Meet the Edmonton Humane Society, a Pet Valu Companions for Changeᵀᴹ supported charity

The core of the work done by the Edmonton Humane Society is their animal shelter, but community engagement and support is a growing area of focus, too.  “​​The Edmonton Humane Society has worked for a long time in terms of providing sheltering and care for animals in need in the community,” says Chief Executive Officer Liza Sunley. “And we have a wonderful community that cares so much about animals. It's a really important part of what we do [but] we've also started to expand some of the programs that we offer to provide more support for pet guardians.”  Sunley sees her organization as playing a key role in building a compassionate community for pets and pet parents. Promoting and educating people about responsible pet ownership has become a priority, alongside keeping pets and pet families together wherever financial barriers arise.  “I'm really excited about the work that we're doing to keep pets with their families whenever possible,” she says. “There's so many times when we've heard stories about people needing to give up their pets because of a small financial issue that they can't get past. With a little bit of support, we can keep that pet with their family. “Pets are such an important part of so many families and it's heartbreaking to think that one medical bill or a short-term financial issue is going to cause someone to have to break up their family and surrender a pet,” Sunley explains. “So I'm really excited about these programs and excited about the work that we can continue to do to support the pet guardians.” One common financial barrier is the affordability of spay/neuter procedures, an important tool in humanely controlling pet populations and avoiding an influx of animals who are unable to find families and homes.  The Edmonton Humane Society runs a subsidized spay/neuter program called Prevent Another Litter (PAL). In 2019, the organization launched a mobile version of the PAL program that allowed them to increase their reach and to work in communities where pet parents didn’t have the resources to travel with their pets.  “Pet Valu has been a wonderful sponsor,” says Sunley. “They came on board to specifically support the mobile veterinary unit. Now we're able to go into communities throughout Edmonton and make it really easy for people who are already experiencing barriers to access these important spay and neuter surgeries.” In 2023, the Humane Society was able to provide low-cost spay and neuter surgeries to 170 pets. “That's been really helpful in the community in terms of reducing the number of pets who are born unwanted in the community so that we're not contributing to the overpopulation of pets,” Sunley says. “It's really nice to see a corporation like Pet Valu step up and want to support community members to be able to keep their pets and get through a financial struggle.”