Former kennel owner now camping with 50 dogs, Yukon gov't wants her gone

Shelley Cuthbert, who was forced to shut down her Tagish, Yukon, dog kennel earlier this year, may be forced to move again — this time from public lands that she's been squatting on with about 50 dogs.

The Yukon government's Department of Energy, Mines and Resources filed a petition to the Yukon Supreme Court on Tuesday that would force Cuthbert to abandon the site just off the Atlin Road, near Tarfu Lake.

According to the petition, Cuthbert has been living at the site with the dogs since at least August. She vacated her Tagish property in June, following a court order to shut down her kennel. Earlier, she had said she would go camp with her dogs.

Yukon natural resource officer Jason Colbert was sent to inspect the Atlin Road site in early August, in response to a public complaint.

According to the petition, Colbert found a makeshift kennel on public land, about 1.2 kilometres from the road. The site had several pens built with wire fencing and tarps. 

It wasn't immediately clear to Colbert who was responsible for the site, and nobody was present. There were plenty of dogs though, enclosed in pens, tied to trees, or roaming free — and some did not seem friendly, or happy to see Colbert. 

"I did not want to enter the fenced areas on account of concerns for my personal safety," Colbert says in an affidavit filed to court.

Trying to make contact

Colbert left a note asking the person responsible to contact him. He heard nothing back.

He returned several more times over the following weeks, hoping to make contact with whoever was responsible. Sometimes he waited a while, or just left a business card.

One time he met a man at the site who said he was there at Cuthbert's request, to take care of the dogs. The man cautioned Colbert not to walk through the site as some of the dogs might get loose and attack. 

Eventually, Colbert installed a motion-detection camera near the site and caught Cuthbert on camera removing the letters he'd left.

"I was able to confirm that the person in the pictures was Ms. Cuthbert based on having seen Ms. Cuthbert's photo numerous times in newspapers," Colbert's affidavit states.

Feral dogs roam nearby

Colbert and another department official went back to the site the next day and managed to meet with Cuthbert. She gave them a tour of the site, and told them she had about 50 dogs. Some were running loose, and Cuthbert said that two were feral "because she could not catch them," Colbert's affidavit says.

Cuthbert also gave the officials a recorded statement, saying she had been there for more than a couple of weeks, that she stays every night, and was the only person staying there.

She also told them that she had accidentally cleared some trees from the site by running them over.

A couple of weeks later, on Sept. 11, a letter was hand-delivered to Cuthbert, telling her that her occupation of the site appeared unlawful, and asking that she vacate within 15 days.

A day after that deadline, Colbert returned and found that she had expanded the site, with a wall tent and a new dog enclosure. She indicated to Colbert that she intended to stay in the tent through the winter.

In her statement to officials, she said she no longer had a permanent residence in Yukon.

Still barking

Cuthbert's troubles first began when her Tagish neighbours got fed up by the sound of barking, and according to the petition filed this week, the dogs still know how to make a racket.

In his affidavit, Colbert describes how it was noisy every time he went to the site.

"The barking was loud enough that it was difficult to carry a conversation," he states. "There was also a strong odour of dog feces and urine on and near the site every time I attended."

The government's petition asks the court to direct Cuthbert to vacate the property and "restore the lands to their previous condition," or show cause, within 30 days, why such an order should not be made.

Cuthbert has eight days to file a response to the petition.