July 28, 2000
SEAN McKIBBON
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT — Iqaluit resident Ken MacRury wants to know why dog control officers shot his lead sled dog, Serius, without waiting the standard two days.
But the Town’s director of emergency services, Neville Wheaton, says Iqaluit’s dog control officers were well within their rights.
Wheaton said MacRury’s dog was off its chain, fighting with other dogs, and untagged when it was picked up by dog control officers near the airport creek July 12.
Wheaton said the Town had received complaints from people walking their dogs in the area who said their dogs had been attacked. He also said that people living in the area were afraid to leave their houses.
"There’s a provision for it in the bylaw. We don’t like to go around shooting dogs," Wheaton said.
But Wheaton said if the dogs are untagged, injured and have been attacking other dogs, the bylaw allows the officers to exercise their judgment and destroy the dog.
"If they had known it was Ken’s (dog) they would have called him," Wheaton said.
But MacRury said he is one of only four dog team owners who tether their dogs in the area, and he says it should have been a relatively easy task to find out whose dog the animal control officers had picked up. It is almost impossible to keep tags on sled dogs, he said.
"They don’t stay on the dogs," he said. But the fact his dog was not tagged should not have meant an immediate death sentence, he said.
"There are other dogs they pick up that aren’t tagged and they wait the 48 hours."
MacRury has owned Inuit dogs since 1976, he’s written an academic paper on them, and says he’s travelled thousands of miles with his dogs. Serius did not have to be shot he said.
"The reason they got him was probably because he was the easiest one to catch," said MacRury. He said Serius was extremely friendly and would not have attacked anybody.
"This dog was a suck," said MacRury. All of his dogs are hand-fed, MacRury said.
Another sled dog, a female who was tethered in the area, has been loose for weeks and went into heat. MacRury said the two dogs that were picked up were probably fighting over the female.
"When there’s a female in heat those dogs become Houdini." said MacRury. "She’s still loose. Why don’t they do something about the dog that is causing the problem?"
MacRury fired off an e-mail last Friday to the acting town administrator, Okalik Curley, after the incident, asking for a full report, asking why his dog was picked up, what kind of dog was attacked, where the attack happened, why he wasn’t contacted, and why the dog didn’t get the normal waiting period.
"We submitted our report to our supervisor and they’re working on it and that’s our comment for right now," said Chris Groves, one of the animal control officers.
Wheaton said he would give MacRury a report soon, but as of Wednesday MacRury said he hadn’t heard anything from the Town.
Wheaton said that he wants to be compensated for the loss of his dog.
MacRury said it could cost $5,000 to replace a lead sled dog and a puppy could run as much as $1,200.
Serius was eight years old and responded so well to commands, "it was like power steering," MacRury said. He said that a lead dog does much more than guide a dog team.
"He sets the tone for the team. When we’d go out caribou hunting he had the whole routine down. This guy was the best I’ve ever seen," said MacRury.
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