N.W.T. puppy sole survivor of litter left to freeze

A two-week-old puppy is in the care of a Yellowknife animal hospital after it was rescued from temperatures below –35 C in Whati, N.W.T., in what police say is a case of animal cruelty.

RCMP say Anthony Bishop, 39, had pushed the puppy's mother out of his home, even though she was in labour at the time. The adult dog and most of its litter froze to death, except for the one puppy.

Bishop has been charged with one count of animal cruelty and one count of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

He has already appeared before a justice of the peace and was released on the condition that he not own, possess or be in the same residence as an animal. He is slated to appear in court on March 9.

Whati RCMP Cpl. Jeremie Landry said he received a complaint from a neighbour on Nov. 22 about a dead female dog on Bishop's property. By the time he arrived, Bishop had brought the surviving puppy indoors.

"I went into the residence with the homeowner and seized the puppy," Landry told CBC News on Monday. "[It] was three days old, had suffered severe hypothermia and was frostbitten in various parts of [its] body

Landry took the newborn puppy into his home and cared for it until it could be flown to Yellowknife, where it is now in the care of staff at the Great Slave Animal Hospital.

Sole survivor

The puppy, now named Yuki, lost part of its nose to frostbite but otherwise seems to be doing fine, say staff at the animal hospital.

"We were amazed that she survived because the rest of the litter actually didn't," said Ashley Woodfine, a receptionist at the animal hospital. "We were just so happy that she was the sole survivor. She's very sweet."

Since the puppy is too young to be without its mother, hospital staff are bottle-feeding it, helping it go to the bathroom and generally keeping a close eye on it.

"She's doing really good, but down the road, there's so many diseases, like parvo and kidney failure, liver failure," Woodfine said.

"Right now, we don't know any of that — if she's a carrier of any of that. So it's a day-by-day basis to make sure she's surviving."

Staff say Yuki should be ready for adoption early in the new year.

4 other dogs found

Several days after the Nov. 22 complaint, Landry returned to Bishop's home with a search warrant and found even more dogs in poor condition.

"We located four adult dogs who were on the property," Landry said. "They were without food, water, adequate shelter.

"They were tied up to snow machines in the yard. The leashes they were tied up to were extremely short. One leash was only six inches long; the dog was not able to lay down."

Whati, a remote community of about 500, is located 167 kilometres north of Yellowknife.

The four dogs have also been brought to Yellowknife, where they are being kept in shelter space the Northwest Territories SPCA borrows from the animal hospital.

The SPCA borrows that space because it currently does not have its own animal shelter. The need for a shelter in the N.W.T. has become more urgent in recent years, as more animal neglect and abuse cases come to light.

The N.W.T. SPCA is vying for funding under the Aviva Community Fund, a national competition sponsored by the insurance company Aviva Canada.

The organization's proposal for a northern animal shelter is currently a semi-finalist in the competition. The SPCA is encouraging the public to vote for its bid.