More than 100 dogs from Northern Manitoba communities hopped on a plane March 1, headed for new lives in Ontario thanks to the Love at First Flight dog rescue mission headquartered in Thompson Feb. 28-March 1.
A joint initiative of the Save a Dog Network, the Niagara SPCA & Humane Society, the Spirit of Hope, the Thompson Humane Society and Northern Manitoba Paws in Need, the three-day animal rescue blitz resulted in 108 dogs from South Indian Lake, Split Lake, Nelson House, Thicket Portage and Opaskwayak Cree Nation being transported to Ontario, all but three of them on a chartered North Star Air plane. The remaining three dogs and 14 cats were driven back to Winnipeg with rescuers.
Katie Powell, the president and founder of Save a Dog Network, said the rescue effort was organized when her organization and others learned about some planned dog culls in Northern Manitoba First Nations. They consulted with chiefs and council in the communities and offered them an alternative to shooting stray dogs, which was gladly accepted.
Dogs were brought back to Thompson Feb. 29 and housed at the Juniper Centre overnight before being taken to the airport and loaded on a plane headed south.
Melanie Youngs, one of two veterinarians who came up to Thompson to help check the dogs and make sure they were fit to travel, said the main concern is to check for signs of contagious diseases.
“That would make them not available to be transported,” she said shortly before noon March 1.
Beyond that, vet checks are intended to identify any pre-existing conditions the dogs may have so veterinarians who treat them when they arrive in Ontario will have some idea of the dogs’ overall health.
“All the dogs so far have seemed quite healthy but any of the northern dogs that we tend to come into contact with, a lot of them will have old injuries, so usually orthopedic injuries that might require further treatment,” said Youngs. Such injuries are often the result of getting hit by a car, for example. “Then the bone has healed. Sometimes they’re just fine with that, they function well but other times there might be something that needs to be done about that like an amputation or a hip surgery.”
Among the dogs were two mothers with litters of new puppies and at least one that was pregnant.
Dogs were also checked for parasites like lice or conditions such as mange.
“Because they’re coming from a very stressful existence they might have skin conditions, they might have mange, all things that are highly treatable,” Youngs said. “It doesn’t stop them from being a good adoptable dog."
The other participating vet, Jonas Watson, said most of the exams did not take long to complete because many of the dogs are fairly young without any serious health problems.
Sponsors of the rescue effort included Calm Air, North Star Air, Enterprise Rentals, the Quality Inn & Suites Thompson and the Juniper Centre.
