Veterinary Team Helps Animals Displaced by Fires in Thunder Bay

A veterinary team from southern Ontario has traveled to Thunder Bay to care for pets affected by the wildfires in the area.

More than a dozen communities, including several First Nations in the northwest, are under evacuation this wildfire season.

Currently, there are around 185 active wildfires across Ontario, according to the latest reports from the province. Thankfully, forest fire hazards are mostly low due to recent rain and cooler temperatures – a big change from last week’s heatwave.

Still, over 2,400 evacuees and counting are sheltering in host communities throughout Ontario – many have had to leave their pets behind or with foster families. 

William Woodstock, chief executive officer of Vets Around the Corner as well as founder and board chair of the Community Veterinarian Program, is seen at the Grandview Arena in Thunder Bay, Ont. He says the program relies on donations, as it does not receive government funding. (Marc Doucette/CBC)

The Community Veterinarian Program team from Vets Around the Corner based in Port Perry arrived in Thunder Bay over the weekend to set up a field hospital at Grandview Arena.

This team provides mobile services out of a specially modified ambulance that they brought up to Armstrong on Monday afternoon to check on pets left behind. Their plan was to give these animals some calming sedatives before transporting them south for safety.

“They’re feeling the same things that we are. They’re feeling anxiety, they’re stressed, they feel pain, they feel emotions,” said William Woodstock, chief executive officer of Vets Around the Corner as well as founder and board chair of the Community Veterinarian Program.

“When they are being evacuated, they’re going into a community they don’t know, and unlike humans where we can have a conversation and we can let each other know what’s happening, they don’t necessarily know. They feel our own stress as well.

“It’s really important for us to take care of them because at the end of the day, the animals, they take care of us.”

Animal care attendant Desrae Nicholson, left, and veterinarian Olga Peck are seen outside the Community Veterinarian Program’s retrofitted ambulance in Thunder Bay, Ont. (Marc Doucette/CBC)

The team has been coordinating with both the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) and Northern Reach Network to assist animals coming into and out of Thunder Bay.

The OSPCA has supported this veterinary team with donations along with providing a surgical suite while Northern Reach Network has helped link animals with foster homes.

“The veterinarians [in Thunder Bay] are quite over capacity when it comes to taking care of pets,” Woodstock stated. “We’re kind of reducing that burden on the community.”

‘They’ve already lost so much’

Ben Whitburn stopped by Grandview Arena’s field hospital Monday afternoon looking for some medication for Buddy. This two-year-old dog came from Whitesand First Nation – one of several communities north of Thunder Bay forced into evacuation due to wildfires.

Whitburn mentioned he responded to calls from Northern Reach Network looking for foster families and said that organization provided him with all necessary supplies.

Thunder Bay resident Ben Whitburn and Buddy, a stray dog from Whitesand First Nation, are seen at a veterinary field hospital set up at Grandview Arena. Whitburn is fostering Buddy during his First Nation’s wildfire evacuation. (Marc Doucette/CBC)

Buddy is believed to be a stray dog. While there’s a family back in his First Nation checking on him periodically; they weren’t able to take him along when they moved temporarily to Thunder Bay.

“He’s very well-behaved; he gets along great with my Golden Retriever so it’s been nice having him around,” said Whitburn who has never fostered before.

“I think others should consider taking in cats or dogs too since it helps relieve pressure off rescues.”

“They’ve already lost so much,” Whitburn noted about those impacted by wildfires. “It’s super easy.. you just need some space at home for another pet.”

Woodstock emphasized that their Community Veterinarian Program doesn’t get government funding and relies on monetary donations while cat food and dog food donations can also be dropped off at Grandview Arena.

“As for our volunteers themselves,” Woodstock added jokingly “we heard something about local Persians being dessert [in Thunder Bay] – we haven’t had any yet.”

Source link