Husky Rescue New Zealand is appealing for donations so it can continue to care for up to 70 dogs.
It is deemed an essential service, but relies on tourism for income and that has disappeared in the lockdown.
Unwanted or abandoned - 70 huskies without a home.
Home at the moment is at Husky Rescue NZ - a Christchurch-based charity that has spent the last 11 years rehabilitating and rehoming the huskies.
The charity relies on income from public events and educational activities, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made a huge impact.
"Pretty much all of our income has been shut down by COVID," says Michelle Attwood, from Husky Rescue NZ.
Huskies as pets were made popular by hit TV series Game of Thrones.
But the extra care and attention required for the big dogs has seen a rise in the numbers of unwanted and abandoned huskies.
"Just as we thought 'yay no more Game of Thrones' we got Togo on Disney Plus and The Call of the Wild," Attwood says.
With one staff member and two contractors they are ineligible for any government subsidy.
"We haven't found anything we're eligible for that will help us with our actual operating costs," Attwood says. "We're too small to get a business loan."
It costs around $32,000 a month - that's more than $380,000 a year to run Husky Rescue NZ.
Charitable donations only make up around $27,000 of that, with tourism and events bringing in the bulk of their funding.
"If we run out of money we have to close down, that's the reality of it, we have to make that call before we can't sustain the dogs anymore," Attwood says.
The loss of income has dashed plans to use the huskies as therapy dogs in hospitals and for children with special needs.
"At the moment we are really stuck," Attwood says.
Waiting patiently for their forever home, the future of the dogs now hanging in the balance.
