Medical Care for Wild Dogs of the Chilcotin

  • by: Arlene Longson
  • recipient: Dr. J. Andrew Forsyth, President, British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association

We demand immediate resolution to the ongoing tragedy of the massive number of abused,  unsheltered, injured, diseased, starving, and lonely wild dogs (previously domestic) roaming the wilderness communities of Anahim Lake and Nimpo Lake on British Columbia's Chilcotin Plateau.

We need the government and the British Columbia Veterinary Association to organize a regular program of veterianians to come to the area, possibly a voluntary rotation. Some sort of clinic and shelter must be setup whether the funds come from the government or BC Veterinarians themselves.

Chilcotin Dog 3


The Chilcotin Plateau is a remote wilderness area 200 miles west of Williams Lake, 500 miles north of Vancouver British Columbia. The harsh climate with temperatures as low as -60 celcius, combined with large scale neglect and horrific mental and physical abuse, including uncontrolled breeding, and starvation of domestic dogs has resulted in a long-standing nightmare of injured, hungry, diseased, and lonely packs of unapproachable dogs wandering the highways and streets of Anahim and Nimpo Lake in frigid weather looking for food and shelter.

These dogs soon pack-up, become vicious, and roam the land killing livestock and other domestic animals for the need of food.

One example of this horror is a little labrador-cross dog which locals have named "Limpy". He is homeless and is roaming the highway and communities with a front paw which is broken clean through. His paw flails around on the end of his leg, totally limp. He now tries to walk on the broken leg stump with his paw flung all the way out to the side. People pass him by and do nothing to help him. He was either beaten or hit by a car.

The solution to date has been for the SPCA to attend the communities once every few months to kill (shoot) the accumulations of dogs which are then tossed into a local landfill, sometimes twenty dogs at once.

In between the occasional attendances of the SPCA,  these dogs receive no care whatsoever. They often suffer long agonizing deaths.

Local residents are so accustomed to these dogs roaming around injured and hungry that they pay very little attention. These dogs have no choice but to kill for food.

Sign Petition
Sign Petition
You have JavaScript disabled. Without it, our site might not function properly.

Privacy Policy

By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.

Having problems signing this? Let us know.