Council approves spending $100,000 on animal pound

Photo by Whitehorse Star

City council has approved spending $100,000 on an effort to keep a virus out of the city-run pound.

On Monday evening, council members voted in favour of using cash from the city’s building replacement fund to renovate the Quartz Road structure.

“The $100,000 will be for design and the renovation,” Rob Fendrick, the city’s director of administrative services, told council, answering a question from Coun. Doug Graham.

“We feel that could, hopefully, be a high figure, but it’s going to be fairly substantial.”

The move comes after it was learned the renovations would be needed to help prevent the parvo virus from circulating in the facility.

Attacking the digestive system of dogs, the virus has a 30 per cent mortality rate even with treatment, a rate that is even higher for puppies.

As Fendrick explained when questioned by Coun. Florence Roberts last night, a lot more is known about virus control now than when the building was first constructed in 1993.

“Yes, we’ve had outbreaks, but the thing is that it’s reached the point now where it’s just not eradicable - like it’s in the cracks of the concrete so it’s reached the crisis point now and it’s taken a while to build to that point.”

Each time there’s been an outbreak, the building has undergone a major cleaning, he said.

The renovation will see the area for dogs completely stripped and rebuilt with a new air exchange system installed as well.

At a previous council meeting, members heard from bylaw manager John Taylor and Alpine Veterinary Medical Clinic owner Rick Brown.

Council was told it is nearly impossible to eradicate the disease, but with the virus inside the cracks of the cement and corners of the building, the proposed renovations would go a long way to preventing the spread of the disease.

“It is virtually impossible, if not totally impossible, to eliminate the virus under the current conditions,” reads information presented to council Monday evening. “Dr. Brown confirmed that the dogs cannot just be given a shot upon entering the facility to protect against the disease; it would be too late at that point.”

Mayor Bev Buckway argued the information should be changed to read that the dogs cannot just be given a vaccination rather than a shot.

Along with bringing forward the proposal to renovate the facility to prevent parvo, city staff have put foot baths in all areas and prohibited the general public from entering areas where the dogs are housed, and are continuing to hold animals being transferred to the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter in isolation until they are moved.

The building reserve fund will is expected to be down to $446,738 by Dec. 31 after funding these renovations and the beginning of construction on the new firehall (Public Service Building) this year.

Coun. Jan Stick was absent from Monday night’s meeting.