Of The Fort Smith Animal Society This is not the complete history by any means, we hope to have a more complete history of the Fort Smith Animal Society as soon as we can find someone qualified to write it, who also has the time. The Fort Smith Animal Society became a registered not for profit Society in 198? This is taken verbatim from the Slave River Journal - April 20th, 2004 article on Page # 14 of that issue "Outstanding elder - Kristensen honoured for volunteer efforts" Brief History as told to the Slave River Journal by Lillian Kristensen article is cut before and after Lillian's narrative. ..."It kind of started out slowly in 1980," she says, explaining that she used to assist the Yellowknife veterinarian when he visited Fort Smith periodically. "We fixed up a room in the basement of the shop, and that is where the clinic was." The shop known as North of 60 Books, is still standing on Portage Avenue and Kristensen and her husband Ib continue to run it. Shortly after she began assisting the Yellowknife veterinarian, another vet moved to Fort Smith, and Kristensen assisted him for a few years, too. Her duties included delivering vaccinations and removing stitches after operations. "Then one time, in those first years when we were just sponsoring the clinic, there was one evening at 11 o'clock, a big old tom cat was outside the shop meowing." she says. "He was skinny, dirty, matted, and he had a loud meow. It was a cold winter night and he insisted on getting in." So Kristensen let the cat in and cleaned him up, feeding him and shaving off all his hair. "After two weeks, I put him out and he stayed in a box outside our door the first night. After that, I never saw him again." After that experience, Kristensen built a dog pen in her backyard, which in those days was right behind the book store. "And that's where the first animals started being taken care of, and that was when I knew for sure that I wanted to call it the Fort Smith Animal Shelter." That was in 1985. Dogs were kept in the backyard of the house, and cats were kept in the basement of the shop. In the late 1990's, the shelter was moved to the town's public works yard on King Street. There it stayed until it was moved in 2001 to it's present location at the corner of Raven Street and Highway 5. "Everything I had ever dreamt about the animal shelter for the future is there now," Kristensen says about the shelter's current location. "And we have the best shelter in the Northwest Territories, thanks to the town being so generous." ... Top of Page Main/Home Page Site Map/Index and Quick Navigation |