AARCS North Haven

The Cause

Thousands of homeless, abandoned and surrendered animals across Alberta depend on Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (AARCS) each year. AARCS provides a safe haven for these animals and a second chance at a new beginning. It has become crucial for AARCS to expand our reach and open an Edmonton animal shelter, which will allow us to help more animals and families in Alberta.

AARCS will be opening an animal shelter in South Edmonton, dubbed North Haven and plans to be fully operational by the end of 2020. Similar to our existing facility in Calgary, Safe Haven, we are creating a home base in Edmonton for our rescued animals to temporarily lay their heads while they wait for placement in foster care or an adoptive home. This shelter will also provide space for people to access our community support programs and services, such as our Spay/Neuter Assistance Program for surrounding First Nations communities and our Pet Food Bank. It will be a place for our volunteers to give back to their community doing something meaningful to them - to care for homeless animals.

The new space requires extensive renovations to ensure it meets the needs of the animals, our volunteers, and staff as well as our community that is counting on us for help. We are leasing a vacant warehouse and turning it into a welcoming space to house homeless animals in need. North Haven will be managed by staff with most daily operational tasks performed by volunteers. The facility will be open to anyone looking to make a difference in the lives of animals.

North Haven will be open to the public every day to provide adoption services, inquire about accessing our community support programs and for our volunteers to have the opportunity to care for the animals. Our facility will be a welcoming, inclusive and safe space for any person or animal that comes through our doors.

As AARCS continues to expand our reach to communities throughout Northern Alberta, a facility in Edmonton is desperately needed. We will continue to assist and collaborate with municipalities, communities, other shelters and humane societies, First Nations communities, and the public to alleviate the burden of animal homelessness and to provide solutions to the underlying issues through our numerous support programs.

Who Will it Benefit?

AARCS North Haven expansion will have a great impact in Edmonton and throughout Northern Alberta. Although we work with animals, much of our work directly relates to people. Each animal that we can help has at least one person connected to them, whether it be a low-income pet owner who needs assistance or someone who needs to surrender their pet in a safe and non-judgmental way.

AARCS also regularly works in Alberta First Nations communities who benefit from our assistance.

Through our community programs, AARCS strives to get to the root cause of animal homelessness by providing emergency assistance to over 4000 animals and their families per year and we expect that number to grow as we expand into Edmonton. We help families each year by helping them to adopt a new family member, which subsequently provides a benefit to pet-related businesses and service providers within Alberta communities.