A man from the Haines Junction area has willingly surrendered 10 malnourished sleddogs to representatives of the Humane Society Yukon.

Society spokeswoman Marta Keller said this morning the identity of the dog owner is not being released, there is no continuing investigation and no charges are contemplated.

"Arrangements had been made with this man in advance, so he knew we were coming,” she said in an interview.

"He was sad to give up his dogs but at the same time he realized he could not care for them anymore.

"It was sad just being out there to see that.”

Keller said this was not a case where the animals were being neglected intentionally, but more a situation where the owner had lost his ability to care for them properly.

The society initiated the rescue after receiving a complaint, she explained.

"We found the sled dogs chained outside, dirty, and shivering in the cold,” she said in a statement released this morning.

"The dogs were scared and barking. Each dog received a vaccine before they were placed into travel crates. It was a very sad and stressful situation.

"All-Paws Veterinary Clinic provided emergency care for the dogs and discovered that they were all in poor health due to emaciation from a lack of food. Some of the dogs were also diagnosed with infections and were placed on antibiotics.”

Keller told the Star it was not a case that had developed overnight, and likely something that had developed over weeks or months.

"Some of them, when we took the pictures, you could see their ribs,” she said.

"And they were very light. They are medium-sized dogs, and when you picked them up, there were very light.”

The dogs, she said, were receiving some food mostly when donations came in but obviously not enough.

Keller said eight of the 10 dogs are recovering at the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter.

Two are still in the All-Paws' care because they were in particularly bad condition when they came in.

The Tlingit Street shelter was near capacity before the rescue and now it's full to the brim, she said.

The humane society is always looking for foster homes to take in pets but more so now that it's in a crisis situation with the arrival of the sleddogs, she added.

It's not an issue of staffing or money to feed the extra dogs, because they have the staff and businesses around town are good with donations and discounts, she said. Rather, it's about space.

"This is the first time to our knowledge that the humane society has participated in such a sled dog rescue operation in the Yukon,” Keller said in her statement.

"Although we are pleased that the owner willingly surrendered the dogs to us, we are disappointed that he waited until a complaint was made about the poor state of the dogs.

"We strongly urge other owners who may no longer have the means, financial or otherwise, to support and care for their pets to contact the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter and have their animals surrendered.”

The release also acknowledges the assistance of The Feed Store for providing the travel crates and Paul Girard of Ovation Construction for providing the cube van to transport the dogs.