A wolfdog sanctuary near Cochrane in Alberta says it can not come to the aid of an Ontario man whose animals are being seized by the provincial government.
The Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary says it’s so inundated that it’s unable to help Bryton Bongard, who is worried his pack of 16 wolf-dogs in Wahnapitae, Ont., about 50 kilometres north of Sudbury, will be euthanized when the government seizes them in September.
The sanctuary received around 10 wolfdogs from a connected situation in Ontario, but because it’s at capacity, it can’t take any more rescues.
The Ontario provincial government says it’s against the law to keep wildlife native to Ontario as pets or in captivity, with exceptions for places like zoos and rehabilitation facilities.
While the government hasn’t explicitly said the wolf-dogs will be euthanized, it has told Bongard that if a sanctuary for the animals can’t be found, one last solution is that “the dogs have to be disposed of,” he told The Canadian Press.
The only sanctuary of its kind in Canada, Yamnuska says it gets calls every week from people needing help, and it took in nearly a dozen in 2024.
Executive director Georgina De Caigny says there are 71 wolf-dogs at Yamnuska, and it has to fundraise for the enclosures to house all of the rescues.
“A lot of the wolfdogs that come here, they’re going to live out their entire lives here, so in order for us to keep rescuing more wolfdogs and kind of keep that capacity in place, we do need to build additional wolf dog enclosures,” she said.
While they don’t have the capacity to take any more, Yamnuska says they have put Bongard in touch with other organizations which might be able to help.
A petition calling on the government to leave the wolf-dogs under the family’s care drew controversy after it was posted on the Wahnapitae community Facebook page. While some residents voiced support for Bongard, others raised safety concerns.
Yamnuska recently received a $125,000 grant from the Alberta government to help fund a community day-use area and weather shelter building.
It is also being used to fund a new visitors’ shelter to help educate the public about the animals and why they don’t make good pets.
With files from Lisa Grant and The Canadian Press
