By Derek Cornet

Rescue operation assists more than 100 abandoned animals

Jan 8, 2018 | 9:15 AM

It’s a new beginning for more than 100 dogs and cats rescued from the Lac La Ronge tri-communities over the weekend.

On Jan. 7, Saving Grace Animal Sanctuary Canada and other rescue groups arrived at the Lac La Ronge Indian Band’s Jonas Roberts Memorial Community Centre, ready to get to work. Erin Deems, of Saving Grace, said all the animals were taken to Alberta where they’ll be fixed, dewormed, vaccinated and microchipped in the coming days. 

“Over the course of the last month, there’s just been a greater need with the weather and whatnot to do larger pulls like this,” Deems said. “We have a really great group called the Alberta Spay and Neuter Task Force, which does spay and neuter clinics at First Nations communities… it just seems to be a population-control issue, and that’s why we’re more needed.”

The rescue was organized with the help of volunteers from La Ronge’s Northern Animal Rescue Humane Society, which founding member Joanne Dickson said took in close to 500 animals last year. With no facility and only a limited number of foster homes, she said the organization struggles to keep up with the high demand for their services. The rescue on the weekend was done with the support of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, Dickson said. 

“We’ve never had a large-scale round-up like this, but we do find we’re taking in between 20-30 animals per month,” she said. “We decided to focus on the reserve area because we find that’s where most of the stray dogs are located. We probably will end up with some dogs from La Ronge and Air Ronge as well, because we had some surrenders from those areas.”

long-term care

La Ronge housing shortage discussed at SUMA convention

15h ago

Trades in Sask.

Skilled trades need not limited to building homes

Apr 17, 2024

snowfall

Extreme weather leads to cancelled flights at La Ronge Airport

Apr 17, 2024

Even though they had only two days to organize, Dickson said she believes the rescue was a success. Dickson said she always recommends people spay and neuter their pets, and keep them in a fenced yard, tied up or kept in the family home. If those two issues were always addressed, Dickson said there wouldn’t be a problem with overpopulation. 

“In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to be here, and I guess that’s our long-term goal,” she said. “Our advice would be to take advantage of the various services that are available now.”

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno