Starving Fort Yukon Dogs

Because of the weak salmon run on the Yukon River this summer, there are a lot of dogs in Fort Yukon, Alaska, and the surrounding villages who are at severe risk of starving to death. Normally these sled dogs live on a diet heavy in fish all winter, but almost no one has enough to last the winter.

Here is the original mention in Dermot Cole's column in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:
Fort Yukon dog food shortage reported
 
Here is Joshua Armstrong's first article about it last week:
Yukon River mushers are in dire straits
 
And here is another article from today's News Miner:
Groups reach out to help feed hungry dogs in Yukon River villages
 
The best estimate is that there are somewhere over 200 dogs at risk, most in Fort Yukon but some in the surrounding villages. Because it is winter and these are working dogs, we need to get them high-quality, relatively high-fat dog food.

We've set up the same basic scheme as last summer for the dogs in the flooded villages. The easiest way to make a donation is to call or stop by Cold Spot Feeds  in Fairbanks, 907.457.8555, and buy some food. They are selecting a good quality food that they have a good supply of, knock something off the regular price, and aggregate it to get it to the airport. From there, a few different agencies and maybe an airline or two will get it to Fort Yukon, and the people out there will get it where it needs to go.

I understand that 49er Feed is also taking donations, but I haven't spoken to them.

We weren't initially going to collect money, but we've gotten a lot of requests. So you can also go to the Second Chance League sleddog rescue Web site donations page, and make a donation through PayPal (scroll down a bit to see the info and link). We'll use all the money to buy food at the bulk rate from Cold Spot and send it on to Fort Yukon.
http://members.petfinder.org/~AK17/support.php
Using this option does have the benefit of being tax deductible, since SCL is a 501(c)3 charity.

The collection point for the food is a hanger at the Fairbanks airport (not the same place as last summer), but I don't yet know if someone is there all the time to accept food. So if you have a quantity of good quality food that you'd like to donate, contact me and we can figure out how to get it where it needs to go.

We're still hoping that some of the regional and village corporations will jump in with help, so if you have any contacts there, please contact them.

Thanks for your help in feeding these dogs!
Don