The City of Yellowknife is trying to find a new business to operate a dog pound after the Great Slave Animal Hospital said it couldn’t keep offering the service.
According to a City Hall news release on Tuesday, the animal hospital will stop impounding dogs on the city’s behalf from June 1.
This means a new facility to act as a pound is urgently needed in the weeks ahead.
The work involves housing dogs that are rounded up by municipal enforcement officers or dogs that need to be placed into the pound in a few other specific scenarios.
Animal hospital staff say it’s a demanding task that sometimes involves contact with abusive people trying to reclaim dogs.
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Meanwhile, the city’s veterinary clinics have long been under strain through a shortage of staff. Separately, for example, the animal hospital said last month it will drop from two veterinarians to one after May 24.
“We are overrun with emergencies and new patients daily. It is our staff members (the limited few) who tend to the kennels on top of their regular vet assistant positions and duties,” Great Slave Animal Hospital told Cabin Radio by email.
“Further, we are also fully responsible for placing abandoned dogs when they are not claimed, and we are no longer able to perform this service as we are so busy with the patients already in our care,” that statement continued.
“GSAH has been covering all costs associated with abandoned dogs. The SPCA has been very helpful in flying some of these abandoned pets south to find new homes, but they are also frequently at full capacity and not always able to assist in this endeavour.
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“We feel that we have upheld our contract with the City of Yellowknife as best we could up until this point, but this has always been a huge undertaking for our small staff, and we are no longer able to provide this service.”
What the city wants
The animal hospital’s withdrawal raises the question of who has the facilities, staff and capacity to do the job.
In its request for proposals, the city says the pound needs to be available to municipal enforcement officers at any hour of the year. An operator can expect 60 to 70 dogs a year, the city says, most of them found running loose but a few serving a specific quarantine period or needing a home “for investigative reasons, including neglect.”
The dogs need “adequate food, water, ventilation and climate control,” as well as “adequate veterinary care” if needed.
The operator also needs to provide set hours for people to come get their dog. (If your dog is impounded, with a few exceptions, the city says it’s on you to pay the impound fees.)
Any dog impounded for longer than five days “may be sold, destroyed or otherwise disposed of,” the city’s request for proposals states.
“The city will not be responsible for any dog left in the care of the contractor for longer than five days,” the document adds.
“Owners who have had patients impounded do sometimes become very abusive with the staff, to the point where violent actions have sometimes been taken, and we are no longer able to continue to defend ourselves with these owners,” the Great Slave Animal Hospital stated.
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“Patients who have been seized by MED are not able to be rehomed as per city bylaw at this time, so we often end up seeing the same animals repeatedly, often in poor condition, which is very wearing on the staff.”
The request for proposals is squarely aimed at other professionals with an existing interest in this area and some infrastructure.
The winning bidder “must have a permanent facility” to act as a pound, the city states, with at least three dedicated kennels. The city wants to sign a three-year contract and says it has a budget of $30,000 a year, though it isn’t clear if that includes impound fees paid by dog owners or if those fees are on top.
Businesses have until May 23 to bid.
Once a new contractor is chosen, the city says it will provide residents with “information on what to do with loose dogs and where to find impounded dogs.”
“The city thanks Great Slave Animal Hospital for their years of partnership with MED, and their work on returning dogs to their owners,” the city’s news release concluded.
