Jennifer Reid with the Population Health Unit presents on dog bites in northern Saskatchewan on April 19. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski.
Reported dog bites in northern Saskatchewan were up nearly a third between 2014 and 2015.
Those startling off-reserve statistics from the Population Health Unit were revealed at this week’s New North mayor and council gathering in Prince Albert.
For a scope of the seriousness of many bites, population health’s Jennifer Reid provided a few examples.
“We actually did have a child under the age of five, it was a little boy that received a puncture wound to his testicles. We’ve had a number of young children receive bites to the face that will result in scarring. And there was one particular bite in particular with an adult that I had followed up on where she had to be transported to Saskatoon, have reconstructive surgery on her hand and arm,” Reid said.
She said there were 127 dog bites in 2015, up from 96 in 2014.
These bites are primarily to the arms and legs, at 60.9 per cent, with 22.3 per cent to the hands and feet, and 10 per cent to the head and neck.
The northern village of Ile-a-la-Crosse has been working hard to stop dogs from roaming the community, said Councillor Gerald Roy.
He said their approach involves having an animal control position who fines those who are not abiding the village’s bylaws, “and some people complied pretty damn quick after we started handing out tickets.”
A number of northern municipalities at the gathering said they can’t afford the preventative supports Reid suggested. They are set to speak further with the Population Health Unit in the future on some possible solutions.