Saskatchewan

1,500 kg of food brought to La Loche pets left behind

The Pack Project collected donations and is transporting them to La Loche to feed about 250 pets left behind by owners who were forced from their homes by wildfires.

Owners forced from homes by wildfires

Amy Vitkay helped organize the shipments of pet food. She brought along her trusty companion Celieh. (Roxanna Woloshyn/CBC News)

A group has collected pet food donations and is transporting them to La Loche to feed about 250 pets left behind by owners who were forced from their homes by wildfires.

This U-Haul is taking more than 1,500 kilograms of pet food to La Loche to help animals left behind. (Roxanna Woloshyn/CBC News)
The Regina non-profit the Pack Project sent more than 1,500 kilograms of dog and cat food Thursday evening, enough to feed about 200 dogs and 50 cats for up to two weeks.

According to Pack Project's co-director and outreach program coordinator Amy Vitkay, the donations are meant to help pets, but also to ease the minds of pet owners.

"If I got brought down here, my biggest worry would be my animals," Vitkay told CBC News. "Hopefully we'll give some of the people who have had to be displaced from their homes a little bit of reassurance that maybe their pets will still be okay when they get home."

Donating to the cause

Kim Larson brought donations of pet blankets, as well as leashes and collars to give to the Pack Project Thursday. She thinks it's important to help pets as well as people.

"With everything that's going on up north, I think it's awesome that they're being remembered and being taken care of as well," she said.

The Pack Project hopes to bring food to more northern communities. Vitkay said the organization accepts food for pets as well as financial contributions which helps to rent vehicles.