First nations grapple with stray dog issue
MONTREAL — It’s not every day that a hockey rink is turned into an operating room.
That’s what happened on a First Nations reserve 12 hours north of Montreal, over a four-day stretch last month, where a team of veterinarians set up shop.
They spayed or neutered about 250 dogs as part of an effort to control the growing stray population in Opitciwan.
It’s one of dozens of such campaigns that take place each year across Canada’s north, where wild dogs have long been a problem in remote communities, raising a host of health and safety concerns.
In the span of just over a month this year, a 10-year-old girl and seven-year-old girl were mauled to death by dogs in separate incidents in Manitoba.
New initiatives including stricter bylaws, educational workshops and sterilization campaigns are being employed to get the problem under control. Funding and resources are often scarce.
“The overall goal is to control the stray population to make sure that there’s less unwanted and abandoned litters,” said Ewa Demianowicz, a manager with Humane Society International who was part of the group that travelled to Opitciwan at the reserve’s request.
“When you get there, there’s an overpopulation problem and there’s also a welfare problem. We see a lot of injured animals or animals that are obviously sick or have a wound, and there’s no veterinary clinic anywhere nearby.”
Dogs have historically played a key role in the lives of First Nations communities, who often relied upon the dogs for hunting and protection, but today many communities are struggling on a limited budget to cope with overpopulation and strays.
Culling, which was previously seen as a quick way to reduce an out-of-control stray-dog population, has become increasingly taboo.
A Manitoba petition against the practice last year gained support across the country. It called for more federal funding to assist in spay-and-neuter programs.
Some communities — like Rama Mnjikaning First Nation, 150 kilometres north of Toronto — have taken a different approach.
It has seen positive results from putting tougher rules in place.
The reserve’s bylaw supervisor, Al Sawyer, said when he first started an animal-control program in 1996, there were big problems. Stronger regulations were necessary to make sure residents and visitors to the community were safe, he said.
But tougher rules aren’t always sufficient to deal with the problem on reserves in more remote, northern communities, where there are often more dogs than residents and little access to veterinary care.