The Airdrie and District Humane Society is one step closer to a new shelter for the area after an anonymous donor recently agreed to partner with the group on providing a shelter in Mountain View County, just south of Didsbury.Derek Sutherland, a director with the ADHS, said the society has been presented with an opportunity to purchase 20 acres of land, a house and outbuildings that would eventually be converted into shelter space. The humane society would be responsible for raising half the funds for the purchase price, while the donor has agreed to give half of the funds needed to the society.ìWe hope we don't have to mortgage,î Sutherland said, adding that the ADHS plans to ramp up fundraising in the coming year to help pay for the shelter. The society is planning a pet picture with Santa fundraiser in Didsbury on Dec. 10, its annual dog day afternoon at an Airdrie park on July 1, 2012 and is also organizing a lecture with an expert in animal behaviour sometime in late winter or early this coming spring.Currently, the ADHS has about $40,000 in the bank to go toward the purchase price.Sutherland said the ADHS is also planning to get an appraisal done on the property to accurately reflect its value. The hope is that the appraisal can be done by this coming spring.The ADHS has been fundraising since 2007, since it recognized a need in the area for a shelter. In late spring 2010, Sutherland approached the society and started building relationships in the Didsbury area. He said other directors have also been building relationships in other parts of Mountain View County, so that the area has become a strong advocate for ADHS.To more accurately reflect the role that residents throughout the county have played in the society's aims, it plans to officially change its name to Wild Rose Humane Society, effective Jan.1, 2012.Sutherland said the ADHS still has some ground to cover to get to its goal of purchasing the property without a mortgage. He said interested people can help by going to the society's web-site at web.me.com/ktj001/ADHS/Home.html.
