Cambridge Bay mayor warns of dogs strangled while tied up

Features of infection with rabies are shown in this magnified image from the brain of a patient who died of rabies. (PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CENTRES FOR DISEASE CONTROL)

People in the western Nunavut town of Cambridge Bay need to keep a close eye on their dogs when they’re tied up, mayor Jeannie Ehaloak advises.

That’s because some tied-up dogs have been found strangled recently, Ehaloak said.

People in the community alerted her to the situation.

And to clarify the situation, a dog was sent to the Great Slave Animal Hospital in Yellowknife to be tested for rabies.

“When dogs get rabies they tend to go wild on the leash… but we can’t speculate,” Ehaloak said.

The hamlet is now waiting for the results to hear if the dog sent to Yellowknife tests positive for rabies.

Rabies, a potentially fatal viral disease that spreads from the bite of a rabid animal to another animal or human, affects the central nervous system. It’s a disease found mostly in foxes and wolves in Nunavut and most often transmitted by bites from infected animalsl.

“All we know is that they were strangled,” Ehaloak said.

The dogs that were strangled could have gotten tangled up on their chain or leash.

“We have no evidence of people strangling dogs,” Ehaloak said.

But a woman who posted on Cambridge Bay’s news page on Facebook expressed concern about having found her dog strangled, lying on its back and not breathing, over the weekend.

She urged people to contact the RCMP if they have any information about what happened to her dog — saying that there was a big footprint left on her steps.

Cambridge Bay has had rabies problems in the past, but not recently, Ehaloak said.

In those cases, the hamlet’s bylaw workers will order a shipment of vaccines to be given to dogs in the community to stop rabies from spreading.

“I just want people to be aware of their dogs, and keep a close eye on them,” Ehaloak said.

Animals with rabies can appear nervous, agitated or aggressive and may be foaming at the mouth.

The rabies virus, present in the saliva of an infected animal, can spread to people who are bitten or scratched by an infected dog or fox.

The virus then travels along nerve cells to the brain. The virus is deadly in infected humans if they are not treated soon after the disease is transmitted.

Foxes and wolves are the main carriers of rabies in the wild — and when they bite dogs, rabies can spread quickly.

Rabies symptoms in animals can include either aggressive and combative behaviour or listless and weak behaviour.

But, in both kinds of rabies, the “furious” or “dumb” form, death occurs a few days after symptoms appear, usually from respiratory failure.

Rabid animals have been a concern for Nunavut and Nunavik in the past when dogs were often shot during an outbreak to contain the contagion.

Last year, Nunavik public health officials confirmed three cases of rabid dogs in Kuujjuaq and Kuujjuaraapik.