The evacuees have arrived. (Battlefords Humane Society/Facebook)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Animal Evacuees

Battlefords Humane Society; Furbaby’s helping animal evacuees

Jun 3, 2025 | 10:01 AM

As wildfires rage in the north, calls for help from animal shelters are starting to roll in, and the Battlefords Humane Society is preparing to answer the call.

On Sunday, the local shelter received a call from a shelter based in La Ronge, which is currently under evacuation.

“They were wondering if preemptively we would agree to take any (animals),” said Emma Groff, one of the shelter leads.

Adoptable Kittens scramble to mew at the camera. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

Groff explained they agreed on the proviso that there was still enough room to accommodate the local area’s animals.

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On Monday night, the first wildfire evacuees: four dogs, puppies, a mother and kittens from Northern Animal Rescue (NAR) arrived.

BattlefordsNOW has reached out to NAR but due to the amount of work required to get organized, they were not prepared to speak to media.

In Saskatoon, Furbaby Pet Care began its initiative to offer complimentary animal boarding services last week.

A dog up for adoption looks out from behind the cage. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

“As we saw more and more hotels, and Airbnb’s weren’t allowing the pets to come. People were possibly having to consider leaving their pets behind, we then upped it to say, ‘It’s going to be free boarding because these people are going to have enough expenses moving anything – with moving anything they can,’” Jocelyn Davey-Hawreluik, owner and CEO said.

“Paying for all these extra housing expenses that they’re going to have to pay that boarding their pets on top of that would be really hard for them to do.”

Furbaby’s mission is to help the pet owners who are able to bring their furry friends with them, and some have come as far as Flin Flon, MB.

“Right now, we’ve had just a handful, but we keep getting more and more calls every day,” she said.

An adoptable cat reaches out. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

“Some just come for day care, ‘cause they’re able to go back to the hotels at night and some are here for boarding.”

As more and more animals both wild and otherwise are displaced, Groff said it’s been “absolutely heartbreaking.”

“We just look at the animals we have here and you just really project them onto the ones that you see losing their homes and losing pretty much everything,” she said.

Upon hearing instances of the animals coming into communities to escape the fires, such as the moose who took strolls in Prince Albert last week, Groff said it was too early to tell if it’ll happen in the local areas.

“I’m assuming they’re probably having a bit more of an issue up where the fires are worse, but even with the smoke here, it’s definitely a possibility,” she said.

According to Davey-Hawreluik, along with dogs, they are also offering a couple of spaces to cats and bunnies.

A bunny up for adoption at Battlefords Humane Society. Furbaby’s is also allowing bunnies at its facility. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

In a press release, owners who take their pets to Furbaby’s must set up a profile on their system so they have information such as a signed waiver and proof of up-to-date vaccinations. All pets “must belong to families displaced by the wildfires.”

“We want to make sure that everybody’s still healthy in the facility,” said Davey-Hawreluik.

The facility includes four different parks including separate areas for dogs depending on size.

“Right now, I would say there’s a lot of fear because there’s so many unknowns,” she said of the owners’ state of mind.

A senior cat up for adoption looks out. (Julia Lovett-Squires/battlefordsNOW Staff)

“They don’t know what or if they’re going to have a home to go home to. You know, they’re very grateful because they didn’t know what they were going to do with their pets and a lot of people would rather sleep in their car with their pets than think about anything else that might have been an option without their pet.”

Those who have had to leave without their animals are now facing anxiety and grief.

“The ones that we can help are very, very thankful,” Groff said.

Currently, Groff said it’s too early to put a call out to fosters, but should they receive more calls for help, they will consider it. While NAR is the first to reach out for help, they expect it to be just the beginning.

“It really doesn’t look good up there,” she said.

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: juleslovett.bsky.social