Picture-perfect plan to help pet rescues

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This article was published 23/06/2020 (2244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg wildlife photographer is using the second love of her life to help rescue the first.

Yvonne Kipling is launching “Photos for Rescues,” in which she’ll donate 50 per cent of the proceeds from her wildlife print sales in July, August and September to the Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter.

Kipling will also donate 50 per cent of the proceeds from her family and pet portrait bookings for those three months to the no-kill shelter, which has been struggling since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve always been a dog lover, but I love all animals in general and specifically rescue animals,” Kipling, 37, said of her campaign. “I always tell my husband that if we won the lottery I’d open an animal sanctuary for all kinds of rescues.”

That lifelong love of animals blossomed about 10 years ago into her second passion — taking photos of Manitoba’s wilderness creatures in their natural habitat.

When she’s not at her full-time job as a provincial civil servant, Kipling scours the countryside in search of owls, eagles, moose, bear, wolves and other wildlife to capture with her camera.

“It (wildlife and nature) photography is my passion. It truly is. I feel lucky because a lot of people go their entire life and never find their true passion, and for me photography is it,” she said. “I like to use my skills to help people and animals in general.

“It’s just something that I love. It’s hard to put into words. It’s not easy to walk out your door and spot an eagle. You have to work for it, hunt for it. When I take a picture I’m, like, ‘Wow!’ I’m always after that next ‘Wow!’ moment. I love that I can do it in Manitoba.”

For the fundraiser, potential buyers can peruse her prints online at yvonnekipling.com and contact her via email about which one they’d like to purchase to support the shelter. The prices range from $50 for an 8×10 to $100 for a 24×36 photo.

“With the pandemic we’ve been going through, some of the rescues have suffered,” she said. “Anything I can do to help out animal shelters is important. They need our help. I’d love to be able to raise $5,000 for them or even more. I just want to raise as much money as I can to help.”

Kipling has a particular fondness for Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter — two of the three dogs she has owned in recent years were obtained from the no-kill shelter after being rescued in northern Manitoba.

“The shelter has a special place in my heart,” she said. “But also I love that they are Manitoba’s first no-kill shelter. They do a lot of good work in the community. This is just one small way I can help out in the rescue community.”

Carla Martinelli-Irvine, founder and executive director of the no-kill shelter at 3062 Portage Ave., said the Photos for Rescues fundraiser couldn’t come at a better time.

“We are honoured,” Martinelli-Irvine said this week, who calls Kipling’s photography “unbelievable,” particularly her shots of eagles. “I could kiss and hug her… She is very kind and philanthropic.”

The shelter was deemed an essential service and has remained open throughout the pandemic, with limits on the number of visitors allowed, strict social distancing and sanitization, and mandatory mask-wearing.

But the shelter founder said the novel coronavirus epidemic caused a hefty chunk of donations and adoptions to evaporate.

“It’s hit us very hard,” she said. “The first month (March) our donations were down over 70 per cent. That’s very significant, but I never laid off anyone. People who donated monthly we lost, because many were laid off work.

“We are always desperate for donations. We’re 100 per cent donor supported. We don’t get any government funding. If donations go down, the shelter is in trouble.”

The shelter handles roughly 1,000 animals, mainly dogs and cats, every year and faces an uphill battle to afford expensive medications and vet bills.

“Everybody loves the concept of no-kill, but it’s very expensive to keep open,” Martinelli-Irvine, 59, said. “Many of the animals at the shelter are injured or abused and need veterinary work and that can be expensive.

“We have coin-collection canisters throughout the city and all the businesses around the city were closed, so that hurt us. And all of our community fundraising events were cancelled for the year.”

The shelter continued in-person adoptions, but asked customers to visit only if they were serious about making a rescue animal part of their home. The number of visitors allowed at the shelter has been raised to 15 from six.

“We’ve started to see older cats getting adopted, cats who’ve been with us a long time. That’s really positive,” Martinelli-Irvine said. “As soon as the cages empty out, they fill up again.”

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca