Birth control implants will curb dog populations in Labrador Innu communities

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Veterinarians are using birth control implants to help curb the dog populations in Labrador’s two Innu communities.

Judith Samson-French, an Alberta-based vet with the group Dogs With No Names, is volunteering this week in Sheshatshiu.

She says more than 60 female dogs have received a contraceptive implant the size of a grain of rice below the skin between their shoulder blades.

The implants will prevent the dogs from having puppies for the next 18 months.

The females and more than 100 male dogs were also microchipped for identification and vaccinated for rabies.

Another veterinary team based in St. John’s will head to the more remote Innu community of Natuashish on Sunday for a week.