Shelters

Feral cat warily studies traps.
Murphy has already been trapped and neutered. He knows better than to go in again, but the smell of food does make him think.

“There goes Felix.”

The orange tabby sniffs around two cat traps and begins nibbling at the pieces of food scattered around the entrances that are supposed to tempt other ferals to enter the wire cages.

From her SUV parked a dozen metres or so down the driveway of the house where she’s set the traps, Kamloops and District Humane Society executive director Barb Zibrik watches. And waits. And watches and waits.

A cat is treated for ringworm
A cat is treated for ringworm (Kamloops SPCA)

After four months of being closed to most incoming or outgoing animals, the Kamloops SPCA shelter is finally on the brink of reopening its doors.

A bad bout of ringworm — a highly contagious fungal infection, not an actual worm — hit the shelter in early November after infected puppies and kittens from the same home were taken in.

The building is not suited for its use as a shelter; the ventilation system doesn’t allow for proper quarantine to prevent the spread of disease, the space is inadequate and it’s all old and outdated.