'I just can't do it anymore': Surrey rescue that has rehomed 500 bully breed dogs closes
Kate Crew has always had a soft spot for American pit bull terriers and other bully breed dogs, animals she believes are misunderstood.
“I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, I was bullied, kind of like the one that stuck out and was misjudged. So I think, personally, I just felt a connection there,” said Crew.
While working for the SPCA in 2013, Crew founded the Love a Bull Rescue Society. In the past 11 years, it has found fosters and forever homes for over 500 bully breed dogs that had been surrendered or abandoned.
“I have connected a lot of people with the dogs that they love, and that’s really why I’ve done it,” said Crew.
Kathy Powelson, the executive director of the animal charity Paws For Hope, says it’s difficult, time-consuming volunteer work.
“If you’re an organization that’s focused on pit bulls, who a portion of society probably doesn’t even think should be allowed to be around, you have an uphill battle, right? So you’re advocating for the underdog,” she said.
While Love a Bull will continue to provide support for marginalized pet owners, over the weekend Crew announced the rescue would be shut down.
“I feel like I’m not making a difference anymore,” said Crew.
“The dogs that we have had in the last few crews have been really challenging, and there are no available homes here it seems. A lot of people are importing from other countries, so we are unable to find any foster homes or adopters.”
Powelson says BC-based animal rescues are now competing with unregulated organizations that make heartfelt appeals about desperate dogs in foreign countries.
“It’s correct to say the stories of individual rehomings or surrenders that happen locally are not as sexy in terms of telling stories, and they don’t capture people's hearts, maybe, as much as animals that are saved from so-called death row shelters in the states or on the streets of Mexico or other countries,” she said.
Powelson argues Canada is not in a position to be bringing in rescue animals from other countries when there are so many in need right here at home. “Shelters are turning away animals all the time, rescues can’t keep up with the demand,” she said.
“The number of emails and messages we get daily from people that want to get rid of their dog, it is so overwhelming. I just can’t do it anymore,” said Crew.
There’s concern that bully breed dogs, which are already harder to re-home, will fall through the cracks with the rescue's closure.
“With such low adoption rates, now what will happen to these dogs in the absence of a rescue that focused solely on them?” Powelson said.
“It is sad."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Centre Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs hasn't been ruled out of tonight's Game 7 against the Boston Bruins.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.