SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - NWT communities have begun shipping unwanted dogs south to reduce the number of strays currently roaming the streets.

Seven of nearly 100 stray dogs in Lutsel K'e, where the stray population totals about a third of the 380-person human population, were scheduled to fly into Calgary and Edmonton SPCAs last weekend. NWT SPCA president Sarah Hunt says that's just the beginning.

"This would just be the first phase," Hunt said. "This is not the solution by any means, you know, just to sweep the community clean of all the abandoned strays and neglected dogs."

The organization put out a call for help to about 70 animal shelters across the country and so far 15 have responded from British Columbia to Ontario, offering donations, kennel space and new homes for the dogs.

"We don't have the capacity here in Yellowknife to take on even 10 dogs. So we had no other choice than to look outside," Hunt said. "We've just realized that we have to do something," she added.

"All across the North people have known that this has been happening in communities. Dogs are shot weekly or daily in some places."

It doesn't help that in some communities, bylaw or animal control officers are paid a bounty for each dog they shoot - upwards of $75 a head in some places.

"I know that was probably never the intention," Hunt said, "to condone killing animals, but that's what it's turned into.

"I know that the RCMP gets calls from the hamlets or whoever is performing these actions. They get calls to say 'OK, you're going to hear a lot of gunshots today because we're killing dogs.'"

Lutsel K'e band manager Len Griffore said the band considered paying residents to shoot dogs but nobody wanted to. He thinks people's attitudes toward dogs have changed.

"Nobody wants to shoot the dogs, whereas 10 years ago I could've put a sign up in the band office here for someone to shoot dogs and I probably would've got five people that would be interested in doing it," Griffore said.

"The objective is to get people to tie up their dogs. My past experience is, once you start destroying dogs, people tie up their dogs. If we ship out some dogs, people will start tying up their dogs and the problem will be resolved."

Dr. Tom Pisz, a veterinarian at Great Slave Animal Hospital in Yellowknife, said the hospital is always at capacity with strays, housing 30 at any given time - many of them pregnant.

He said the problem stems from some people not knowing what it takes to be a responsible dog owner.

"There needs to be lots of change. It's not big progress since I came here and I've been here over 25 years. The attitude of people, maybe they changed a little bit, but not that much," he said. "Having the dogs costs money and they are not just an ornament in front of your house. Keeping them on a chain all day at 40 below - it's cruel. Besides not spaying and neutering them makes them multiply and then they're just destroying them so why produce the dogs just to be destroyed? It's just not fair."

Pisz said he would like to see stricter dog licensing regulations imposed across the territory with a limited number of dogs residents would be allowed to own.

"Maybe these people need some help from the bands, from the government. Maybe they need some money for spaying and neutering. The SPCA tries to do something but it's nothing - it's like a drop in the ocean," he said.

In February, a team of veterinary students from the University of Calgary is set to travel to Lutsel K'e to spay and neuter as many dogs as they can in an effort to stop them from multiplying.

Hunt said similar clinics, which have been done before in several communities including Fort Simpson and Fort Providence, can go a long way in reducing the number of unwanted dogs.

"There are definitely plenty of dogs who are fed well, are kept warm, are exercised but it comes down to the fact that they're not spayed or neutered," she said.

"We just need the support from the communities and ideally the funding from the communities," she continued.

"Regardless of what cost, it's worth it. It's so much better than shooting animals or just letting them out to die. You can't really put a cost on that, on saving these animals' lives."