311 for owner information.

“As we are in a prolonged cold snap, if you are able to care for the animal until such time as you can reunite it with its owner, that would be appreciated.”

Animal Care & Control Centre also requested pet owners make an appointment by calling 311 before coming to the centre to claim their lost pet.

Owners must show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or negative test result in order to enter the building. If they can’t, they’re asked to arrange to have someone else conduct the release/intake on their behalf.

Those other people will also still be required to provide proof of full vaccination or a negative test result.

The city did not say how long the new procedures would be in place or exactly why the changes were implemented.

However on its website, the city said several in-person services, including at Animal Care and Control, have been reduced “to protect everyone’s health and safety.”