Sask. town lends a helping paw after Manitoba animal rescue's van stranded during winter storm

A Manitoba animal rescue organization is thankful for the help of residents in aSaskatchewan town after the rescue's van got stranded in a snowstorm this week.

K9 Advocates Manitoba was transporting 75 cats and dogs, en route to British Columbia, when a winter stormThursday left them stranded inMoosomin, Sask., just over the Manitoba border and about 200 kilometres east of Regina on the Trans-Canada Highway.

"None of us knew anyone in Moosomin, so we were frantically calling the RCMP and fire halls and boarding kennels," said Chelsea Kork, one of the rescue organization's directors.

Parts of the Trans-Canada highway in Manitoba and Saskatchewan were closed Thursday andinto Friday as a dump of snow andheavy windsmade driving treacherous across the southern Prairies.

Kork said K9 Advocates membersworked the phones and Facebook into Thursday evening, looking for a place to keep the animals in Moosomin warm for the night.

Residents of the town and the local vet clinic quickly stepped up to help take care of the animals all night.

WATCH | Manitoba animal rescue grateful for Sask. town that stepped up during storm:

Manitoba animal rescue helped by residents of Sask. town

3 years ago

Duration 1:07

Seventy-five cats and dogs en route from Manitoba to B.C. got help from residents in Moosomin, Sask., when they were stranded in a winter storm in on Thursday.

"The town of Moosomin came out kept them in a vet clinic overnight, walked them, fed them, changed cat litter boxes," Kork said.

She said she and the rest of K9 Advocates Manitobacan't thank the residents of Moosomin enough for their help.

"It was amazing."

Kork said the animals were headed to British Columbia part of frequent trips K9 Advocates takes to Vancouver and Toronto, where animals are adopted into homes.

"We've learned that nothing ever goes perfectly smoothly, no matter how hard we try," Kork said. "We weren't expecting this at all."

Theanimalswere returned to Winnipeg on Friday.

Kork said they'vebeen placed in foster homes for now, and the group planned toattemptanother trip to British Columbia after theweather improved.