Infinite Woofs Animal Rescue Society

The Cause

Infinite Woofs Animal Rescue Society (IWARS) is an animal rescue organization located in Edmonton, Alberta and services Edmonton and the surrounding areas. Our organization is a registered charity and entirely volunteer based. We rely 100% on donations, and in turn all of those donations go to our rescued animals. Our mission statement is to rescue and rehabilitate any unwanted, abused and neglected animals and find them their forever homes. This means, not only do we help cats and dogs, but we are one of the few local rescues that help rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, reptiles and other small animals!

We would like to extend our spay and neuter program with our partnered First Nation Community of Alexander just Northwest of Edmonton. Currently we work with them on a smaller level, because we tend not to have the funds to run a full scale Spay and Neuter Program with them. The community's dog and cat population has exploded during the Covid years, and we have not been able to keep up with the amount of new animals that have become stray on the reserve, because of the forced isolation during the last few years.

We do endeavour to assist when we have the funds to do so, but because of rising costs, both for supplies and veterinary care, these funds are scarce to say the least. Our main concern is bringing cats and dogs into our foster homes, so they can be rehomed to their forever families. However, there are many forever families within the Indigenous community that provide loving, safe and incredible homes, but might not have the resources to have their animals spayed/neutered, microchipped and vaccinated. This is a resource we would like extend to these families, so there are fewer and fewer cats and dogs that need to be rehomed outside of the community itself.

One of our missions is to ensure there are no more unwanted litters. In a way, we really would like to work ourselves out of a job, though that is a long way in the future.

We also would like to provide more resources to teach the younger generation the importance of animal care, vaccinations, and spaying and neutering.

Who Will it Benefit?

Alexander First Nation is an indigenous community approximately 30 minutes NW of Edmonton. This First Nation is part of the Cree ethno-linguistic group, is a member of the Yellowhead Tribal Council (a regional grouping of several bands), and is party to Treaty 6. The band controls three Indian reserves: Alexander 134, Alexander 134A, and Alexander 134B. The main reserve is bordered by Sturgeon County and Lac Ste. Anne County. As of October 2019, Alexander First Nation had 2,263 official members, and an on-reserve population of 1,057.[

We are not suggesting that we would ever provide services to every community member, but the above gives an idea of the scope of the reserve, itself. We estimate we are in contact with approximately 85 households in the community, whether it is for donations of foods, our current programs and/or emergency veterinary care for animals that are injured or sick there.

Our goal is to spay or neuter one dog and one cat a week, on average if we are able to secure the funding. This amounts to 52 dogs and 52 cats in total. And would probably encompass about 50 households.