Puppies were the most common animal rescued last year. (Submitted photo/Northern Animal Rescue)

By Derek Cornet

animal welfare

Local rescues process 580 animals in 2025

Jan 9, 2026 | 5:08 PM

Hundreds of animals were rescued in La Ronge and surrounding communities in 2025.

That’s according to new data released by Northern Animal Rescue (NAR) and Boreal Animal Rescue, which shows the vast majority of animals rescued are dogs. In total, NAR rescued 274 puppies, 104 dogs, 55 kittens and 48 cats. In addition, Boreal Animal Rescue, which was launched Sept. 1, placed 99 dogs.

“There numbers are up from last year’s intakes of 404 but down from our highest recorded number of 579 in 2019,” said NAR board member Joanne Dickson.

“The majority of our rescued animals were sent to our partner agencies in Saskatchewan and Alberta.We had 42 total adoptions, of which 11 were local and 31 were out of town.”

The majority of dogs with Boreal Animal Rescue were also sent to partner organizations, but four were adopted locally and 10 remain in foster homes.

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Last year was also quite eventful for NAR as some volunteers stayed behind during the wildfire evacuation in June to rescue and feed abandoned animals.

“Our full-time animal control officer worked with board members who volunteered to stay in town and other community volunteers to help feed pets left behind and to transport owned pets to foster homes, vulnerable animals to rescue partners, and injured or sick animals to the vet college for medical treatment,” Dickson noted.

Both animal rescues are also wanting to advise the public of an increase in cases of canine parvovirus, a highly contagious viral disease of dogs that commonly causes acute gastrointestinal illness in puppies. The disease most often strikes in pups between six and 20 weeks old, but older animals are sometimes also affected.

“Pet owners should get their puppies vaccinated with the DA2PP vaccine at eight weeks of age and follow up with booster shots at 12 and 16 weeks of age for a total of three shots,” Dickson explained.

“It then goes to annual shots. Pet owners can contact us for general information about vaccines and how to register their pets to be seen at the wellness clinics that happen here almost every month.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com