45 ANIMAL WELFARE GROUPS SOUND THE ALARM: MANITOBA DOG OVERPOPULATIONS RISK PUBLIC HEALTH

The overpopulation of dogs in Manitoba has reached a “breaking point” and is now a public health emergency, a letter signed by 45 animal welfare groups from across Canada says.

The Monday letter is addressed to Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn, Indigenous Economic Development Minister Ian Bushie and Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer.

It asks the province for $2.5 million annually to go toward spay and neuter programs accessible to urban, rural and remote communities in Manitoba, as well as an action plan to curb backyard breeding and funds to send pet food and supplies to remote communities.

Manitoba is facing an “ongoing animal overpopulation crisis,” the letter says, leading to increased dog attacks and risks of rabies.

“We’re out of resources, we’re out of funding, we have no space. We have nowhere left to put animals, so basically everyone is at their breaking point,” Kareena Grywinski, founding director of Winnipeg-based Feed the Furbabies Canada, told CBC News.

The groups behind the letter banded together because they’ve been hearing of more incidents of dogs attacking people lately, she said.

“A lot of the reaction to that has led to culls being announced within the communities, and that has been happening more and more frequently over the last few months,” Grywinski said.

“We’re asking for help. Basically we’re asking for funding for … mobile spay and neuter clinics.”

There is also a “huge shortage” of foster homes willing to take in dogs in the province, she said. Manitobans can help by adopting animals or donating to the organizations involved in the letter.

The province has not yet responded to the groups behind the letter, but Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn told CBC News on Tuesday that “we definitely will.”

He says the province has given $150,000 to the Winnipeg Humane Society to deal with stray animals, meeting with its board director as well as Manitoba’s chief veterinary officer last week to discuss a way forward.

Winnipeg Humane Society didn’t sign letter

There were 1,700 animals in 23 remote, northern and Indigenous communities seen in 2023, with just under 1,200 spayed or neutered as a result, according to Kostyshyn.

“We’re continuing to work first and foremost [toward a] long-term strategy,” he said.

“The dollars are hard to come by, and we continue to move forward in any way we can with other organizations as well.”

Jessica Miller, CEO of the Winnipeg Humane Society, says the organization was aware of the letter before it was sent.

“The only reason we didn’t sign the letter is [because] we are currently in talks with the minister of agriculture on how we can best expand our program, which we call One Health,” she told guest host Laurie Hoogstraten during a Tuesday interview with CBC Manitoba’s Radio Noon.

“I felt it was best to continue on those negotiations and I feel really positive that we’re going to see more funding from the province.”

The One Health program is run in partnership with the province and offers spay and neuter clinics, as well as medical care to animals in northern Manitoba communities, Miller said.

However, Miller says she agrees with Grywinski about the overpopulation of dogs in northern Manitoba and the need for more government support.

“We absolutely share the same concerns. Our One Health program only goes to so many communities, and we can only go so many times. It’s very costly.”

‘We are tired’

While the majority of the 45 groups that signed the letter are from Manitoba, there are just under 10 groups involved from Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.

“They’ve helped alleviate the burden, and now what has happened is Manitoba has pretty much saturated these other provinces,” Katie Powell, president of the Manitoba-based Save a Dog Network, told CBC News on Monday.

She said the letter was a “long time coming.”

“We are tired. We are broke,” she said. “It’s like emptying the ocean with a spoon, and then we start to wonder [if] anybody hears us.”

Communities without active veterinary clinics to spay and neuter dogs or bylaws to prevent backyard breeding and puppy mills suffer from overpopulation, she said, and dogs “become hungry, often feral, and they start attacking community members.”

Over the last week, she’s heard of two incidents where people were attacked by dogs, she said. She’s also heard of eight dog culls in the last two months, which largely took place in Indigenous communities.

Powell said the groups behind the letter do not want to vilify the communities where the attacks and culls are taking place, but instead rally together leaders across the province and levels of government to find sustainable solutions.

“The Band-Aid solution of rescuing and re-homing [dogs] without providing that care and resources to these areas that are saturated — as well as the lack of laws for backyard breeders in our province — has turned this into a total crisis,” she said.

“Us rescues alone are not able to dig ourselves out of [it] anymore, and that’s what basically the push is: for the provincial, federal, as well as the band leaders to realize that this is going to take a collaborative effort.”