Treatment of dogs a concern for Quebec Cree resident

An Oujé-Bougoumou, Que., resident is worried proper procedures aren't being followed when dealing with dogs in his Cree community.

Last winter, Kevin Brousseau and his three kids adopted a puppy that was lost and freezing. Brousseau said they vaccinated, sterilized and collared the dog and Rosie became the family pet.

Recently, Brousseau reported that she was missing. He tried putting posters on Facebook and asking people around the community.

The more effort he put into finding their lost dog, the more disturbed he became by what he learned. 

"I kept asking around some more and finally somebody told me — who wants to be anonymous — that the dogs are not just abandoned in the bush, maybe some of them are, but most of them are brought to the dump and killed, that got me extremely disturbed," he said.

Brousseau said he kept asking questions. That led him to the animal refuge in the nearby town of Chapais, Que., and eventually to the Oujé-Bougoumou dump.

Brousseau found the body of one dog and the skeleton of what appears to be another dog at the dump. But he didn't find his family's dog Rosie.

Oujé-Bougoumou’s interim Director of Public Safety, James Wapachee, said there is a by-law on how to maintain dogs in the community. It meant to help avoid an increase in the population of stray dogs.

Wapachee also said there is a by-law on how to take dogs out for a walk and bring them back indoors.