SPIRIT LAKE NATION — This weekend, Spirit Lake residents will have the opportunity to get medical care for their pets at no cost.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for community members to get their pets spayed or neutered, or vaccinated,” said Arthur Carmona, animal control and environmental health department coordinator for the Spirit Lake Tribe, who helps organize the annual clinic.
The event is made possible by Journey Home Animal Rescue, a Grand Forks-based, volunteer-run nonprofit organization. The nonprofit provides funding to the Spay Neuter Impact Project (SNIP), which is run by Fargo’s 4 Luv of Dog Rescue, and the Grand Forks-based Sovereign Nations Veterinary (SNV.) SNIP and SNV, in turn, provide veterinary care during the event, according to Leslie Rethemeier, Journey Home coordinator and board president.
Spirit Lake Tribe provides a location for the clinic, SNIP and Sovereign Nations Veterinary provide veterinarians, vet techs and medical instruments, and Journey Home provides funding, additional volunteers, food and lodging. Coco’s Heart Dog Rescue, based in the Twin Cities, also helped sponsor the event this year, she said.
“We have a relationship with these organizations, and they have helped with the animals from the pound at Spirit Lake, so they see the need as well,” Rethemeier said. “It is a high need. There’s a high need for animal sheltering and animal care in that area, because it’s really rural.”
There have commonly been many strays in the area, and they’re not always from tribal members, Carmona said. Some people travel to the reservation just to dump their pets, and if they aren’t spayed or neutered, they continue to reproduce.
There is no adoption-based shelter on the Spirit Lake Reservation. The pound houses strays and unwanted animals, but relies on Journey Home for other resources. Volunteers regularly travel to the reservation to provide medical care to stray animals before finding local fosters or transporting them to another location, including back to Grand Forks. They post photos of the animals on their website and help find permanent homes.
“That’s a wonderful program that we have,” Carmona said. “It’s awesome.”
For Spirit Lake Nation’s pets with homes, there is another struggle — affording veterinary care like spays, neuters, vaccinations and emergency surgeries.
“Pet care is very costly, and for community members, we have a poverty issue, so it’s tough,” Carmona said.
To help pet owners, Journey Home hosts its spay, neuter and vaccination clinic. Carmona said he can’t overstate the kind hearts of the volunteers, vet techs and students who provide services at no cost.
This year’s event is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 6, and Sunday, Sept. 7, and it will take place at the Fort Totten Rec Center. Each day starts at 8 a.m., and services are provided on a first come, first served basis. Rethemeier said spots are usually filled within a couple of hours, with volunteers performing surgeries late into the evening.
“Unfortunately, we have to turn animals away, because we fill up,” she said. “We could do them quarterly, or we could do them every other month, and probably still fill up.”
Though SNIP focuses on spays and neuters, Sovereign Nations Veterinary’s volunteer vet also volunteers for Journey Home, so if Journey Home provides antibiotics and other necessary items for other types of surgery, they are able to broaden the scope of services available at the clinic.
Last year, with three veterinarians, they were able to perform approximately 120 surgeries including spays, neuters, an emergency euthanasia, a mass removal, a drain insert for an abscess and a porcupine quill removal. Nearly 100 additional animals were provided vaccinations. Rethemeier noted there are two vets instead of three this year, so they won’t be able to complete quite as many services.
Journey Home hopes to hold events like this more often, but it all depends on funding, Rethemeier said. SNIP provides services at a very low rate, but money still needs to be raised to support the efforts.
“Sponsorship for the clinic is huge,” Rethemeier said. “If we were able to get (more sponsorships), we would be able to help more animals. Every day in the last week, we’ve gotten emergency cases from Spirit Lake, so the need for it is crazy.”
People who can’t sponsor an event or donate can foster a pet, or volunteer to transport animals from Spirit Lake Nation to Grand Forks, she said. Anyone interested can email info@journeyhomeanimalrescue.org.
In November, the organization will hold its annual Spirit Lake rescue event. Community members who can no longer care for their animals, or have been caring for strays that will not be safe in the winter, can surrender them so they don’t suffer from conditions outdoors.
Another annual veterinary care event, organized by Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS), is held in the spring. That event has been around for approximately 10 years, and goes on for about a week, with prioritization given to surgeries, followed by vaccinations later in the week. During the last session, approximately 500 animals received medical care, Carmona said.
The tribe is always looking for sponsors for these types of events. Carmona encourages anyone interested in contributing to contact him by email at Arthur.Carmona@ihs.gov.
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