The Animal Food Bank and BC SPCA branches in the Okanagan are raising a paw and asking for help. “We have seen a huge increase in demand over the last three weeks; normally we were going through 100 to 150 pounds a week,” said Nicole Wilks, Animal Food Bank founder. “Now we seem to be hovering around 500 pounds of dry food and about 100 cans of wet food a week, so quite an intensive increase.” Due to measures put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, some pet stores have stopped allowing returns, meaning Wilks and her team have been unable to fill their storage bin with food, toys and cat litter because they rely on returns or products nearing expiration.