The Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C.’s animal hospital has been gutted due to water damage, wood rot and a rat infestation.
The harsh winter took quite a toll on the 30-year-old building by Burnaby Lake, according to programs director Linda Bakker.
“It’s pretty bad,” she said. “The hospital building is not functional at the moment.”
After the first snowfall in December, staff brought in a pest control company to “encourage the rats out” after a few rodents escaped the freezing temperatures by moving into the hospital. Unfortunately, efforts proved unsuccessful, Bakker told the NOW.
“We realized it was a bigger problem and we needed to take more drastic measures, so step by step we’ve done more and more, and one big step was to empty the whole building. ... really dig into the walls, and behind the cupboards, behind the counters to see if there was some undiscovered rat entries. We also discovered, by doing that, wood rot and just damage over the years.”
At least a dozen rat entries were found when the building was emptied in late February, said Bakker.
This is the most severe incident of its kind, she added, and the first time the hospital has ever been temporarily closed.
On Thursday, April 27, the association’s board of directors will decide the building’s fate. Options being considered include renovating the existing space or tearing the whole thing down and bringing in a modular unit.
In the meantime, Wildlife Rescue is still accepting patients and caring for injured wildlife. The Burnaby SPCA has offered one of its rooms so staff can triage. Animals that can’t be housed at the Glencarin Drive complex have been transferred to wildlife centres in Abbotsford, Langley and Victoria.
With the summer season just around the corner, Bakker said Wildlife Rescue has already received some ducklings.
“We’re keeping babies that we get in. We’re moving back into operations without using our main building. It’s a lot of creativity and effort by the staff and volunteers, to convert certain cages into a holding area and into exam spaces, so we think we can do it for summer. We wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t safe or good for the animals,” she explained.
The association is looking to raise $50,000 by May 1 for the building rehabilitation project that includes updating the leaking hot water boiler and increasing food storage capacity.
Depending on what the board of directors decides on Thursday, that number could be a lot higher, Bakker said. (To donate, visit tinyurl.com/WRADonation.)
The Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C. cares for 5,000 animals annually, far more than the 1,500 the hospital was designed for.
