Hope for Wildlife founder says charities also struggling to keep up with expenses

By Meghan Groff

With the cost of pretty much everything on the rise, households aren't the only ones feeling the pinch.

The founder of animal rescue and rehabilitation organization Hope for Wildlife says charities are also struggling to keep up with skyrocketing expenses.

“We use a lot of food products, and of course the price of food has gone really high, so what might have cost $100,000 a year in previous years will probably run is $150,000 to $175,000 in the coming year,” Hope Swinimer told CityNews Halifax.

“And as everyone knows repairs and maintenance are another issue, the cost of wood. We have to have quite a few structures to give our wildlife the chance to recover comfortably, and they're usually quite big structures.”

In addition, insurance and power rates have gone up.

The group is doing its best to provide the same level of service, but that's not always possible.

“Sometimes maybe we can't do that rescue that we wanted to do quite as easily because of the price of gas,” she explained.

But Swinimer said she's grateful for those who are continuing to donate.

“Sometimes people may not have cash to donate, but they have goods or items to donate to a charity,” she added.

And the Seaforth-based charity is also always looking for volunteers who can donate their time, especially as spring arrives.

“We really are an organization that provides a service to everybody in Nova Scotia if you come across an injured or orphaned wild animal,” Swinimer said.

“We are here to answer phone calls and answer questions … to take in those hit by cars, window strikes or cat-bitten wild animals that need our help.”

Hope For Wildlife fields over 40,000 calls, texts and emails a year, and takes in over 7,000 wild animals annually.

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