A northern Manitoba dog brought to the area during a rescue mission earlier this year has been sent back home.
Lost Boys Hope founder Kelley Ward confirmed the dog known as Kujoe has been returned to Cross Lake Indian Reserve after her organization was satisfied the pup belonged there.
“Lost Boys had asked for months to only have the family correctly identify the dog in question,” Ward said. “Originally, they misidentified him with several other dogs in our rescue and the only picture they had was a puppy picture with similarities and also differences.”
Allegations made in July by a local woman and another living at the reserve said Lost Boys Hope was refusing to return two dogs“accidentally” brought to Ontario from the reserve in early June following a round-up of strays by Lost Boys and the Manitoba Animal Alliance.
Andrea MacIvor, who works as a teacher in Cross Lake, told BarrieToday then that an 11-year-old girl got on her bike the day of the round-up to search the community looking for her dog 'Kujoe', but couldn’t find him anywhere.
As well, she noted the girl went to the community arena where the stray dogs were being held prior to being transported to Ontario, but didn’t recover the dog.
“They did all the things that concerned owners do,” she said at the time.
But Ward said Lost Boys always works hard to ensure it’s not leaving with an “owned” dog as volunteers work diligently while taking a number of steps, including knocking on doors throughout the community to see if people recognize any of the animals.
Ward said all her organization ever wanted was to ensure the dog was correctly identified.
“We had been accused of doing a bait and swap on the dog and we needed legally to have them sign off on the identification, which for months they refused,” she added.
Ward said she worked with Crosslake Chief David Monias to make the return of the dog named Kujoe happen.
“The Chief agreed to pay all the expenses to have the dog returned,” Ward said. “Part of our agreement initially was that he would be fully vetted to ensure his safety. He was fully vaccinated, neutered and given flea and tick medication. We should not have to pay for that out of our rescue funds."
Monias confirmed one of two dogs taken in error has been returned.
"The whole purpose of their involvement and Manitoba Animal Alliance is to monitor, regulate and manage the dog population that will lead to developing a strategy to create a dog kennel and clinic," he wrote in an email.
Monias said his community does not currently have the facilities or resources to make this happen at the moment and, therefore, relay on organizations such as the animal alliance and Lost Boys to assist on an interim basis.
"The external organizations were to take dogs that were relinquished by their owners and to take abandoned dogs however it was understood that people in the community would be given the opportunity to retrieve their dogs if they were mistakenly taken," he said. "The dog owners would need to identify their dogs within a certain time and their dogs would be returned.
"Unfortunately, some dogs taken were owned and should have been returned and while we support this program, we also support the dog owners that claim their dogs were taken by mistake. In this case, we managed to work out a solution to return one of the two dogs. However, the second remains unresolved as the foster dog placement refuse to return the other dog. We hope to settle this and resolve it as soon as possible."
Ward said the safety of all dogs is always of paramount concern to her organization.
“It’s about being a responsible owner regardless of where you live,” she said, noting that in this instance she wanted the dog to spend as little time as possible travelling.
“We asked for him to fly back in the best interest of the dog. A 30-hour car ride (in a crate) would not have been in his best interest.
“That’s what some people are forgetting here: Best interests of the animal.”
Ward said the flight back to Manitoba was scheduled within hours of Lost Boys finally receiving positive identification.
“We provided him and the family with a collar, which he was not wearing at time of pick up, a tag with his owner's name and a leash.”
Ward said it’s important to note that any group whether bylaw or a rescue shelter all ask for correct identification of animals.
“Living on reserve for dogs is rough and we wanted to make absolutely sure it was the right dog,” Ward said, noting different stories kept arising regarding the dog that’s since been returned.
“At the end of the day, Lost Boys was doing a service for this community to help and not hurt them. We have apologized for the delay, but do not take responsibility for that.”
