That love led the Burnaby-raised Leathley to the not-for-profit Regional Animal Protection Society cat sanctuary years ago as a volunteer, and most recently, gained her a spot in a popular TV show, Pets & Pickers.
The second season of the docuseries, Pets & Pickers, is being aired on Animal Planet.
The Earl Marriott grad’s inspiration has been to combine two of documentary TV’s most potent audience-generating genres – shows about people helping animals and shows about ‘pickers’ finding unexpected treasures among the contents of abandoned storage lockers – in one.
Popular Animal Planet show returns for a second season.
A Nanaimo woman is featured on TV screens for Animal Planet’s Pets and Pickers.
Shena Novotny has been working at the Regional Animal Protections Society in Richmond since 2016. She’s the manager of the cat sanctuary and the adoption centre at the non-profit animal hospital that’s being featured in the reality series.
The second season is set to air on Animal Planet starting Saturday, May 6 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
When Alisa Verwoerd was a teenager, her cat Buddy had to spend a week in the care of an Abbotsford veterinarian.
It was in that week, while she was treated with care and dignity as a pet owner, that she decided to go into the business of animals. She was already an animal lover — Buddy had been adopted as an adult cat into her family through the SPCA.
A delegation from a local government in Korea recently paid a visit to Richmond’s Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) to learn about their animal welfare practices.
College officials said the RAPS Cat Sanctuary is situated on three acres where about 400 cats, with most being formerly homeless or feral, live together in a clean environment.
Plans to re-open Richmond’s animal charity thrift store in time for Halloween were nixed when it became clear an engineer’s report would not be ready.
“It was a huge disappointment,” said Pat Johnson, communications manager for The Regional Animal Protection Society.
B.C. is looking into modernizing the Family Law Act (FLA), and animal activists are hoping the law will recognize pets as family.
Animal law lawyer Rebeka Breder, who sits on the board of Regional Animal Protection (RAPS) based in Richmond, and who founded the first animal law firm of its kind in Western Canada, hopes B.C. will lead the way in Canada by recognizing pets as family.
The crash happened Saturday when the driver of a red vehicle lost control and collided with the store. Luckily no one inside the store was hurt, but shelves came crashing down and merchandise went flying inside the store.
The only person hurt was the driver.
The Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) is calling on animal allies for support after a single-vehicle accident Saturday resulted in extensive damage to one of the organization’s two thrift stores.
Month long giveaway fundraiser launched Aug. 15 provides opportunity to win one of four prizepacks.
B.C.’s Regional Animal Protection Society is teaming up with Chilliwack-based pet food company, Petcurean, for a month-long fundraiser for homeless cats and dogs.
The fundraising giveaway campaign launched on social media on Aug. 16 and will run through to Sept. 6.
Richmond Centre for Disability (RCD) is highlighting the importance of job opportunities for people with disabilities and a local store manager could not agree more.
Karen Kamachi, manager of RAPS Thrift Store, said the job fair is not only a chance for people with disabilities to find a job to gain work experience and other skills, it also helps build their confidence in the real world.
The Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) was founded in the 1980s to rescue and re-home stray cats in Richmond.
RAPS now operates one of the largest cat sanctuaries in North America, in addition to the full-service RAPS Animal Hospital.
The sanctuary is home to over 500 cats and kittens and is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.
Pet Valu Holdings Ltd., the leading Canadian specialty retailer of pet food and pet-related supplies, today, begins Pet Appreciation Month, its biggest, annual “Companions for Change™” initiative. For the month of June, over 600 stores in the Pet Valu family will be raising funds for Canadian animal organizations that provide critical support to local animals in need. On June 18 and 19, many stores will host National Adoption Weekend to help find the right forever homes for homeless pets in their communities.
Discovery Channel has a new TV series called Pets and Pickers highlighting the work done by the Richmond-based Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) on May 10 in an advance, fundraising screening before the series makes its on-air debut May 12.
Come for the paw-ty, stay for the purr.
Karen Kamachi never dreamed that managing a thrift store would lead to her appearance on a TV series.
“It’s not what I expected out of my job,” said the North Surrey resident, who is featured in Discovery Channel’s new “Pets & Pickers,” a docu-series that follows a unique animal hospital in Richmond and two thrift stores that help fund its operation.
Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) Cat Sanctuary is welcoming back guests to its Richmond haven starting on Saturday, April 30, and every weekend after.
The sanctuary was closed for two years due to the pandemic. RAPS CEO Eyal Lichtmann told Daily Hive that he is excited to open its doors to feline fans again.
Karen Kamachi, store manager for the RAPS Granville Avenue location, says her assistant manager called her in a panic when she came into work on February 9.
“The door was wide open. At that point she called me panicking, saying, ‘Karen, you have to run over here. We’ve been robbed,’” she said.
At the heart of estate planning is caring for people — self-care, in the form of establishing your directives, and leaving provisions for the people you love.
For two out of three Canadians – who include a companion animal among their loved ones – planning for their well-being when we are no longer able to care for them should also be part of the planning process.
Dear Editor, Re: “Animal contract takes us back 13 years,” Letters, Dec. 10.
It has been an honour for the Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) to operate the City of Richmond Animal Shelter since 2007. We made Richmond a “no-kill community” and we are immensely proud of the lives we have saved and improved over the past 13 years.
Thanks to a generous donation, the Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) is able to fully subsidize in-house veterinary services for four very needy pets during the month of December at its animal hospital.
It’s that time of year again. The holiday season. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, etc.
The ever-lasting question of “what should I get for that special someone” and yes, that not so special someone too. Let’s face it, we all have them.
A neighbour called RCMP on Friday night when they heard barking for several hours and had concerns for the welfare of the animals.
The animals, 10 in total, were taken by the Regional Animal Protection Society, which is now caring for them.
The Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) seized six cats, two kittens and two small poodle-like dogs from the home on Williams Road on Saturday.
Eight cats and two dogs were seized from a home on Williams Road.
The owners had left the country before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and handed their pets’ care to friends or family.
On Sunday evening, the Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) started at Facebook live “kitten camera” to share with the community.
A homeless veteran of the Canadian Coast Guard is pleading for help after being involved in a serious car accident along with his dog, Rocky.
Gregory Wright and his terrier were on their way to a food bank last week when the accident happened.
Meet Rocky, he’s an eight-year-old Staffordshire terrier with big brown eyes that will melt your heart.
He is also a support dog for a Metro Vancouver veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and currently homeless, living in an RV, after being renovicted.
The no-kill charity that runs Richmond’s animal shelter is asking for the public’s help after a homeless man’s beloved dog was badly hurt in a car accident.
The Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) stepped in to help Greg Wright, who was involved in a rollover crash just south of the Massey Tunnel last week, along with his dog, an eight-year-old Staffordshire terrier called Rocky.
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Both groups made submissions to the province’s Rental Housing Task Force established in April by B.C. Premier John Horgan and led by Vancouver-West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert, who will serve as the premier’s advisor on residential tenancy.
Richmond’s Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) a non-profit, no-kill animal services agency runs the cat sanctuary, which houses over 500 cats.
The cat sanctuary serves as a home for cats that are not the best candidates for adoption.
An outbreak of the highly contagious airborne virus, rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD), has spread to the Richmond Animal Shelter, forcing officials to euthanize the no-kill shelter’s entire population of rabbits.
The virus can cause death within hours and the Regional Animal Protection Society, which operates the Richmond Animal Shelter, says it was likely introduced by infected feral rabbits that were found dead on the property.
The Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) – which prides itself on its no-kill policy – has been told by the Ministry of Agriculture to euthanize the remaining 66 rabbits in its care, after the highly contagious rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) struck its No. 5 Road shelter last week.
New Richmond animal hospital officially opens (VANCOUVER SUN – 02/12/2018)
Regional Animal Protection Society opens new veterinary hospital (CTV NEWS – 02/12/2018)
RAPS opens new animal hospital in Richmond (RICHMOND NEWS – 02/13/2018)
New animal hospital gets large loan (RICHMOND NEWS – 08/03/2017)
RAPS name change is official (RICHMOND NEWS – 06/23/2017)
Shelter honours ‘hero’ who rescued dog in suitcase (CTV NEWS – 06/08/2017)
Mini Donut ready for a new home in Richmond (RICHMOND NEWS – 06/08/2017)
Man Sees Suitcase In The Woods — And Finds The Friendliest Dog Locked Inside (THE DODO – 06/02/2017)
Abandoned kitten found inside diaper box in Richmond (DAILY HIVE – 06/01/2017)
Tiny poodle found ‘cruelly’ dumped in locked suitcase in Richmond (DAILY HIVE – 05/30/2017)
Poodle ‘In Good Health’ After Found Locked Inside Discarded Suitcase (HUFFPOST – 05/30/2017)
Little dog found in double-locked suitcase on hottest day of year (RICHMOND NEWS – 05/30/2017)
Cute poodle found dumped in locked suitcase on hottest day of the year (USA TODAY – 05/30/2017)
Little dog found in double-locked suitcase on hottest day of year (RICHMOND NEWS – 05/30/2017)
Poodle found abandoned inside locked suitcase (CTV NEWS – 05/30/2017)
Poodle found locked in suitcase, abandoned in Richmond woods (VANCOUVER SUN – 05/29/2017)
Dog Found Locked In Suitcase And Dumped In Ditch In Richmond, B.C. (HUFFPOST – 05/29/2017)
CBC Vancouver – Meow! (CBC VANCOUVER – 05/27/2917)
Proposed animal hospital to help fund animal care (RICHMOND NEWS – 04/27/2017)
Dog burned in Richmond fire healing, but needs months of care (CTV NEWS – 01/13/2017)
Update: Burned pit-bull getting better (RICHMOND NEWS – 01/03/2017)
Pit bull burned in fire needs your help to survive (GLOBAL NEWS – 12/30/2016)
Richmond animal shelter launches appeal to help burned dog (RICHMOND NEWS – 12/28/2016)
Rabbit rescuers to the rescue in Richmond (RICHMOND NEWS – 03/17/2016)
Operating daily in Richmond’s no-kill zone (RICHMOND NEWS – 04/22/2015)
50 dogs abandoned at Metro Vancouver animal shelters (VANCOUVER SUN – 2015)