Most-read stories of the week: abandoned pets, an 'unbearable' living situation and Stanley cup celebrations

Here’s why local humane societies are seeing more abandoned pets

Humane societies are seeing an alarming trend in Southwestern Ontario – long waitlists to surrender pets.

According to the Cambridge & District Humane Society, they currently have more than 26 dogs, 26 cats and 20 small animals waiting to get into the shelter.

They say the top reasons for surrendering include moving, training issues, finances and lack of time.

“The animals we have were not born and raised on the streets of Cambridge,” a humane society spokesperson explained in an email to CTV News. “They’ve lived in a home, they’ve had a family, but they all became unwanted in one way or another. No one called looking for them. No one filed a lost report and no one came to the shelter to pick them up.

Hillside Kennels Animal Control in Innerkip services numerous municipalities in Southwestern Ontario, picking up stray dogs. Right now, they have about 30 dogs in their care.

“We have had up to 45 at one point,” said owner-operator, Tracey Gibson.

Gibson believes many of the dogs are ones people got during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ornge responds after child falls from bridge near Cambridge, Ont.

An Ornge air ambulance was called in after a young child reportedly fell off a Puslinch bridge and into a creek.

The incident happened around 11:30 a.m. Monday at the Fletcher Creek Ecological Preserve.

According to Ontario Provincial Police, the child fell approximately four to five feet.

An Ornge team was called in and assessed “a pediatric patient involved in a fall," according to a spokesperson from the service.

They said the child was transported to McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton with what were only described as minor injuries.

Cambridge tenants call living situation 'unbearable' as they wait for repairs from March flood

Residents at a Cambridge apartment building have been waiting four months for management to make repairs after a flood ruined four units.

Mike Jones still lives in the building on Clyde Road and said his unit still looks as bad as it did the day it happened.

“The carpet was gone from the living room and two-and-a-half feet of drywall, right from the front of the apartment right through to the very back, was gone,” Jones told CTV News on Wednesday.

Mill Creek Apartments, the building’s management team, explained that the flooding was caused by tree roots in the city sewer line.

Jones said he was put up in a motel for a few days but after that he was on his own, so he moved back in.

Not only is that not ideal – it also isn’t safe.

“All of our sockets, [our] electrical outlets are just hanging there by wires,” Jones said.

He keeps hearing that the damage will be fixed, but so far nothing has changed.

According to Mill Creek Apartments, they’re working on the issue with their insurer.

Paul Booth sitting in his chair, which he also uses as a bed, in his Cambridge, Ont. apartment. (Heather Senoran/CTV News)

Ontario hockey players are now Stanley Cup champions

The Florida Panthers made NHL history on Monday night.

In front of more than 19,000 fans, the team beat the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 and won the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup.

It was also a moment two local players – Brandon Montour, the 30-year-old Panthers defenceman from Six Nations of the Grand River, and Steven Lorentz, the 28-year-old Panthers centre from Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont. – will never forget.

Montour said he can’t wait to bring the Stanley Cup back to Six Nations.

"Be ready for it to come home," he said after Monday's win. "The support I've had my whole life... obviously this team, but [also] my family, my friends, everybody back home. We're going to enjoy this for the summer, then do it all over again."

Lorentz’s family, meanwhile, watched Game 7 at home.

“We’re so proud, so incredibly proud,” his father Mark Lorentz said the day after Florida’s big win.

Florida Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour, center, lifts the Stanley Cup trophy after Game 7 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Sunrise, Fla. The Panthers defeated the Oilers 2-1. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Alexandra Pinto says a final farewell to CTV News Kitchener

All good things must come to an end.

For Alexandra Pinto, that day was June 21, 2024. She anchored her last newscast in Kitchener after more than 10 years with the station.

“It was definitely a very, very bittersweet decision,” she told fellow anchor Leighanne Evans. “CTV Kitchener has been my home for many years. Staff, I’m going to miss them so much. We are truly one big family. We’ve developed such incredible relationships.”

Alexandra got her start in broadcast television in Toronto, where she worked behind the scenes.

“I said, I really want to report,” she told Leighanne. “I really wanted to get out in the community, eventually I wanted to anchor.”

It took a few tries but she eventually secured a job at CTV Kitchener in 2014 as a part-time videographer.

“This was a perfect opportunity,” she said. “I started by filling in on morning inserts, I would backfill on CTV News at Noon, eventually doing CTV News at 11:30, then CTV News at 5, and now CTV News at 6.”

That last promotion also included taking on the role of co-producer for the 6 p.m. show.

Alexandra Pinto reporting for CTV News Kitchener.