Kristin Williams, director of the provincial SPCA, says the Cape Breton shelter is $32,000 in debt. (CBC)

The Nova Scotia SPCA says its Cape Breton branch is struggling financially and needs $32,000 to cover several outstanding bills from before it took over the branch.

Kristin Williams, the executive director of the Nova Scotia SPCA, said the branch needs about $57,000 in total — $32,000 for bills and the remaining money for renovations to the shelter.

Though support for the SPCA has been strong, the Cape Breton branch is still struggling, she said.

"There's definitely some vendors who've been overlooked and that's a shame, and we're trying to rectify those relationships to make sure that they understand and appreciate that we don't intend to continue to not steward those relationships properly," she told CBC News.

"There does seem to be a number of bills in 2011 that were not paid for several months, so we want to address those as quickly as possible."

Williams said the majority of those are bills — including heating, fuel and vet charges — are from late last year and early this year, before the provincial SPCA assumed control of the branch.

The SPCA took temporary control of the Cape Breton shelter last month.

Mike Mombourquette, the chair of the Cape Breton Humane Society, said although he hasn't seen the year-end financial statements, he doesn't think the board was $32,000 in debt.

"Any accumulated debt that we had would have been paid on a monthly basis the same as any business," Mombourquette said.

"There very well could have been bills that came due after the SPCA took over the shelter on Jan. 20."

The previous board had always been in good shape financially, he said.

The shelter gets $20,000 a month from the Cape Breton Regional Municipality for animal control services. Williams said that money just covers payroll, so she's encouraging people to continue to donate.

The executive director said the SPCA will conduct an audit of the shelter's 2011 finances over the next few months.