Victoria Humane Society to use $2M donation to buy land for new facility The society said it has to turn away five to seven dogs in need of help every day for lack of space to house them. Jeff Bell Sep 27, 2024 4:00 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Donor Craig Mearns with dog Ryder and Penny Stone, executive director of the Victoria Humane Society, with Jackson on Tuesday at the Inn at Laurel Point, where the donation was announced. ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST Listen to this article 00:03:27 The Victoria Humane Society says a $2-million donation announced this week will allow the group to purchase land for a new facility to help animals needing rescue and adoption.
The site for the facility is a 15-hectare parcel in a rural area on the border of Langford and Metchosin. Craig Mearns, a former North Saanich councillor and retired businessman who made the donation along with the Mearns Family Foundation, called the society “a small group doing great things with very little resources.” “They needed a permanent place and I wanted to help with that,” Mearns said at an announcement at the Inn at Laurel Point.
“What the Victoria Humane Society does for animals is worth investing in and the money stays here on the Island. It does not go to a head office somewhere.” In 2005, Mearns’ family donated $5 million to the University of Victoria to create the W.
C. Mearns Centre for Learning in memory of his father, who w.