‘So bizarre’: North Paw Animal Rescue brings light to abandoned dogs left on Alaska Highway

FORT NELSON, B.C. — A northeast B.C. organization dedicated to animal welfare is raising the alarm on a recent trend along the Alaska Highway.

The North Paw Animal Rescue in Fort Nelson was recently made aware of several dogs left along the road.

The organization took to Facebook to highlight the incidents on Sunday, June 14th, stating that one puppy – a mixed breed they have since named Milo – was brought to the rescue in Fort Nelson at around 5 p.m. that evening by American travellers.

In what the animal rescue labelled a “very unusual situation,” they received another call about two hours later about a dog being left at a nearby business, Coal River Services, in Fort Nelson, and a third call about a dog left in Watson Lake, in the Yukon.

The second dog has been taken to stay with relatives of the owners of Coal River Services in Fort St. John.

Lori Schoroth of North Paws Animal Rescue says she has never seen a situation like the frequent dog abandonment seen this weekend.

“I’ve never seen it like this, to have so many animals in the same area,” Schoroth told Energeticcity.ca. “Somebody did reach out to me and said that they heard in the past when people are done with their sled dogs, they would just dump them in rural areas.”

“They are all different ages, and it is just so bizarre.”

While the latest data from Statistics Canada show that the nation had 12.2 million homeowners with at least one dog or cat in 2025, some animal welfare organizations paint a bleak picture of animal abandonment.

For instance, the Montréal chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) reported a 24 per cent increase in surrendered pets during the first quarter of 2025 – the fifth such year this has occurred.

Additionally, the BC SPCA reported a 20 per cent decrease in the number of healthy animals being surrendered.

Milo is currently in the hands of the North Paw Animal Rescue, but Schoroth worries if any of these pets are abandoned, run away or simply lost.

She describes Milo as being “in perfect health,” and feels this is a case of “someone missing their dog.”

“He’s a good weight [and] he’s very young,” said Schoroth. “He’s house-trained. He has not made a mess whatsoever in the rescue, even once.”

To contact the North Paw Animal Rescue, call 250-233-2311.