B.C. SPCA closes Nelson adoption centre to make way for food bank

The B.C. SPCA is set to close its Nelson adoption centre as of Nov. 10. The building's landlord plans to use the space as a food bank for the local community.

The animal rescue organization says it's not in a financial position to open a new location in the West Kootenay city and will be switching to a community-based service model. 

Animals in need of shelter will be sent to the SPCA's facility in Castlegar, a 45-kilometre drive southwest, or Cranbrook, about a 230-kilometre drive to the east, the association said. 

The Nelson Adoption Centre opened in 2006. 

The Kootenay Christian Fellowship, which owns the building, has been in contact with the B.C. SPCA for a while about taking over the space as the need for a full-time food bank in Nelson grows, pastor Jim Reimer said. 

Nelson has seen a 57 per cent increase in food bank usage, according to Reimer, as food prices have risen in recent years. 

He says the fellowship runs a soup kitchen that draws up to 100 people a day. The organization recently started offering food bank services through the soup kitchen and saw the demand increase to the point where it needed to expand.

"We need the food bank to alleviate the pressure on the soup kitchen and fill in those gaps we're seeing with food security," Reimer said. 

"We don't want anyone to feel like we're against animals — we love our furry friends — but [the B.C. SPCA] had expressed concerns about the cost of the shelter and recently built a new facility in Castlegar, so we mutually felt like it was a good time." 

Reimer says the fellowship's food bank is expected to open in March 2025 and will service the region, not just Nelson. 

"The demographics have changed dramatically over the past few years. Fifty per cent of the people who come to the soup kitchen for lunch are working — people just can't afford to live with the rent and wages right now."

SPCA community services

As its Nelson facility closes, the B.C. SPCA will be hiring a new community services co-ordinator to run things like programming and outreach, said Jamey Blair, the association's senior manager for the Interior and North regions.

It means the organization will still be able to offer services like humane education and animal protection investigations, she said. 

"Sheltering is a really important part of the work we do, but it is only one piece of the work we do as an organization," she told CBC News. 

The B.C. SPCA successfully switched to a similar model in Vernon in 2023 when its location there closed.

A spokesperson for the B.C. SPCA says the closures of the Vernon and Nelson clinics both stemmed from external factors, as opposed to financial ones. 

"The decision to close the B.C. SPCA's Vernon community animal centre was made because an inspection of the building revealed significant structural issues with the roof that would have put the safety of staff, volunteers, animals and members of the public at risk if we kept operating from the facility," the spokesperson wrote in an email to CBC News. 

The Nelson Adoption Centre is closing, the spokesperson said, because the B.C. SPCA has been served with notice to vacate the facility.

"Many of our programs — such as our animal protection services, humane education, outreach programs, including our pet food bank— are already offered by regional or provincial teams.

"[This shift] allows us to keep investing right into the animals while knowing that we still have the physical presence to provide the direct, hands-on care in our centres needed by the most vulnerable animals."

Blair said the Nelson centre has six staff members, some of who work on a casual basis. She said the staff have been given "options to consider" but did not elaborate further. 

There are currently 16 animals in care at the centre: five cats, eight kittens and three rabbits, with four additional cats in foster homes.