The Ottawa Humane Society has made an emergency plea for donations after the building was hit by lightning Tuesday night.

An electrical storm caused a power outage at the building on Champagne Avenue and left thousands of dollars worth of telephone and computer-related damage, officials said.

None of the staff or animals in the shelter were injured.

Spokesperson Tara Jackson said the building was hit at about 7 p.m. and staff were forced to run a generator for power.

The society is in the middle of organizing its annual walk-a-thon for this weekend — a major fundraiser for the shelter. But computer and phone problems are making that difficult. "It's unfortunate because it's going to put us a little bit behind," said Jackson. "We have incurred some costs, staff time, calling in the electrician, having to purchase new hardware for our phone system and for our computer system."

The organization has been able to respond to animal-related emergencies triaged through the city’s call centre and has set-up temporary telephone and computer access. But the group says it does not receive any government funding or funding from any animal welfare group and relies solely on donations to help care for over 11,000 animals that come through its doors every year.