Happy Cat Haven is a private, non-profit shelter for needy animals on the Sunshine Coast, and is located in Violet Winegarden's own home in Gibsons.

Violet has converted her whole house to an animal haven, and in the five years since she started keeping records, has taken in over 2400 animals. Most of these have been cats since bylaw restrictions limit our ability to shelter dogs.

All the animals who come to us need help. Most have been abandoned, often in the cruelest of circumstances, and many are starving and sick.  Violet nurses them back to health, vaccinates, and if they are mature, spays/neuters them.

The adoptable ones are then found good homes - one third of which are in the lower Mainland area. Those animals who are not adoptable for reasons of age, deformity or personality problems simply live in the Haven for the rest of their lives.

Most animal shelters regularly euthanize large numbers of animals due to epidemics of disease within the shelter or lack of space to house them. We have never euthanized an animal because "we have had too many of them". Furthermore, in five years Violet has lost only 20 cats/kittens (who were so ill or injured on arrival that survival was impossible).

The Haven's record is truly remarkable, testimony to the intense, individual care given each animal and the immaculate hygiene which is maintained all day every day.

We never have fewer than 30 cats and sometimes as many as 60, all of whom have free run of the shelter (except for those who, because of illness or injury, require isolation). All of the work at the Haven is done by Violet (who lives on a small pension) and a handful of volunteers. No one draws a salary, and all of the money we raise goes toward providing the best possible care for the animals.

We are not a registered society, nor do we have tax-deductible status with the Department of National Revenue. We survive on donations and funds raised through newspaper and can/bottle recycling, grocery store certificates from sales slips, and two or three fund raising events which we hold annually such as garage sales . Although we receive major discounts from three veterinarians, our monthly expenses average more than $2,500 and we are always short of money.

It should be noted that we have a non negotiable rule that none of the animals we either keep or adopt out will be allowed to reproduce, thus in our own small way, helping to reduce the terrible number of unwanted cats in our area. We also spay/neuter many colonies of feral cats, which helps to keep a check on the ever growing wild cat population.

Violet and her small cadre of volunteers are truly helping the helpless!

March 2002