A happier tail

Posted by Shondiin Silversmith | Apr 9, 2015 | News |

Rescues help Animal Control get a leash on the stray dog problem

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SHIPROCK

Darla Basamania of Sanders, who volunteers for several rescue organizations, feeds a two-week-old puppy whose mother was taken from an abandoned house by a well-meaning tourist who didn’t realize she was nursing pups. This pup did not survive, but his sibling did and is now being fostered. (Times photo — Cindy Yurth)

Pull into any gas station, supermarket or housing area on the Navajo Nation and you’ll see them: skinny, mange-ridden, often limping; weakly wagging their tails in hopes of a handout or slinking away in fear of being kicked.

It’s no secret that the Navajo Nation has a stray dog problem — estimates of their number range into the hundreds of thousands. As with seemingly every problem on the Navajo Nation, those assigned to deal with it are too few, underequipped and underfunded.

But by networking with volunteer organizations both on and off the reservation, Navajo Nation Animal Control is starting to make a dent.

“There are only five animal control officers on the Navajo Nation,” Senior Animal Control Officer Stacey Daw said, and only four active animal shelters in Tuba City, Fort Defiance, Many Farms, Ariz. and Shiprock.

Daw is the only officer at the Shiprock Animal Shelter and the shelter has only six kennels to house the dogs or cats she collects when out on patrol. Daw’s assigned territory is all of Northern Agency along with parts of Utah and Eastern Agency. In Shiprock alone, the strays probably number in the thousands.

Sunshine was found running loose in Iyanbito, emaciated and still drying up from having a litter of pups. She was turned over to Blackhat Humane Society, and she is now up to a healthy weight of 53 pounds, spayed, vaccinated and ready for a forever home. (Courtesy photo)