Animal welfare groups plead for food, supplies, spay-neuter clinic amid ‘crisis’

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This article was published 11/03/2024 (573 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Animal welfare advocates say the animal overpopulation crisis in Manitoba has reached a state of emergency and are calling on the province to provide more support.

Feed the Furbabies Canada, a Winnipeg-based organization that provides food and veterinary care to animals in need across Manitoba, sent an open letter signed by 45 animal welfare groups from across Canada to Premier Wab Kinew and several provincial officials Monday.

“We’ve honestly gotten to a point where we feel like our hands are tied,” said Kareena Grywinski, founding director of Feed the Furbabies Canada.

In the letter, they say the overpopulation of stray dogs in Manitoba has reached crisis levels and ask the province to provide more funding to help local groups provide food, supplies, and mobile spay and neutering services to rural and isolated communities.

Grywinski said the demand for more government support is long overdue and especially urgent with local organizations overwhelmed by the number of stray dogs in need of care and the recent cullings in northern Manitoba communities.

“The calls for culls were starting to come fast and furious and every time you would see another one, you’re going ‘another one?’” Grywinski said. “They were coming too quickly, and we just thought this is only going to continue.”

Earlier this year, Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation distributed a written notice to residents informing them a community member had been given permission by two band councillors to deal with the community’s stray dog population using “any force necessary, including the use of lethal force.”

The open letter claims six isolated communities in Manitoba recently organized dog culls in response to growing stray dog populations. Grywinski said she heard about the culls through other local animal welfare groups but wasn’t comfortable naming the communities involved as she doesn’t want them to face public backlash.

Minister of Agriculture Ron Kostyshyn says the province has been putting in the work, partnering with the Winnipeg Humane Society to bring veterinary care to northern, remote, and Indigenous communities.

“In 2023, 1,737 animals were seen in 23 northern, remote, and Indigenous communities with 1,198 spay/neuter/implants combined,” Kostyshyn said in an emailed statement.

Winnipeg Humane Society CEO Jessica Miller said her team met with Kostyshyn last week to ask for additional funding for their One Health Program that brings veterinary care to remote and northern communities.

The program is in the third year of its five-year partnership with the province. Miller said the number of dog maulings and cullings happening now means additional funding can’t wait.

“We’re seeing numbers that we’ve never seen before and so much pain and suffering,” Miller said.

Grywinski said Feed the Furbabies Canada and the other animal welfare organizations who signed the letter will continue their work with or without funding. But she says receiving additional support would lessen the burden placed on volunteer-run groups.

“Everybody that’s listed in this letter are groups of volunteers. We do this with our own time and a lot of the funding comes from our own pockets,” Grywinski said. “Everybody is just tired, but still hopeful for change.”

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca