Volunteers feeding Poplar River pets left behind after fire evacuation

While most of the people living in Poplar River First Nation evacuated to Winnipeg earlier this week due to a nearby forest fire, a group of volunteers who stayed behind are asking for help to feed the pets left in the community.

About 400 people were flown out of the community, approximately 350 kilometres north on Winnipeg,on dozens of small planes. The Canadian Red Cross completedthe evacuation of Poplar Riveron Thursday, but due to the small size of the planes, residents were unable to take their pets with them.

Hundreds of cats and dogs have been left behind, according to volunteers who have been co-ordinatingefforts to get food supplies into the community.

Around 50 residents stayed in Poplar River to help firefighters look after the community.

Arthur Berens is one of them. He said people have been going around every day to houses to feed the animals.

Donations have been coming in from the Northern Store, but Berens fears their supplies are running low.

On Wednesday, a half-ton truck load of pet food was sent up to the community on a plane that had delivered evacuees to Winnipeg. Another plane from Skycare Airlines took a shipment of about 180 kilograms to Poplar River.

"I don't think there's much left. We got people doing that every day and probably by tomorrow or in a couple more days we'll be out of dog food," said Berens.

'They're all excited that they're being fed'

Despite his concerns,Berenssaid the animals are doing well right now.

"They seem to be doing OK. These guys say the pets come running to them right away as they see them coming and they're all excited that they're being fed."

The Red Cross has been co-ordinating efforts with Norway House Animal Rescue to get food to the roughly 500 animals, flying food in and purchasing food from the Northern Store in the community.

"Because of these resources, there is no shortage of pet food at this time," said Jason Small, a spokesperson for the Red Cross.

High temperatures and winds had pushed the fire to 3,587 hectares on Friday, a provincial spokesperson said. The fire is now about two kilometres away from Poplar River.

Evacuation plansin place

Plans are in place to get the remaining community members out if the fire gets too close.

"As part of the community's contingency plans for evacuating the members who are still there, there are also plans to get the animals out of the community, if it ever comes to that," Small said.

Debra Vandekerkhove, director of Norway House Animal Rescue, said people have been calling in from across Canada to donate money to purchase food for the animals. Her group is working with Manitoba Sustainable Developmentto get pet food onto planes at Lac du Bonnet to send to Poplar River.

The planes are taking firefighting equipment up to the First Nation along with pet food collected by Vandekerkhove and her group, said Earl Simmons, spokesperson for Manitoba Sustainable Development.

The firefighters are installing sprinklers on houses as a precaution, and while they do that they are helping distribute food to the animals, Simmons said.

One planeload with nearly 200 kilograms of food went up Saturday afternoon, and a second was expected to go out later in the day, said Simmons.