Local animal rescue reaches out for help, after their supplies were damaged in a fire and stolen

Tails of Freedom Rescue, which is a non-profit foster organization, was ecstatic to move into their building on Erin Street to use as their new headquarters.

But that excitement didn’t last long as a fire caused major damages to the building. And if that wasn’t enough, it was then broken into days later, leaving the rescue with almost nothing.

The rescue, founded in 2019, has grown into one of the largest foster-based rescues in Manitoba with over 2,000 animals.

With their tremendous growth, they took a chance to rent a building on Erin Street to use as their new headquarters, but just one month later, tragedy struck as a fire broke out in the adjacent unit.

“During the fire suppression the water and smoke permeated into our unit and damaged a lot of our items,” said Michelle Finley, a volunteer of Tails of Freedom Rescue. “We think it’s about 75 per cent of our items were damaged beyond salvage.”

Finley says while they could have salvaged some of their supplies after the fire, just a few days later the building was vandalized.

“Someone had broken into the unit and broken into all the supplies that were in these plastic totes, and because they were then exposed to the water and smoke, we weren’t able to salvage them,” said Finley.

This has led the organization to reach out for support, as the incident has forced them to issue an intake freeze, meaning they won’t take any more animals in while they try and recoup what was lost.

“We have a GoFundMe campaign going. The community has been very generous; we’re about at $6,000 and were looking to hit that $10,000 mark in the next few weeks.”

And while Tails of Freedom Rescue continues to rely on the community to help them through this tough time, Shape-It Autobody & Car Sales Ltd., who owns the property and were renting it out, say it could have been a lot worse as their shop was directly adjacent to the fire, but says luckily a passerby called it in.

“The firefighters showed up within five minutes or so, which is why the building is still OK and our shop didn’t get affected by it because of that,” said Sumit Saini, an apprentice with Shape-It Autobody & Car Sales Ltd.

An investigation into the cause of the fire is still ongoing.