Hundreds of tri-community animals rescued by NAR recently
According to information supplied by Northern Animal Rescue (NAR) to La Ronge Council, the organization has accepted nearly 350 animals between January and October 2018.
The statistics show out of 344 animals, 233 came from the immediate area including La Ronge, Air Ronge and local Lac La Ronge Indian Band reserves. The band accounted for 64 per cent of local strays with 96 puppies, 28 dogs, 18 kittens and eight cats, followed by La Ronge with 16 per cent including 24 puppies, 16 kittens, 10 dogs and five cats. In Air Ronge, NAR rescued 12 dogs, 10 kittens, four puppies and two cats.
“It’s just people who bring in pets or buy their child a pet, then they lose interest and they become strays,” Band Coun. Ann Ratt said. “Then the stray will mate with another stray and that’s where all these dogs are coming from.”
In recent months, there’s been several instances of band members reporting packs of dogs on local reserves, which could present a danger to children in the area. When residents see such dogs, Ratt stressed they should call animal control officer Andrew Hastings with the band’s public works departments to impound them. Like Air Ronge, the dogs are kept for 72 hours before they’re released to NAR if there’s space.