It started with a call to the RCMP about an 11-year-old girl who had been attacked and bitten by a pack of dogs in the remote village of Kyuquot. The following day, responding officers assessed the situation and removed two male dogs, one a three-month-old puppy, from the village. The two dogs were believed to be the lead aggressors in the attack on the girl.
What the RCMP officers did next has drawn criticism in the media. With the nearest SPCA nearly 300 km away, the officers abandoned the dogs in the wild rather than shoot them.
According to RCMP spokesman Cpl. Darren Lagan, RCMP officers are not the animal control authorities but they get called into communities when animal problems escalate and pose a risk to community safety.
While there may be regrets about how this particular incident was handled, everyone involved wishes to focus on preventing future attacks.
The two dogs were found shortly after their abandonment by people in a passing boat, who rescued them from a reef. A call was made to Maggie Tyreman in Campbell River and she came to pick up the two castaways.
Tyreman, 36, is a well-known animal lover and her family is from Kyuquot. She operates a dog grooming business in Campbell River called K9 Design. Whenever she gets a chance to visit her Kyuquot home she has been known to bring flea and worming medication, and has provided free first aid care to some of the village dogs.
“By no means am I a vet,” Tyreman admits, but she likes to do what she can to help in a place that has no access to veterinary care. Tyreman says she was raised to love animals.
“I remember my mom would take in one-legged seagulls to take care of,” she mused.
She said she’s been known to call her veterinarian in Campbell River for free advice.
“He’s even offered to come help with a spay/neuter program,” she said. Tyreman has also taken dogs from the community to shelters, at the request of pet owners in Kyuquot.
Both she and Kyuquot Chief Administrative Officer Gary Ardron say the problem stems from pet overpopulation. Without spay/neuter services, the free-roaming dog population explodes and that can spell disaster.
Ardron says while he doesn’t know exactly what happened when the young girl was attacked by dogs earlier in November, he said he could see maybe three or four dogs fighting and kids getting in their way.
“It’s a small, remote community and the main mode of transportation is your feet,” said Ardron. He said the girl suffered bites and puncture wounds, but the attack on the little girl and how the RCMP responded is not the issue.
“We (as a community) need to address the population control problem,” said Ardron.
Tyreman concurs, saying the number of strays can be overwhelming. Both say there are no feral dogs in Kyuquot, as was reported by some media. But with out-of-control breeding, some end up with more dogs than they can care for.
Tyreman took the two skinny dogs that she named Jonah and Isaac and have placed them together in a foster home. She launched a fundraising drive in order to raise money for vet care and to get the dogs neutered.
Tyreman has two more dogs she picked up from Kyuquot after the owners asked her to place them in a shelter.
On Nov. 23 she launched a fundraising drive, climbing 30 feet up Campbell River’s Big Rock and stayed there 24 hours. She hoped to raise $1,000 to pay for vet care for the four dogs from Kyuquot.
Donation jars were set up in businesses around town.
“I’ve never been so cold in my life,” said Tyreman, after climbing down from the rock. She said all of her limbs went numb.
But the efforts of the good Samaritan paid off. She raised more than $4,000 which will go to spay and neuter the four dogs with some money left over to care for more. Tyreman says the excess funds will be held on account by a veterinarian and will be used to sterilise anymore dogs that may come in.
More importantly, the story has drawn the attention of animal welfare advocates who are reaching out to Kyuquot to bring veterinary care into the community. They hope to set up a spay/neuter clinic to help alleviate the problem.
“What I really like about organizations like CAAT is that they like to go into the community ahead of time and into the schools to provide education about caring for animals,” said Tyreman.
CAAT is the Canadian Animal Assistance Team which is known for bringing teams of volunteer veterinarians and assistants into rural communities where access to services is minimal. Not only do they do free spay/neuter services, but they also provide animal health information to people in the communities they visit.
Animal shelters in the area have also reached out to assist in the removal of unwanted animals but the RCMP say in the case of suspected vicious animals, the SPCA is the only shelter option.
“If the dog is dangerous they have to go to a place where they can be assessed,” Cpl. Lagan said.
The primary focus of the RCMP is the safety of the community. Sgt. Craig Blanchard is reaching out to pet care resources to assist the Kyuquot.
