An overpopulation of stray dogs in northern Saskatchewan has led to some local shelters lending a helping hand.

Northern Animal Rescue in La Ronge reached out to the Saving Grace Animal Sanctuary Canada in Erksine for help, after they became overwhelmed with the number of drop offs.

There was also an alarming number of strays in the community and local residents were notified of the stray dog round up taking place, and were asked to keep their dogs chained up or inside.

Erin Deems is the founder of Saving Grace, and she says a lack of nearby resource is one of the reasons why these dogs are coming all the way from Northern Saskatchewan to Central Alberta.

“We’ve helped them in the past take a couple of dogs, and they just realized that we have the capacity and the relationships within Alberta to make sure these dogs got into safe situations where they would be fully vetted and put up for adoption, whereas the closest vet to them is a two and half hour drive, and we don’t have that problems as much in Alberta.”

Deems says about ten dogs needed medical attention, but overall they were all in good health. She says the high number of strays is usually caused by one thing.

“Overpopulation, a lack of spay and neuter. So a lot of them have a litter of puppies and the puppies wander off, people take them home, then those puppies have puppies, and there just becomes a lot of unwanted dogs.”

The animals will spend about two weeks getting the appropriate medical treatments before being put up for adoption.

In total, 249 dogs and two cats were brought in from across the border over three different trips, and are now available for adoption at different locations across Alberta, including the Calgary and Central Alberta Humane Society, Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society, Prairie Pit Bull Rescue, and the Pawsitive Match Rescue Foundation.

(Volunteers help load stray dogs into a transport truck in northern Saskatchewan, to be adopted out to different shelters across Alberta. Photo courtesy of Saving Grace Animal Sanctuary Canada’s Facebook page)