Man fights off wild dogs, runs to get help for 7-year-old in Shamattawa
CBC
The Shamattawa man who fought off a pack of wild dogs attacking a seven-year-old says he's grateful he was there to help.
"I'm just happy she's still alive," said Kirk Miles, who lives in the First Nation community about 750 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.
On Thursday afternoon, Miles said he was walking to the local airport to pay for a family member's ticket. That's when he heard screaming.
"You know when a dog attacks a cat — it sounded like that. So I stopped and I started listening some more and it sounded different, so I went to check it out," said Miles.
"That's when I saw a little girl getting pulled by a bunch of dogs."
The dogs were big, and there were about six or seven of them, but Miles said he immediately ran to fight them and get them off the girl.
"I just grabbed a log and scared those dogs away. They took off for a while, then stopped. It seemed like they were getting ready to attack me again, but I scared them off," said Miles.
"I started looking around and I saw one person and yelled at them to come and help me. He came towards me and scared those dogs away, too. We started yelling for help."
Miles said the girl is his common-law partner's cousin, so he knew where she lived. He ran to the house to get help.
Once help came, Miles said he left.
"I couldn't stay long. I was in shock. I just took off from there."
RCMP said the girl had serious injuries and was sent to Winnipeg for medical treatment. She's still in hospital.
Shamattawa Chief Eric Redhead has been in touch with the girl's mother.
"This child was in very bad shape when she left the community," he said.
This First Person column is the experience of Shannon Flaman, who lives in Red Deer, Alta. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
City staff are working on long-term plans to prevent toxic and smelly algae blooms at the Hamilton harbour – and short-term plans to mitigate blooms when they happen – but are cautioning residents that it's not the type of problem with a quick fix.
Another blockade of the Ambassador Bridge wouldn't play out like what happened in February 2022 — thanks to police being empowered to act faster and harder, according to a report that's going to Windsor city council next week.
On the first day of 2025, Alberta's default electricity rate is set to be replaced by the new "rate of last resort," in what the province says is a bid to protect consumers from a volatile electricity pricing landscape.
Canadians and Americans sit next to each other in the stands of a small Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., hockey arena to watch the Soo Thunderbirds face off against their cross-border rivals, Michigan's Soo Eagles.
A number of school bus routes in northwestern Ontario have been cancelled Wednesday after a dump of snow overnight in the region. A number of weather advisories also remain in effect in the region, including snow squall warnings in the Greenstone area.
Waterloo regional councillors have voted down a motion that would have asked the Waterloo Regional Police Service to cut $4 million from its proposed 2025 budget.
Residents of a neighbourhood in the heart of downtown Charlottetown hope to have a community garden in place on some vacant land by the time spring arrives.
Planting trees is a popular way to mitigate climate change, but in northern and Arctic regions, it may not be an effective solution.
The RCMP says it's considering deploying Mounties-in-training to help police the Canada-U.S. border as political anxiety over border control mounts in the face of tariff threats from the incoming Trump administration.
Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew were honoured Tuesday night before the Calgary Flames played the Columbus Blue Jackets, on the same ice where Johnny etched his place as a cherished member of the city's hockey community.