Though Muskoka traditionally bids farewell to its large summer population of cottagers and tourists on Labour Day, the Ontario SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) shelter in Bracebridge starts to see their stray animal population soar immediately after the last long holiday weekend of the season.

“Once the tourists and cottagers have vacated the area on Labour Day weekend, we seem to get an inflow the following week of animals that have just been abandoned,” says Donald Thompson, manager of the Muskoka branch of the Ontario SPCA. “People find cats and dogs and bring them in, and the bylaw officers pick up strays. On average, we take in between 12 and 20 animals during that week every year. After that, we go back to normal monthly numbers of about 30 animals arriving per month.”

Thompson believes the annual increase in post-Labour Day strays, a trend noticed by shelter staff for a number of years, is due to cottagers losing their pets and leaving without them. If cottagers have lost the animals, they don’t often go to the shelter on Ferrier Road to retrieve them. About 90 per cent of the dogs and cats arriving that week are put up for adoption after a regular holding time of 72 hours. Of the animals taken in at the shelter that week, about 60 per cent are dogs and 40 per cent are cats.

“I don’t really know why it happens,” says Thompson. “I have no other specific information other than it seems to be a regular cycle every summer. About 60 per cent of these animals look like they have been in a home and well cared for. Those ones haven’t been on the street for very long.”

Thompson notes a second annual influx of stray animals happens in the fall during the hunting season in Muskoka. Large numbers of hounds, Labrador retrievers and other hunting dogs arrive at the shelter during and immediately after the period from mid-October through to the end of November. Thompson says some hunters adopt dogs, use them for hunting, and then abandon them once their usefulness is over.

“Some dogs may be lost, but there are too many animals showing up at the shelter at the same time for them all to be lost,” he says. “The farther north you go in Ontario, the higher the numbers of abandoned hunting dogs get. Let me tell you, if I had a nice hunting dog that I cared about and was part of my family and I couldn’t find it, you’d better believe I would be at the shelter looking for it.

“This is one of the reasons why we are so pro public education,” he explains. “We are trying to educate the general public on just exactly what we deal with on a daily basis. Our investigations people probably have one of the most difficult jobs in the industry because of the cruelty.”

The branch’s staff operates a humane education program at local schools about the care and protection of companion animals, and tell kids about the shelter’s role and services in Muskoka. In the community, local merchants often donate space for the branch’s booth on Awareness Days, when staff answer questions, listen to public concerns, show videos and, space permitting, showcase adoptable animals.