Iqaluit animal rescue group settling into new home, new name

A new home, two new businesses launched and, most recently, a new name.

It’s been a busy two years for the non-profit organization formerly known as the Iqaluit Humane Society.

“We changed our name to Nunavut Animal Rescue because we saw that we’ve been helping with so many communities for so many years, we’re not just the Iqaluit Humane Society” anymore, said board president Janelle Kennedy.

“We wanted to make sure the name represented everything we do.”

What Nunavut Animal Rescue does is provide veterinary care, and through fostering and adoption it finds new homes for dogs. It does not do animal control or catch strays.

With a rescue manager, clinic manager, “a handful” of regular volunteers and other occasional helpers, Kennedy estimates 350 to 500 animals passed through the rescue centre’s building in Apex last year.

Most came from Iqaluit, but others were sent from across the territory.

Nearly every month, Nunavut Animal Rescue pays the airfare for a veterinarian from the south to visit. The vets work for free, usually staying for about 10 days at a time, and seeing 20 to 25 animals each day.

The rest of the time, volunteer veterinary technicians are available at the Iqaluit office “because a vet tech can do a lot,” said Kennedy. “They can do vaccines, general exams.”

The vet tech can also be a bridge between the owner of a sick animal in the North and the vet down south.

The tech can talk to the owner about the sick or injured animal, maybe ask for photos, then pass that information to the veterinarian. The vet makes an assessment and if meds are prescribed, Nunavut Animal Rescue can ship them to the owner.

Kennedy said it costs about $350,000 a year to run the place, which requires a lot of fundraising and donations. The non-profit board opened two businesses — Iqaluit Animal Hospital and George’s Pet Salon — and when they eventually turn a profit, the money will help fund Nunavut Animal Rescue.

“Sometimes we do GoFundMes, sometimes we write grant proposals, sometimes we just get lucky and somebody who has adopted from us happens to have more money than the average person” and sends some money, Kennedy said.

“We’ve had donations from all over the world.”

The organization started in 2007 working from people’s homes and running mobile veterinary clinics, she said.

It eventually moved to a city-owned property before buying a former veterinary office in Apex in 2022, helped by a $250,000 grant from the Eric S. Margolis Family Foundation. The name change happened in June.

They’ve received some cats and treated a few iguanas, guinea pigs and rabbits but mostly, said Kennedy, “we’re the dog people.”

In addition to veterinary care, including spay and neuter, the rescue service finds homes for dogs that have been turned in for one reason or another. The large majority are sent south, Kennedy said.

“We get zero discounts, so every animal that has to fly south is $226,” she said. “So we budget anywhere between $50,000 and $60,000 that we have to fundraise to cover all of the cargo costs.”

The Apex office isn’t zoned for kennelling, so the only animals that remain overnight are there for medical reasons. The rest sleep over at homes around Iqaluit.

“If we have an animal here, we may have it here for a few hours and then we have to get it to a foster home or we have to get it on a plane,” Kennedy said.

Long-term, she said, they’d like to open a shelter in the city’s industrial park and use the Apex site only for grooming and the vet clinic.

That will take time, money and having the right property become available.

“Sure, there’s lots that are for sale but nobody wants an animal shelter in their backyard,” Kennedy said.

“And we want the freedom to know that if a dog’s barking, it’s not going to bother someone else. It goes both ways.”