Eskasoni teams with SPCA to deal with stray animals

Eskasoni First Nation in Cape Bretonhas reached out to the Nova Scotia SPCA tohelp it deal with theproblem of roaming dogs and feral cats.

A team from the SPCA will be in Eskasoni on Friday to begin planning a spay and neuter program.

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The SCPA'schief provincial inspector, Jo-Anne Landsburg, told CBC'sInformation Morning Cape Bretonthat the community contacted the agency about a year ago for help with its dog problem.

"Some of these animals don't have homes; they're just wandering the streets," she said. "They're fighting with other animals.

Hungry and aggressive

"Some of them can potentially becomeaggressive when they're looking for food. They're attacking family pets."

Landsburg said some of the dogs, if they're notpets,willbe removed from the community, undergo a behaviour assessment, be spayed or neutered, and adopted if possible.

She said the program will take time.

"Right now, there's a lot of animals running loose out there, so we want to first address some of the animals that are most in need," she explained.

Restoring animals to health

"If they do have a home, what we're going to be doing is getting the animals healthy, so we'll be looking at vaccinating them, getting them dewormedand getting them spayed and neutered."

Landsburg said the SPCAwants to educatepeople about how their dogs can live longer ifspayed or neutered.

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"To prolong their life, it's better to keep them at home. We'll be looking at some ways of confinement," she said. "If the animals are spayed and neutered, they're less likely to roam and it also protects them from potential cancers."

Two months have been allottedbythe SPCA for the pilot.

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