It looked like Noah’s Ark last Tuesday at the North Thompson Fall Fair and Rodeo Association facility in Barriere. Every nook and cranny that could hold an animal was doing just that, and the fair association had also built a multitude of other small and large pens to hold the overflow.
From a horse holding capacity of 125 horse stalls and individual pens, it was increased to house a final total of 378 animals, with approximately 75 per cent of that number horses. Wherever you looked there were horses, sheep, pigs, chickens, goats, alpacas, and even dogs in housed in one area for a brief time.
Each animal had been transported to the fairgrounds because of evacuation alerts or orders issued due to wildfire activity in the North Thompson and the Caribou region starting on July 7. They came from all over; Clinton, Green Lake, 100 Mile House, 108, Little Fort, Clearwater, Lemieux Creek, Dunn Lake Road and more. Their transportation was handled by volunteers who not only hauled the animals, but also coordinated the livestock evacuation from their base at the Barriere fairgrounds. They also found the time to assist in coordinating livestock evacuations in other areas and other destinations as well.
The transporters and those receiving livestock at the fairgrounds logged in two to three days straight with almost no sleep at all, and in fact at one point the one who won the “how much sleep did you get” verbal lottery topped it out at just two-and-a-half hours.
A few days of quite time and then it was all repeated again when Clinton was put on evacuation alert and the animals once again hit the road for Barriere.
NTFFRA president Jill Hayward, is also the overseer of the evacuation housing at the fairgrounds. She told the Star/Journal last Tuesday, “The whole experience is a statement to the amazing community spirit and determination to get things done that this small town and surrounding area are able to pull off at a moments notice.” “So many people stepped up to the plate to help,” said Hayward, “They put their families, their jobs, and in many instances their personal safety on hold to help people who had livestock and were unable to transport them out of the evacuation areas. Once the animals were unloaded at the fairgrounds another group of amazing people of all ages have stepped forward to care for all of the critters, and they are committed to do it for as long as it takes until everyone of the livestock can be returned home.” When will that be? “Not today,” says Hayward, “We think it will be a slow process until all of our animal guests can return home, and then the cleanup of the fairgrounds and putting everything back in it’s place in time for the Labour Day Fall Fair weekend will begin.”
