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

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: May 16, 2025 4:55 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Volunteers successful Kenora, Ont., are co-ordinating efforts to rescue cats and dogs from Wabaseemoong, a First Nation that's been nether an evacuation bid since Tuesday owed to a adjacent wildfire.

About 1,000 radical unrecorded successful Wabaseemoong, an Ojibway assemblage astir 120 kilometres northwest of Kenora. Evacuees are staying successful hotels successful Kenora, Manitoba and Niagara Falls due to the fact that of Kenora 20, a 27,000-hectare wildfire conscionable 2.5 kilometres distant from the First Nation.

Wabaseemoong subordinate Clara Mandamin has been taking attraction of the pets near down and organizing evacuation efforts. In Kenora, Chris Madison from A Dog's Life has been moving with the Kenora Cat Shelter to enactment the animals arsenic they get successful the city. 

Cate Chant owns a equine workplace successful Kenora, and has offered up her indoor riding arena arsenic a impermanent structure for much than a twelve dogs from Wabaseemoong. 

"We're doing our champion to get each 13 of them into foster homes today, wherever I deliberation they would truly decompress and thrive," Chant said. "They're each truly affable dogs."

While it's unclear however agelong the evacuation bid volition beryllium successful effect, Chant said it's important to assistance owners support way of wherever their animals are, truthful they tin beryllium reunited arsenic soon arsenic possible.

"I'm truly hoping that radical could unfastened up their homes to a canine until they tin beryllium reunited with the owners. It would truly beryllium doing a immense work to the dogs," she said.

"Obviously, they're frightened and they're not comfy staying successful kennels successful an unfamiliar place, truthful I deliberation being capable to abstracted them and having them beryllium capable to interact with radical and get to spell extracurricular would beryllium hugely helpful."

Emergency readying for pets

Lisa Lyle, a unpaid with the Kenora Cat Shelter, said the enactment has taken successful 25 cats from Wabaseemoong and anticipates much connected the way. The structure has been posting photos of the cats connected Facebook to assistance place their owners.

"I don't deliberation we truly had clip to react. We were conscionable benignant of conscionable piling animals into vehicles to get them into municipality and into a installation wherever we could instrumentality attraction of them," Lyle said.

Wabaseemoong is nary longer accessible by road. For Lyle, the concern speaks to the value of having an evacuation program for pets successful distant areas.

"There's truthful galore areas successful and astir northwestern Ontario that conscionable person 1 roadworthy successful and 1 roadworthy out," she said. "When you person an exigency similar that, you truly request to person a bully coagulated program of however you're going to get animals out."

Meanwhile, she said each favored owners should person an exigency program successful place, should their animals request to beryllium rescued.

Lyle suggests radical enactment a enactment successful their model with accusation astir their pets, which whitethorn beryllium adjuvant for exigency responders.

"Make definite you person a bearer for them truthful that you person thing for the rescuers to enactment your carnal in. Even conscionable having a small spot of a statement of wherever they mightiness hide, due to the fact that cats volition fell if they're scared," she said.

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

As for the felines, the Kenora Cat Shelter is looking for cleaning supplies, including laundry soap, insubstantial towels and bleach, arsenic good arsenic Friskies pâté food. Both organizations are besides accepting monetary donations.