Northern Ontario stray dogs finding new homes in GTA

Up North5:4370 stray dogs from northwestern Ontario First Nation headed to new homes in southern Ontario

While the population of stray dogs grows in the far north, people are looking to adopt in southern Ontario. Now 70 dogs have taken a road trip and will soon have new homes. We spoke to Daryl Vaillancourt from the North Bay and District Humane Society.

A total of 70 stray dogs are resting up in North Bay today after a long road trip that began on Grassy Narrows First Nation in northern Ontario. Soon they'll complete the final leg of their journey, and be adopted out to families in southern Ontario.

Daryl Vaillancourt, executive director of the North Bay Humane Society, says they work with "Beat the Heat," a charity in Kenora that helps reduce the high numbers of stray dogs in northwestern Ontario's First Nations.

The groups bring the stray dogs to Humane Societies and shelters in southern Ontario.

Vaillancourt said Grassy Narrows First Nation doesn't have easy access to spaying or neutering, so over time the dog population ballooned.

"The First Nation was struggling to take care of these dogs," Vaillancourt said.

"And it's fall, so they were concerned about the puppies surviving the winter."

The dogs are hardy, Vaillancourt said, but these pups "probably wouldn't have survived."

These particular dogs are destined for humane societies in Sarnia and Welland, Vaillancourt said, and he wouldn't be surprised if they all get adopted.

"Our adoptions for dogs [in Northern Ontario] is very high," Vaillancourt said, "but it's better in the Greater Toronto Area. There are some shelters who don't even have dogs."

"This is just anecdotal, but at some shelters, when people find out they have dogs available, there's people lined up at the door," Vaillancourt said.

Listen to the story about these stray northern dogs on CBC's Up North