The Humane Society Yukon, Air North and the BC SPCA (Kelowna branch) have received the Humane Community Award.

It was presented at the BC SPCA’s annual awards ceremony held May 6 in Abbotsford.

“We offer our most sincere gratitude to the dedicated team at Humane Society Yukon and to the staff and ground crew at Air North, Yukon’s Airline, for helping to improve the lives of animals,” said Suzanne Pugh, the Kelowna SPCA branch manager.

While BC SPCA shelters have been experiencing a reduction in dogs over the past few years, others, especially in northern communities, experience an ongoing struggle with canine overpopulation.

A partnership was formed to ensure the animals needing homes were brought to urban areas with higher populations, where they’d have a better chance at being adopted.

In August 2013, the Humane Society Yukon reached out to the Kelowna SPCA about the desperate situation stray dogs in the Yukon were facing, looking to explore the options of a transfer program.

The Kelowna branch formed a relationship with the Humane Society Yukon and soon after, it became a BC SPCA-approved rescue facility.

The Humane Society Yukon formed a relationship with Air North and secured a commitment to transport the animals at its expense to Kelowna once a month.

Through the various parties’ collaboration, seven adult dogs and 43 puppies have found permanent homes.

In addition to those 50 canines, 20 kittens were transferred to Whitehorse to ease the burden of cat overpopulation in the central Okanagan.

“It is an honour to receive this award, and it goes to show that working together to help the animals in need is a group effort,” said Dan Moore, the executive director of the Humane Society Yukon.

“A huge thank you to Air North and the Kelowna SPCA for their amazing support.”

Meanwhile, the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter held its annual spring yard sale last weekend.

Scores of people browsed through the items for sale over the two days and visited the cats and dogs inside.