WATCH: Twenty-one rescue puppies will soon meet their adoptive families after a 19-hour road trip from Saskatchewan. Isabelle Raghem has the story.
After more than 19 hours on the road, 21 puppies arrived Victoria Friday
It marks the end of their long road trip from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan where rescuers found many of them starving and cold in -20 C weather.
“Whole lot of fun, lots of snuggles, lots of pee breaks and finally made it today,” said Jay Armitage, who is on the board of directors for Flirting with Fido.
The puppies made the 1,700-kilometre journey from Saskatchewan to Vancouver Island to find their forever homes.
“These dogs in northern communities are starving, freezing to death, they have culls out there,” added Armitage.
The mission is in response to the stray dog crisis in the prairie provinces, where cold winter has proven to be fatal.
“There were some cold snaps around -40 C, -50 C with the wind chill. We’ve seen some pretty ugly sights,” Armitage said.
Volunteer Heather Boyle says Victoria has become a safe haven for these dogs.
“Around here you have access to inexpensive spay, neuter clinics, you have access to a lot of veterinary care, in some remote areas [of Sasktachewan] they don’t have a veterinarian around.”
All but one of the 21 dogs have found families. The rescue group says their efforts are far from over.
“There’s a lot more stray dogs especially in the northern communities,” added Boyle.
The group is hoping to head back to Saskatchewan for another rescue trip in a month or two, dependant on funding.
“I set up a ‘youcaring‘ fundraiser and we’ve raised some money towards our goal but we’re still quite far off,” Boyle said.
One rescue trip alone costs $2,500. So far, Flirting with Fido have raised $700 for this most recent trip thanks to donations.
“If we can get the funding for these trips we can continue to do them and continue to save dogs that would otherwise meet very unfortunate fates,” explained Boyle.
The dogs’ adoptive families will be picking them up Friday night, where they will be making their final journey to their forever homes.
Isabelle Raghem
