TheBulletin.ca Journal of Downtown Toronto
Dennis Hanagan –
The Toronto Humane Society (THS) on River St. got a bad taste of its neighbour—the Don River—during the July 8 super storm that wreaked havoc over the Downtown core.
“The (river) came up into the basement. It’s where we store things like cat litter, excess food. We had furniture that had been donated and there were other things,” THS executive director Barbara Steinhoff told The Bulletin.
No animals were harmed in the storm. “Our animals were all dry and safe,” said Steinhoff.
Staff did what they could to relocate supplies as the water rose. “The water came up fairly high at times, above the knee,” said Steinhoff. THS’s sump pump failed when the power went off. A hydro transformer located in the basement also blew. “We had a number of things happen all at once.”
Ironically, the THS was in the process of putting in a backup generator at the time of the storm. Some vets were able to continue doing animal surgery in the outage.
“It was well into the wee hours of the night before the water receded,” said Steinhoff.
THS put out an alert on its Facebook for help. “(We) had people donating like crazy,” said Steinhoff. More than $1,000 was raised to replenish supplies.
Large pet suppliers gave donations and Pet Smart offered its mobile unit to move pets had the need arisen.
“We were okay, but it’s nice to know there are organizations like that that will help if we do need it.”
By mid-July the THS had pretty much recovered its losses, but some donations to replace ruined furniture were still needed. Steinhoff also noted that the THS can always use donations of cat toys and money to house and feed the animals.
Rather than let bags of soaked cat litter go to complete waste workers gave them to nearby stricken homeowners to serve as sandbags. As a thank-you, resident Peter Coith later sent an ice cream truck to the THS building to give complimentary ice cream to staff and volunteers. “It was so sweet of him,” said Steinhoff.
