Quebec vets tour Nunavik’s Ungava Bay in anti-rabies campaign

Dr. Michelle Dionne, a veterinarian with Quebec’s agriculture, fisheries and food department, administers a vaccine to Sheddy, a five-year old dog, held by his owner Lorenzo Dredge. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)

KUUJJUAQ — At a free June 2 dog vaccination clinic in Kuujjuaq, Dr. Michelle Dionne, a veterinarian with Quebec’s agriculture, fisheries and food department, administered a vaccine to Sheddy, a five-year old dog, held by his owner Lorenzo Dredge.

Sheddy was one of 40 dogs and a cat that Dionne and another Quebec government veterinarian vaccinated during their Sunday-afternoon vaccination clinic, offered during their tour of Nunavik’s Ungava Bay communities.

Vaccination clinics offered by the department are one of the few mainstay veterinary services in Nunavik.

These are offered thanks to the department’s program to protect the population against rabies, by providing vaccines and training local municipal staff to administer vaccines in their absence.

The vets also offer vaccines against other canine viruses common to the North, such as distemper, hepatitis and parvovirus.

The program is free of charge to all dogs or cats more than three months of age, said Dionne, one of two veterinarians now in Kuujjuaq.

Rabies is considered to be endemic or always present in the region, but in 2012 rabies was even more widespread, Dionne said.

This past year about 15 dogs that were tested did test positive for rabies, she said — one of these dogs was an animal that had been adopted from Kuujjuaraapik and taken south.

As well, while in Nunavik, the vets train local residents to administer vaccinations — working in Kuujjuaq with new bylaw officer Emilie Emudluk and three other residents.

By the end of the summer, the vets plan to complete visits to communities throughout Nunavik, with the exception of Akulivik, which decided to opt out of the program.

While the vets used to visit only a few Nunavik communities every year, now they visit all communities at least once a year.

The vets also visit Naspaki and Cree communities.

In all participating communities they hand out vaccines, syringes, needs and required forms.

To participate on the program, communities must apply to control dogs within their boundaries — a move which also prevents dog bites and rabies — and provide vaccintions on a regular basis.

But Dionne said the interest in the program is growing — in Nunavik partly due to regulations that forbid unvaccinated dogs to participate in the annual Ivakkak dog team race.

This week the vets will be in Kangiqsualujjuaq June 4, in Taisujaq June 5, in Aupaluk June 6, in Kangirsuk on June 7 and 8, in Quaqtaq June 3 and in Kangiqsujuaq June 11.