'We are so blessed to be here': Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter opens new store in St. James

A pet rescue shelter has moved into its new St. James digs.

The Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter opened its new location this weekend at the Courts of St. James. Executive Director Carla Martinelli-Irvine is thrilled with the new space.

"It is beautiful, and we are so blessed to be here," she said.

Martinelli-Irvine said the new shelter space is bigger and brighter than then old location. "We have all brand new enclosures for the animals, so they're living a better happy life (and) we've got a beautiful retail area."

The Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter was Manitoba's first registered charity no-kill animal shelter, finding homes for rescued dogs and cats. The new location also has an aviary full of birds, which are not up for adoption.

Intake coordinator Michelle Caughy said they have been busier than ever.

"There's a great deal of need for the work that we do, so we stay at capacity generally all the time," she said. "So as soon as a cage does become available, were able to fill it right away."

She said the shelter is always looking for donations.

"Being a registered charity, we are able to issue charitable tax receipts for every monetary donation.”

"Any cleaning products for that matter, canned cat food, garbage bags, anything like that that most people use on a daily basis, we use en masse obviously dealing with so many animals," said Caughy.

Caughy added that any donated supplies they don't use are forwarded along to other pet rescue shelters, so nothing is wasted.

The store was crowded with holiday shoppers Saturday afternoon, though Martinelli-Irvine stressed that a pet does not make a good Christmas present.

"We stop our adoptions around the 20th of December," she said. "We do find that a lot of animals come in in Jan/Feb that maybe were given as gifts, and that’s something that we pride ourselves on not doing here at the shelter."

Caughy added that the store does have a good selection of pet supplies for sale as well.

"Carla started the supply store basically to raise funds for the animals, so 100 per cent of those proceeds go to helping the animals. So people are able to shop for their already pets … and still be able to help the animals," said Caughy

Adopting a new pet is huge commitment said Martinelli-Irvine, "We want the pets here to be family members, that’s very important to us. They’ve already been through so much trauma before they get to this stage of being adoptable. We want people to recognize that it is a lifetime commitment."