The Yukon government has failed to take decisive action on the stray dog problem in Ross River – which experts call a public health crisis – despite repeated calls for help from the community.

That’s the view of the author of two government reports on the issue.

Last week, the Yukon’s chief coroner determined that a young man who died in the Kaska community in October 2015 was killed and his body eaten by stray dogs.

Indeed, feral dogs, which pose a significant danger to people, and especially children, have been an issue in Ross River, and communities across the Yukon, for years.

Dr. Richard G. Herbert, a former veterinarian and the author of the two 2010 government-commissioned reports, found that the dog problem in Ross River to be “out of control.”

He said that every Yukon community must have access to veterinary care and dog control services.

“Anything less than reasonable ubiquitous access leaves citizens and property at risk,” he wrote in one of his reports.

The documents made a number of recommendations to the government in 2010 that included improving access to veterinary services in the community, and modernizing the Yukon’s laws dealing with dogs.

Herbert was contracted to lead a dog management pilot project in Ross River.

The venture was cancelled because, he was told, the government did not have the budget and capacity to take it on.

In a signed, Jan. 31, 2011 letter from Ross River Dena Council Chief Jack Caesar to Archie Lang, then the Yukon Party’s minister of Community Services, Caesar says:

“In (a Yukon News) report, the YG (Yukon government) is quoted as saying that because of the pilot program cost of $250,000, ‘... that is not something we can do right now.’

“$250,000 represents 0.02% of the YG’s annual budget. Are our children, and children in all communities our pilot program could help by preventing dog attacks, worth more than 0.02% of one YG budget?”

Caesar could not be reached for an interview before press time this afternoon.

The pilot project flowed from a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed by the Ross River Dena Council and the Yukon government in March 2010.

The Star was provided with copies of three letters from Caesar to Lang, all from 2011.

In them, the chief asks for the government to move ahead with Herbert’s Ross River Dena Council – Yukon Government Dog Management Pilot Program.

Herbert said if the government had followed up on his plan for dog management in the community, which had Caesar’s support, 22-year-old Shane Glada’s death may have been prevented.

“There was an agreement signed with Ross River to take care of the problem. If we had begun to work on the problem and used Ross River as a pilot project, a two-year project, we would have taken care of the problem in Ross River,” Herbert told the Star Tuesday.

“We should have been able to change the environment in terms of health and safety.”

There was a spay and neuter clinic held in Ross River the 2013-14 fiscal year. As well, a number of Ross River dogs were fixed in the 2014-15 year, confirmed Roxanne Stasyszyn, a Department of Environment spokesperson.

In 2011, the government sent a dog catcher into the community to round up stray dogs.

However, most dogs were claimed by owners, and only a small number were surrendered to be euthanized, said Mary VanderKop, the Yukon’s chief veterinary officer.

So the dog patrols stopped.

“My understanding is that there were not persistent concerns at that time,” said VanderKop.

“At this point, we’re actually quite concerned and are very interested to put some action plan in place.”

VanderKop said a “task team,” made up of Chief Caesar and volunteers from the community, was formed during a public meeting on May 9, where the coroner made her pronouncement on Glada’s horrific death.

The task team will make recommendations to the coroner, and VanderKop said she is prepared to support and implement those recommendations.

The dearth of vets in the Yukon’s communities is a persistent problem, as rural residents typically have to travel to Whitehorse or Dawson City to have their dogs spayed or neutered.

These procedures are best performed in a clinical environment, and “it’s a considerable cost to vets to take their staff and equipment out to a community,” said VanderKop.

“That’s one of the things that we’ll be talking to the task team about.”

In the legislature this week, the opposition parties have been asking what exactly the government is doing to address the serious and ongoing problem of feral dogs in Ross River.

“The facts surrounding this young man’s death have left the community reeling,” NDP MLA Kate White said Monday.

“The community, including the chief, has noted the lack of response coming from the Yukon government. The minister responsible has not commented publicly on any action he plans to take.”

White noted that the coroner and Ross River Dena Council are working together on the issue.

She asked if the government had reached out to Ross River since the coroner announced her findings.

To this, Environment Minister Wade Istchenko did not give an answer. Instead, he alluded to the May 9 meeting in Ross River, attended by senior government staff.

“The coroner is still working on this ongoing case. Once the report is complete, we will review the recommendations carefully,” he said.

Liberal Leader Sandy Silver pressed the point Tuesday, calling out the Yukon Party for failing to call Chief Caesar after the May 9 meeting.

“This is a very disturbing incident, and it’s hard to imagine something happening in Canada, let alone in the Yukon — but I am quite surprised, honestly, that no one from this government has spoken to the chief,” said Silver.

“The chief of the Ross River Dena Council has described the situation in the community as ‘dire.’ I appreciate the fact that the government intends to reach out, as the minister said, but there’s a lack of urgency here.”

White pointed out Monday that on July 4, 2012, when five-year-old Jaedyn Amann was killed after being struck in the head by a falling soccer net in Watson Lake, “this government reacted with compassion and support toward both the family and the community.

“They quickly introduced legislation to ensure that it would never happen again,” she said.

“This government has the opportunity to take similar swift action.”