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The Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society is appealing for donations as the shelter faces mounting costs due to an influx of homeless animals.

Deanna Thompson, executive director with the society, said AARCS has brought in nearly 200 cats and dogs in the past few weeks, boosting the total number of animals in care to more than 600.

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“We work at capacity most times, but this is kind of over and above what we are used to,” she said.

“We did see the calls start to increase when the (cold) weather came. We thought maybe now that it’s nice out, maybe it would die down a bit, but it just hasn’t.”

The society currently has 200 animals available for adoption, with another 400 in foster care almost ready for a forever home.

“That’s 600 mouths to feed, that’s 600 spay-neuters, vaccines, microchips — it gets expensive,” Thompson said. “It’s tough to care for this many animals, and the last thing we want to do is say no to an animal.”