Viral canine disease running through Natuashish band chief confirms

It appears there has been an outbreak of canine distemper in the communityof Natuashish, Labrador says John Nui, the band council chief.

"Distemper is a highly contagious disease with high mortality from which vaccination is highly protective," according toNorth Atlantic Remote Vet Services. The group was already in Natuashish to aid in the retrieval of 20 dogs surrendered by the community. The animalswereflown roughly 300 kilometres southto a boarding kennel in Happy Valley-Goose Bayand 11 were thentransported to Newfoundland.

It was shortly after the retrieval of the dogs that the group was then contacted byDr. Rebecca Jackson of Valley Veterinary Clinic in Happy Valley-Goose Bay to warnabout a confirmeddistemper outbreak inNatuashish, according to a post on the North Atlantic Remote Vet Services Facebook page.

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"We had literally evacuated these dogs on the brink of a distemper outbreak without even knowing it," the post reads.

"In Canada distemper outbreaks are very uncommon and only occur in places where vaccination is inadequate, which is unfortunately almost always in remote First Nations communities. NARVS was there in April. We did lots of surgeries but there was little submission for just vaccinations."

Nuisays the disease while common around animals is not contagious to humans, and thatNorth Atlantic Remote Vet Services will be returning toNatuashishwithin the next week.

"From my understanding it can be treated for those at the early stages," Nui said.

"It is concerning for us, with the stray dogs they could transfer the disease to other animals which could lead into a bigger issue."

Jackson confirmed the disease was likely carried over and spread by the fox population in the area and now has found its way intothe canine population.

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Nui says the community hopes they can find a way to remove the stray dogs from the community with plans to find foster homes across the country for them.

"Two ladies have camein here a couple of timesalready. There's still plenty to come in again and get the rest of the dogs, the small puppies roaming around in our community and then at the dump site," he said.

But Jackson says it isn't a good idea at this point to removemore dogs until it's known with certainty that they have been vaccinated to avoid potentially spreading the disease to other communities.

Rescued pups

North Atlantic Remote Vet Services confirms in itsFacebook post that only two of the 20 removeddogs had been vaccinated previous to evacuation.

"All eleven dogs that arrived to the island were dewormed, and vaccinated, or boostered, on arrival," the post said.

"The remaining dogs in HVGB were examined and boostered by Dr Jackson in HVGB at the kennel. All the dogs have been in very good health since being transported."

Nuisays for residents to let the community know if they need help with their own animals. Neutering and vaccinations are the best way to keep the population healthy.

"The best idea I know is to let us know what they want to do with their dogs, maybe we can provide them what they need," he said.

"The ladies that were here before are planning to come again to take the rest of the dogs they left behind."

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