Veterinarians bound for Iglulik
The Chinook Project will spend a week fixing pets
Derek Neary
Northern News Services
Monday, June 12, 2017
IGLULIK
Help is on the way for pets in Iglulik.
The Chinook Project, which comprises three seasoned veterinarians and five veterinary students from the University of Prince Edward Island, will pay a visit June 15 to 23 to offer free services, including spay and neuter surgeries to help control the pet population.
The Chinook Project veterinary team from the University of Prince Edward Island visited Kugluktuk in 2009 and Iqaluit last year. They will be in Iglulik June 15 to 23 to examine pets and perform spay and neuter surgeries. - photo courtesy of Melissa Joy |
As of early last week, close to 40 animals had already been registered for veterinary care, said Janelle Kennedy, president of the Iqaluit Humane Society, who helped arrange the Iglulik visit.
Greg Morash, Iglulik's senior administrative officer, said he anticipates momentum will continue to grow when the veterinary team gets into the community.
"I really think once they get in here and they get set up, that's when ... you get the overflow coming in," Morash said.
The clinic primarily targets low-income pet owners who can't afford veterinary procedures, let alone flights to send their pets out and back for surgeries, Kennedy said.
"It's really cost prohibitive," she said. "If you're struggling to buy a $100 bag of dog food, you're not going to have $2,000 to prevent unwanted puppies. You'll just let the puppies happen and maybe you'll sell them to make a couple of extra dollars, or maybe you'll give them away or maybe you'll destroy them. We're trying to work more on prevention."
She offered praise for First Air, which has proven to be a crucial ally to the Humane Society, flying stray animals into the Iqaluit shelter or to the south for adoption.
For The Chinook Project trip, people generously donated Aeroplan points to cover the veterinarians' flights from Charlottetown to Ottawa. There's a steep hotel discount in Ottawa. First Air is covering the flight to Iqaluit and marking down the cost to fly the Chinook team into Iglulik. Universities and colleges donated some equipment and supplies. The Hamlet of Iglulik has pitched in by providing accommodations for the veterinary students and their mentors.
The hamlet is also temporarily converting the old community hall into a makeshift pet clinic.
Plus, Project Chinook does its own fundraising.
Organizers have been planning, scheduling and fundraising for this year's pet clinic for a year, Kennedy noted.
Iglulik was chosen because it has a high number of dogs, accommodations for the veterinary team, a designated place to work while there, and voluntary coordinators in the community. In addition, the Chinook Project was promoted on social media and people in Iglulik were very responsive to the idea, Kennedy added.
"I'm really, really excited about it," she said. "It will really help us because we get a lot of puppies from communities."
As evidence of the sort of impact The Chinook Project can make, Kennedy said the visiting veterinarians tended to more than 170 animals in Iqaluit last year and performed 146 surgeries - the vast majority of them being spay and neuter.
"We've seen a significant drop in the number of unwanted puppies coming into the shelter. It's noticeable," Kennedy said.
