Local animal rescue asks for help after suffering devastating loss in fire

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Tails of Freedom Animal Rescue is usually in the business of helping their four-legged friends. Now they are counting some help of their own.

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One of Winnipeg’s largest volunteer-run animal rescues, Tails of Freedom has temporarily stopped intake of injured and homeless animals due to a fire last Monday, that destroyed their office and storage facility.

As a result, the nonprofit has launched a GoFundMe campaign to rebuild an emergency stock of food, litter, and medical supplies.

“We had only been in the space for just under a month and all of our food, litter, medical supplies, fundraising prizes, and merchandise had been loaded in,” said Michelle Finley, a volunteer with the rescue. “We were working on securing insurance for the inventory, but unfortunately, we had not completed that work. About 75% of everything we need to care for our animals and to organize fundraising events, is not salvageable due to smoke and/or water damage and from vandalism of the facility (last Wednesday) following the fire.”

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The rescue, which has nearly 200 cats and dogs in its care in foster homes has resorted to a temporary intake freeze of new animals. No date has been set for resuming full operations.

“Until we can rebuild our inventory of supplies and replace our prizes for upcoming fundraising events, we cannot responsibly take in more animals,” said Finley in a news release. “This fire is going to take time and money to recover from. We have launched a GoFundMe campaign to try and raise $10,000 which will be used to build up an emergency stock of food, litter, and medical supplies. We are asking Winnipeggers to partner with us to help us get back on our feet and back to rescuing animals.”

As of Tuesday, they had raised just shy of $3,000.

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To donate to the GoFundMe campaign, go to www.gofundme.com/f/tails-of-freedom-rebuild-recover-from-building-fire. Visit https://tailsoffreedomrescueinc.com/ways-to-give for ways to give and to learn how to become a foster family for the rescue.

Tails Of Freedom Rescue Inc. is a nonprofit, foster-based organization in Winnipeg. Founded in 2019 and run by volunteers, the organization has rescued more than 2,000 animals to date. Their goal is to reduce the number of unwanted cats and dogs in Winnipeg through spay and neutering plus educating the public on the importance of responsible pet ownership.

For more information, go to tailsoffreedomrescueinc.com.

glen.dawkins@kleinmedia.ca

X: @SunGlenDawkins

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