Dogs With No Names

Who is there, after all, to name them? They represent a vast community of feral dogs. Dogs left to fend for themselves in an utterly hostile climate. Dogs are companion animals, bred and accustomed to living among humans whose existence they complement. And humans who take advantage of canine companionship also take on an inherent obligation to care for their pets. Whether those animals are meant to stay indoors alongside their human protectors, or to remain outdoors.

Todd Korol for National Post   "A lot of the dogs just disappear, there are a lot of coyotes out here," says Mona Jorgensena volunteer with the DWNN (Dogs With No Names) Project.

Dogs are kept as pets, as early warning signals that someone approaches, as guard dogs, as working animals, helping to herd sheep, or to guide the blind, the deaf. They require care. They are not equipped by nature to forage for food in an atmosphere that has no natural food they can easily acquire for themselves to stay alive. And in a landscape where other wild animals exist that compete for food, feral dogs become that food.

If inclement weather and starvation does not lead them to an early death, the existential need of carnivores will. There are no municipal bylaws to protect dogs or people, there are no licensing programs, dog-catchers, or seemingly people with a sense of community responsibility and compassion in many First Nations communities. Where dogs are maintained on a casual basis, or simply allowed to roam, to procreate and to starve.

Which is rather strange, since one hears time and again declarations of aboriginals proudly claiming they live as one with nature. If that nature is one of casual disregard for the well-being of the very creatures so hugely dependent on a caring environment that is being discussed that's one thing; the neglect of the most basic needs of companion dogs a failure of another kind entirely.

Those feral dogs who fend for themselves under the most desperate of survival conditions, bereft of the kindness of human oversight, live an average of three years. "In the summer, they'll have puppies and all eight puppies will survive. In the winter, they're dead when they hit the snow. We find frozen puppies with placentas", explained Bragg Creek veterinarian Judith Samson-French.

"I've seen dogs with 16 puppies and these puppies are just wandering around, fighting for limited resources".

Todd Korol for National Post    Feral dogs on the Tsuu T'ina Indian Reservation. It is not uncommon for children on reserves to die of dog attacks.

Dr. Samson-French believes there could be as many as a million unhoused dogs on reserves across Canada. She estimates there are at least two semi-wild dogs for every home on a reserve. Although Aboriginal Affairs has conducted no research on the subject, it’s not uncommon for children to die of dog attacks and for remote reserves to conduct culls.

And when children die, the reserve populations become angry and arrange for culls. After a death of a child a dog that appears aggressively wandering about reserves is immediately dispatched. If dogs are seen near schools, particularly in a pack of three or four, they are held to be a potential danger. This approach to control of the feral dog population does not produce a solution of any meaningful dimension.

In southern Alberta, packs of rottweilers, border collies and pitbulls roam reserves. Some of them may have originated within the reserves, many more may just have been owned by urban dwellers who tire of the responsibility and who drive then them to remote areas and release them to fend for themselves. Dogs naturally gravitate to wherever humans live, to hope to find edible scraps to sustain themselves.

"A lot of the dogs just disappear, there are a lot of coyotes out here", said Mona Jorgensen, a retired police officer who along with Lori Rogers, a senior health technologist at the Calgary Zoo are volunteers for a new charity, Dogs With No Names. Whose purpose is to reduce wild canine populations. They operate an contraceptive implantation program.

They also buy bags of dry dog food and scatter it in bowls for the feral dogs that tend to gather around Reserve houses. They also try to put out wet dog food laced with dewormer.  The implants last about a year and a half in effectiveness, just about the time that reserve dogs die in maturity. The charity has implanted 155 dogs with contraceptive devices so far.

Dr. Samson-French feels that the program has in all likelihood been instrumental in preventing the birth of 100,000 puppies. "It's good. It's really good. If the ladies weren't here, I think we'd be in trouble. We'd have even more puppies", points out a farmer on the Tsuu T'ina reserve who oversees himself about a dozen large, short-haired dogs with pelts coloured grey, blue and cream.

One reserve resident who works at the administrations corrections office has begun looking after a stray that her daughter informally adopted. "I've left a bed outside and he's been sleeping there at night. It's really cold outside, but he's not there yet", she said of the dog's unwillingness to sleep indoors. She plans to have the dog neutered, accepting bags of dog food from Dogs With No Names.

Todd Korol for National PostMona Jorgensen (L) a volunteer with the DWNN (Dogs With No Names) Project and Lori Rogers a senior animal health technologist works with feral dogs on the Tsuu T'ina Indian Reservation near Calgary.

"I'm glad you guys are out here doing this", she tells the volunteers.