Dogs rescued from evacuated communities, others left behind desperately need help: Manitoba Animal Alliance

Dogs rescued from Manitoba First Nations evacuated because of ongoing wildfires, and some left behind in those communities, are in urgent need of shelter and foster homes, says a non-profit animal rescue group.

Debra Vandekerkhove, managing director for the Manitoba Animal Alliance, put an emergency call out on social media Wednesday asking the province, the Red Cross and the public for any help.

She says there are currently about 40 to 60 dogs that need housing and kennel runs, preferably in an air-conditioned space. Most of the dogs currently in the group's care are from Pauingassi First Nation, which was entirely evacuated last month.

"We have nowhere to place animals. We're having difficulty finding foster homes," said Vandekerkhove. The Winnipeg Humane Society is also at capacity, she said.

At a minimum, she said Manitoba Animal Rescue needs a large building in the Winnipeg area to triage the dogs as they're rescued from communities "so that they're out of danger, because the fire's getting really close."

"We want to get up there tomorrow and start pulling them out, and we can't just have them land on the tarmac and have nowhere to go," Vandekerkhove said.

"They're desperate for attention, for love and some of them are desperate for help."

Pauingassi and Little Grand Rapids were among several eastern Manitoba communities evacuated late last month due to the threat from wildfires. As of Tuesday last week, Indigenous Services Canada said it was providing support for more than 3,000 registered evacuees through the Canadian Red Cross and community-led evacuations.

In addition to the dogs left in Pauingassi, there are also quite a few left in Little Grand Rapids, where some people are on the ground trying to hold the fires back, Vandekerkhove said.

"If we don't help, there's no help for them, and they're going to lose their lives. The dogs that we're pulling out right now already have injuries."

Vandekerkhove says the dogs have been left alone in the community, while virtually all other wildlife has vanished due to the fires — except for one bat, which the Manitoba Animal Alliance also took in.

Wednesday's Facebook post said the group has gone into fire-affected areas several times already with help from community leaders to drop off food for the animals left there, but that can't be sustained.

On the last couple of trips, dogs were packed up into crates, but Vandekerkhove said some had to be let go because there was no room for them.

She said she has been trying for seven days to get up to Little Grand Rapids, a fly-in community with limited resources. Since fires are so close and smoke keeps changing direction, it's difficult for the planes to land.

"They are unable to meet us at the airports because the airports are on a different island, which means people need to boat over, with animals on a boat, in kennels, to be able to get to the airport." 

Resources right now are focused on trying to save the community and are stretched thin, she said.

"We need more help …anyone who wants to volunteer in any capacity to be able to help us."

In addition to securing a building, the group needs help from anyone who can foster an animal or help with tasks like picking them up at the airport, taking them for walks or feeding them.

Gap in services 

Vandekerkhove says in situations like the current wildfire threat, the job of caring for and rescuing animals in evacuated communities typically falls to non-profit groups like hers.

"This happened to us in these exact communities three years ago and we were left scrambling," she said.

When remote communities are forced to evacuate, "we need to find a way so animals … are looked at as a priority," said Vandekerkhove. "The groups that are tasked with emergency evacuations need to be put into the loop." 

She says when it comes to disasters like floods in southern Manitoba, people who are forced to leave their homes can take their pets with them.

But in the case of First Nations forced to evacuate, "they couldn't put their dogs or their cats in their laps and take them with them," she said.

"How would you feel?"