No single solution for Yukon's dog problems, says chief vet

Yukon's chief veterinarian said there have been efforts to deal with problem dogs in rural communities, but it's up to local residents to find solutions.

"There is not likely to be a one-size-fits-all solution for dog-related issues in Yukon, and the responses to these need to be based on what the community thinks will work and what they're prepared to implement," said Mary Vanderkop.

• Yukon MLA decries lack of action on Ross River dogs

Vanderkop was at a community meeting earlier this week in Ross River, where it was revealed that 22-year-old Shane Glada had been killed and partially consumed last fall in the community, by semi-feral dogs.

Ross River, an unincorporated community with no municipal council, has long had a problem with roaming and aggressive dogs, and Vanderkop said past efforts to address the problem have largely fizzled.

She said the local First Nation launched a program a few years ago to periodically bring a dog catcher to town, but few loose dogs were ever rounded up.

"People tend to tie up their dogs when they know someone is coming," Vanderkop said.

A veterinarian has also been brought to the community in the past to spay or neuter animals, but it's lately been difficult to find a vet able or willing to do that, Vanderkop said. Residents must instead drive several hours to a vet in Whitehorse.

First responsibility is with the owner

Vanderkop said stray dogs can be seized by officials when the animals are deemed "vicious", but there are often "difficulties around that interpretation of this vicious temperament.

"They fall back on [there] being a witnessed attack, or a witnessed aggression, or a witnessed act of aggression.

"The first responsibility really would rest with the owner. They're their animals, and they would be given the option of having those animals destroyed and choosing how that's done."

It's not known whether the dogs that killed Glada in Ross River were killed, or are still roaming free. Some residents at Monday's community meeting worried those animals may now have a taste for human flesh.

Vanderkop is skeptical, saying there's little evidence that dogs can develop such a taste. The greater concern for her is when dogs are no longer inhibited from biting people.