By JAIME HALAN-HARRIS &
JACKSON HALAN-HARRIS
There’s no doubt that our island community benefits from a kennel.
We, Jaime and Jackson, of Salty Dog Retreat Kennel and Rescue, thank the community for your continuing support. We appreciate you sharing thoughts and concerns with us. There are some things we’d like to bring to your attention.
Back on Dec. 20, 2023, the truth was reported in the Driftwood: The Dec. 14 meeting of the Salt Spring Local Trust Committee (LTC) agreed with passionate public opinion in support of a kennel, advising Salty Dog Retreats to submit a land use planning application.
There have been many challenges in recent months. Our lawyer John Davies is consulting with Islands Trust staff to prepare yet a fifth application. We’re informed that every applicant has the right to have their application heard and decided by the LTC. Since Dec. 20, 2023, however, we’ve spent $15,000 on four applications, which we feel have all been rebuffed without due process.
Consider this. Since July 2024, we have been providing free accommodation and free retraining for 26 rescue dogs received by Salty Dog from community members who cannot continue to care for their dogs; 22 of these dogs have been successfully re-homed. It makes us very happy when we’re able to find homes for sweet rescues who deserve and thrive in loving care.
We would welcome your assistance. To help cover our costs, you can sign up to sponsor a rescue for a small monthly amount. These are dogs that, if turned over to the authorities, would likely be euthanized. We’ve not been accepting new rescues since last July. Dogs in crisis — due to an owner’s emergency — are a frequent occurrence, for which we accept rescue calls for pickup 24/7. Salt Spring depends upon our volunteer community resources.
We ask you to please clear your minds of the negative gossip you may have heard. Without police or Residential Tenancy Branch assistance, it took us months to clear our property of unwanted tenants. A very difficult process.
We would very much appreciate letters of support to the LTC for their Feb. 13 and March 20 meetings. Please contact us for further information; you can also get on our mailing list.
Simply put, our island community deserves a kennel. We’ve done our best to continue providing an essential service to dogs and their owners. We love our dogs and give them the best care. I’m happy to tell you that recently a group of university students volunteered to help clean portions of our property, and it’s made a big difference. They’ll come back to help some more.
Also, we are exploring a process of seeking status as a registered charity to facilitate greater community support. Together, we can continue to have loving canine care on our beautiful island.