In This Issue....ISDI Launches New Partnership in Nunavik Qimmiit Utirtut's First Litter Update: Sledge Dog Memorial Fund Recollections of the Doggy Man Sledge Dogs of The Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, 1947-50 Video Reviews:
Product Review: Leather Mittens by Sterling Glove
|
In the News....
The following is reprinted, with permission, from the Chinook Project brochure:
The Chinook Project
The Chinook Project
Kimmirut, like many communities in the Canadian north with limited or no access to veterinary care, was experiencing difficulties controlling an increasing and increasingly disruptive local dog population. They were also having problems keeping community dogs healthy. The Chinook Project took veterinarians and veterinary students from the Atlantic Veterinary College at UPEI, along with essential equipment and supplies, to Kimmirut for one week in the summer of 2006. The team ministered to 70 per cent of the dog population, performing a variety of veterinary services, including spays, neuters, vaccinations, and dewormings. The team set up a surgical clinic in the local school kitchen, but often performed vaccinations and deworming “on the road”.
The Chinook Project is a unique interdisciplinary project at UPEI, bringing together disparate faculties of Arts and Veterinary Medicine. Chinook participants kept journals during their northern mission. These journals provided the "raw material" that, with the help from an English professor, have become polished pieces of creative non-fiction. These pieces will be collected to form a book about the Chinook Project experience. The Next Step
After Cambridge Bay, the current project grant expires. However, evidence suggests that there is a definite need for the Chinook Project to continue - both to provide services to new communities and to return to those communities already visited to help maintain veterinary care. In order to continue to provide this valuable service, the Chinook Project must seek sponsors and funding. Chinook Project Coordinators
For More Information
* * * Unidentified Disease Strikes Down Dogs in Ulukhoktok On February 28, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) online northern news service reported an unidentified fatal illness in sled dogs in the Northwest Territories community of Ulukhaktok on Victoria Island. The deaths began in August, 2006 and one musher who said his dogs were vaccinated, was reported to have lost a dozen animals. There were no details about any investigation into the deaths. Inquiries made by The Fan Hitch have not yet revealed any particulars. Ed. Note: Ulukhoktok is one of two communities on Victoria Island. The other is Kaluktutiak (Cambridge Bay), where the Chinook Project, described above, is scheduled to visit this summer. * * * Qimmiit Utirtut Hits the Mainstream Press On March 11, 2007 The Gazette (Montreal) published a substantial article about Qimmiit Utirtut, those involved and how the program has had a positive impact on so many in the community of Kangiqsualujjuaq in Nunavik. |