Injured dog's selflessness draws tears

EDMONTON - She was a young, homeless single mom trying to raise a family of five, but true to the spirit of the season there was room for one more.

Esperanza had been badly injured when she was hit by a car, but the young shepherd-cross with the thick white coat was still managing to care for her newborn puppies — and a kitten — when she was found on a central Alberta reserve.

Criss Gerwing, who runs a small animal rescue group, discovered the dog earlier this month and couldn't believe it when the canine led her to her blended brood.

"I cried because she was in such bad condition with her leg, but she was obviously nursing her puppies and this kitten," Gerwing told a media outlet.

Gerwing took the entire family to the Edmonton Humane Society, where veterinarians thought they'd have to amputate the mother dog's bad leg.

But local vet, Dr. Milton Ness, volunteered to do a special surgery that saved Esperanza's hind quarter.

He calls her a "special soul." Shawna Randolph at the humane society couldn't agree more.

"She is such a sweet, sweet dog. She has such a wonderful personality," Randoph said.

"It's amazing when you think about it. You have this dog who is just so giving of herself, caring for these newborn puppies and the kitten, making sure they were cared for even though she was obviously in a lot of pain."

Jacob the cat was already four months old and shouldn't have been nursing at all, so humane society vets weaned him and he's now being cared for by a staff member.

But he's brought to the shelter every day to visit his adoptive mom and her babies. His canine step-siblings are too young to pay much attention to him — their eyes are barely open — but Esperanza is always excited to see Jacob and gives him lots of baths.

"He's actually acting more like a dog than a cat," Randolph said. "Kittens are very rambunctious and playful, but he just wants to hang out. As soon as he gets to the dog family he's ... cuddling. And even with his (human) foster mom, he follows her around like a dog does."

Esperanza's background is a mystery. No one has come forward to claim her, yet she's well socialized. She's only about one, but has had a definite taste of freedom — she loves to be outside and run around. It's not clear how long she may have been on her own or when Jacob came onto the scene and turned on his feline charm.

The devoted mother is recovering well. She and her pups will go into foster care after the holidays until permanent homes can be found for them. But the humane society ideally would like Esperanza and Jacob to be adopted together.

Randolph said their story is especially heart-warming at this time of year.

"It's all about family, isn't it, at Christmas time, and here you have the ultimate family."

And Esperanza's name bodes well for her and her furry family's future — it means "hope" in Spanish.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 20, 2010 A9

Shamattawa Mountie Gennifer Furkalo has spent $2,000 of her own money feeding stray dogs.

Maybe it was the body of a frozen puppy, with a living, breathing pup standing less than a metre away, oblivious to the carcass. Maybe it was the dogs with wagging tails that bobbed their heads for a friendly pat from the stranger in the RCMP uniform. Or the kids who'd tell the constable where one pup or another was holed up, homeless and hungry.

Before Christmas, RCMP Const. Gennifer Furkalo sent a letter to the editor of her local paper in Neepawa in an effort to save the feral packs of neglected dogs roaming wild in Shamattawa.

She said her letter sparked responses that overwhelmed her as much for the negative stereotypes they reflected as for positive offers of help.

"I'm trying to do a good deed. I didn't know it would be as controversial as it was," Furkalo said from the remote northern outpost. "I've gotten a lot of reactions. There are lots of people willing to help."

Seven people have offered to adopt dogs. "I've had responses from all over Manitoba, from across Canada."

Furkalo said the Winnipeg Humane Society has offered to fly in a spay-and-neuter clinic if she can raise $1,000 to pay for airfare for the vets and $25 per dog to be fixed.

She figures she's spent upwards of $2,000 feeding animals and deworming some of them. She's shipped seven dogs south since October at $80 per dog. "Max, a husky cross, went to Brandon. He was about four months old. Remi went to Portage. She was about three months."

Shamattawa is a fly-in Cree community 750 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. The population of 1,400 people has an average income of $15,000 a year, and less than 200 people have a high school diploma, according to Indian Affairs.

Furkalo said she's doing her best to ignore stereotypes that fill feedback comments on media websites related to her appeal for help.

"There is a lot of negative light shed on northern communities," she said, adding it is true attitudes towards pets are vastly different on First Nations communities compared with southern suburbs. "I can understand the community's point of view. The dogs are seen as a nuisance."

The 23-year-old was transferred to Shamattawa at the end of September, her second posting with the RCMP. Her first was Gillam.

"The first thing I saw was the amount of animals. It was saddening," she said. Dogs occasionally attack kids, but not often, she said. For the most part, the dogs are not vicious.

"These are dogs that are hungry. You see them sitting beside houses. They want to be part of a family and they're all over town. There's no doubt, definitely, there are hundreds," Furkalo said.

The First Nation keeps conducts routine culls every three months. It's not a practice Furkalo supports. "I have a soft side for animals. I hope this is a positive project for them."

How to help: Anyone wishing to help Cst. Furkalo can reach her at Box 180, Shamattawa, MB, ROB 1KO or 204-565-2524.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 28, 2010 A5

JTF wrote:If we had a Provincial Vet, we could send him up there to neuter all the stray dogs and cats.