Volunteers in Kenora, Ont., seeking foster homes for cats, dogs from Wabaseemoong

Volunteers in Kenora, Ont., are co-ordinating efforts to rescue cats and dogs from Wabaseemoong, a First Nation that's been under an evacuation order since Tuesday due to a nearby wildfire.

About 1,000 people live in Wabaseemoong, an Ojibway community about 120 kilometres northwest of Kenora. Evacuees are staying in hotels in Kenora, Manitoba and Niagara Falls because of Kenora 20, a 27,000-hectare wildfire just 2.5 kilometres away from the First Nation.

Wabaseemoong member Clara Mandamin has been taking care of the pets left behind and organizing evacuation efforts. In Kenora, Chris Madison from A Dog's Life has been working with the Kenora Cat Shelter to support the animals as they arrive in the city. 

Cate Chant owns a horse farm in Kenora, and has offered up her indoor riding arena as a temporary shelter for more than a dozen dogs from Wabaseemoong. 

"We're doing our best to get all 13 of them into foster homes today, where I think they would really decompress and thrive," Chant said. "They're all really friendly dogs."

While it's unclear how long the evacuation order will be in effect, Chant said it's important to help owners keep track of where their animals are, so they can be reunited as soon as possible.

"I'm really hoping that people could open up their homes to a dog until they can be reunited with the owners. It would really be doing a huge service to the dogs," she said.

"Obviously, they're scared and they're not comfortable staying in kennels in an unfamiliar place, so I think being able to separate them and having them be able to interact with people and get to go outside would be hugely helpful."

Emergency planning for pets

Lisa Lyle, a volunteer with the Kenora Cat Shelter, said the organization has taken in 25 cats from Wabaseemoong and anticipates more on the way. The shelter has been posting photos of the cats on Facebook to help identify their owners.

"I don't think we really had time to react. We were just sort of just piling animals into vehicles to get them into town and into a facility where we could take care of them," Lyle said.

Wabaseemoong is no longer accessible by road. For Lyle, the situation speaks to the importance of having an evacuation plan for pets in remote areas.

"There's so many areas in and around northwestern Ontario that just have one road in and one road out," she said. "When you have an emergency like that, you really need to have a good solid plan of how you're going to get animals out."

Meanwhile, she said all pet owners should have an emergency plan in place, should their animals need to be rescued.

Lyle suggests people put a note in their window with information about their pets, which may be helpful for emergency responders.

"Make sure you have a carrier for them so that you have something for the rescuers to put your animal in. Even just having a little bit of a description of where they might hide, because cats will hide if they're scared," she said.

While the top priority is getting the animals into foster homes, Chant said A Dog's Life is seeking donations of kennels 42 inches or larger.

As for the felines, the Kenora Cat Shelter is looking for cleaning supplies, including laundry soap, paper towels and bleach, as well as Friskies pâté food. Both organizations are also accepting monetary donations.