Some very special cargo touched down Saturday afternoon at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
Sierra is only a few months old but has already had a rough start to life. One of her legs was badly injured after the puppy was struck by a vehicle in a northern Labrador community
“Sierra is what we call a Mushadoodle. It’s a name that we dubbed on the dogs that come from Goose Bay because they’re a mixture of just about everything. She’s probably between three or four months old,” said Shelley Cunningham, President of Litters n’ Critters Rescue Society.
“She’s just a wee little thing.”
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After she was injured, Sierra was taken to an RCMP office and then transported to get treatment in Goose Bay but the resources weren’t there.
Without surgery, Cunningham says it’s believed Sierra’s leg would have to be amputated.
“The survey that she requires isn’t available in Goose Bay and she’s going to be requiring daily vet visits as well with bandage changes and laser surgery and laser therapy,” said Cunningham.
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Sierra had a special escort to Nova Scotia. RCMP officer Neil Logan volunteered to fly with Sierra from Goose Bay to Halifax so she could get the help she required.
Logan has been a police officer for 11 years and works away from home. He was greeted by his wife and three young children when he arrived at the airport.
“I just happen to be flying to Halifax to see my family. I haven’t seen for three months so I brought her straight through with me to Halifax. I didn’t realize when we send dogs out they come all the way to Litters n’ Critters in Halifax here, so it’s kind of crazy,” said Logan.
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Sierra isn’t the first dog Litters n’ Critters has had to fly to Halifax to help.
“We’ve been helping dogs from Goose Bay since 2009 but in the last couple of weeks, we’ve received 3 dogs that have similar injuries and require pretty well the same types of surgery. We had Rosie a couple of weeks ago and we have little Dash, whose still in rescue and he’s still going through vet care and now Sierra,” said Cunningham.
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Now that she’s in Halifax, Sierra will go to the veterinary clinic, where she will undergo surgery on Monday.
Vet bills are expensive and Litters n’ Critters are always open to donations to help animals like Sierra.
“We’re pretty low on funds right now,” said Cunningham.
“We’ve had five major surgeries in the last two months. Since we don’t receive any kind of funding or grants we have to do fundraising ourselves to cover it so the only way we receive funding is through donations and fundraising.”
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Once Sierra has recovered from her surgery and her leg heals, she will be looking for her forever home.
Anyone interested in donating to Litters n’ Critters – or learning more about the animals up for adoption – can visit the society’s website for more information.