The Mae Bachur Animal Shelter is in desperate need of donor resources and remodelling after yet another cycle of critical failure.

According to a document from the Humane Society Yukon, the Tlingit Road facility has operated under an unstable financial model which relies heavily on donations from the community and unpaid/underpaid labor.

As a result of the unsuitability of the model, any fluctuations in the economy directly affect the shelter’s resources and its ability to function.

After nearly having to close shop at the end of March, the shelter is asking the government to intervene during this latest crisis.

“The Department of Environment, with the City of Whitehorse, is working closely with the humane society. We certainly are providing stop-gap funding right now,” Environment Minister Nils Clarke told the legislature Tuesday.

“There may very well be different delivery models, which will be explored.”

The government has already given a bailout of $135,000 to the shelter to cover the current shortfall.

But, in dire need of support, the shelter is asking for an additional $150,000 to combat the annual shortfall until a replacement model is in place.

It has been made clear by the shelter that the cycle it operates under is unsustainable, and it’s asking for government assistance implementing a new one.

The humane society is not interested in ownership of the system, as its primary objective is to improve animal lives in the territory.

Considering the issues at hand, new possible model proposals are as follows:

A stable funding arrangement, including a variety of subsidies and contracts from the government, municipalities and First Nations.

A shared model where the city takes over the operation and the humane society continues to operate fundraising and volunteer programming.

A fully run government model.

Lastly, the society is open to any other model idea the govern-ment recommends.

While the Liberal government looks toward a remodelling of the current operation, Currie Dixon, the leader of the Yukon Party, believes the present system is fine.

“I think that the current system of using the society to deliver this service is a good one,” Dixon told reporters Tuesday.

“But it’s clear from the society’s missive, as well as what we’ve heard from them directly, is that it would take a substantial increase in funding. And so I think that’s obviously something that should be negotiated.”

Dixon also thinks it’s unacceptable for the government to take over the program, as the shelter has made it clear it can run things less expensively itself.

“I’m of the view that the society has experience, they’ve got the passion and they’ve got the ability to continue to run the service,” he said.

“What they need is a sufficient amount of money from the government.”

In his opinion, the long-term solution for the crisis at the shelter is long-term funding, as well as an increase in resources.

“It’s clear that they need longer-term funding and an increase in funding. The alternative is to either let the system collapse or to have the government run it, and I don’t think either one of those is acceptable,” said Dixon.

According to the humane society, there is no reasonable possibility for the Yukon to be able to function without a shelter of this kind operating. The services it offers cover much of the animal care and maintenance in the area.

If the shelter closed, the yearly cost for animal management would total $430,000 for the government, as care and control of pet animal populations in the Yukon are the obligations of the government, and strays are considered in “distress” under the Animal Protection Act.

The cost of closure would exceed the society’s current unfunded deficit.

These costs include wages for two animal protection officers, a vehicle, leased space for holding animals, and euthanasia costs for animals.

If the facility was to shut down, public safety would be a concern, as strays would run rampant throughout the city.

To combat the potential issue, the government would be forced to euthanize the animals.

Without an additional increase of funding, the humane society would turn away animals and begin to shut down operations. The shelter opened in November 1998.

Almost 70 per cent of its income is reliant on donors who are affected by economic changes.

The donors and fundraising sources the shelter relies on have declined recently due to inflation, unsuccessful volunteer recruitment and wage competition.

Every year, the shelter has had to increase the amount of fundraising to stay open.

As of this year, they are looking at a 29 per cent decrease in donations, for an anticipated amount of $182,974.

Only 20 per cent of budgeted income is stable and reliable.

The 20 per cent nearly equates to the $110,000 Environment Yukon provides through operational funding.

The humane society currently operates with an annual budget of $550,370.

Due to the funding issues present, the shelter has many other systematic problems. Staff turnover has been a persistent issue.

It has been struggling to find staff with the required skill set while only being able to offer them low wages, without any benefits.

Most staff receive just 30 cents above minimum wage. That wage, currently at $15.70 per hour, will rise to $16.77 on April 1.

This has caused a cycle of hiring and replacement in which most of the shelter’s work has now been carried out by volunteers.

In an attempt to run the shop more efficiently, the shelter has replaced staff who were not meeting performance targets, and cut some full-time workers to part-time positions.

It has also increased outreach to past and present donors, and hired a bookkeeper to transfer files from paper to an electronic system.

“People who care have always stepped in to make sure that what they care about is taken care of,” said NDP Leader Kate White.

“And they will do it for less and they will work longer hours and do more work than government often will, and government relies on them to do that work.

“If NGOs in the territory stopped operating for, like, even a day, the government would come to a halt.”

Aside from providing a bailout for the current shortfall, the government has yet to present a solution to the model or provide additional funds.

No one from the shelter nor the society was available to discuss the situation for this story.