Our Story

The Small Animal Rescue Society of BC is a registered charitable society comprised of volunteers throughout BC. No one is paid to work with the animals.

Our primary focus is to rescue and re-home ANY small animal in need. Neglected, injured and abandoned animals are our primary focus.

Mission: SARS BC is a committed group of volunteers dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and re-homing of homeless or unwanted small animals throughout the province. SARS BC provides a safe haven while promoting responsible pet guardianship through its education, advocacy, and spay/neuter initiatives.

Our services are desperately needed due to the fact that we are the *only* rescue of it's kind in our province. Small animals are traditional starter pets for children and thus, as a result, most of them find themselves unwanted, neglected or set loose to fend for themselves once the child has lost interest in them. Sadly, many of these animals can live 10-20 years but a child is only interested in them for 6 months or less.

Additionally, traditional shelters are geared towards helping cats & dogs and therefore are not set up nor are they staffed to care for the variety and special requirements of the various small animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, rats, gerbils, hedgehogs, chinchillas, mice, rats & degus. Often these animals will also come in as large groups and are often pregnant.

Since October 2004, we have found over 1,466 homes for small animals in need.

SARS BC has no government funding and we rely strictly on grassroots fundraising such as bottle drives or garage sales and the remarkable generosity of our donors. All of the money raised goes directly to our vet, food, shelter & bedding costs. Currently, our biggest ongoing expense is vet care.

We are passionate about what we do due to the fact that the animals we serve are so small, have no voice to speak for themselves, and are often the most neglected and abused animals in the system. Despite their tragic histories, they have the spirit and strength of a lion… this is what drives us to keep going. Our motto is *saving one animal won’t change the world, but surely the world will change for that one animal*.

Please visit our site to meet some of the animals and to see what we do.