PET CULTURE

Yukon’s Best Friend:

For more information, please contact: sales@whatsupyukon.com

The Best Things in Life are… Rescued!

Meet Maple!

She is a 2-year-old, female German Shepherd. Maple is available for adoption from foster. Her foster family really enjoys having her, but it’s time for her to find her forever home. Visit the link below to see what her foster family they have to say about her:

Maple is outgoing and friendly, she loves to play with other dogs of all sizes. She is smart and learns quickly. She is very tolerant and trusting when it is time for her hip exercises. She would do well in a home with children, with proper introduction of another dog. We do not know how she is with cats.

Maple has been diagnosed with mild hip dysplasia which is likely congenital. The vet believes with proper care and management she is able to live a full and happy life. Potential adopters are encouraged to do their research into the financial and emotional cost of ensuring a dog like Maple maintains a high quality of life.

If you are interested in adopting Maple, please fill out an online application at humanesocietyyukon.ca. If you already have a preapproved application with us within the last year, call 633-6019 to put your application towards her.

SHELTER HOURS:

Tuesdays - Fridays 12pm-6pm Saturdays - 10am-6pm

126 Tlingit St, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 6J2 | Tel: 867 633 6019 humanesocietyyukon.ca

PET PAGE!

She’s a 1.5-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog. Mikasa is a big bubbly baby. She’s a purebred Bernese Mountain Dog just over a year old. She loves other pets and flops her big paws around. She seems to be very tolerable and could potentially do well with children and other dogs. She is not very food motivated but would much rather have a walk or a cuddle session.

If you are interested in adopting Mikasa please fill out an online application at humanesocietyyukon. ca. If you already have a preapproved application with us within the last year, call 633-6019 to put your application towards her. Note: Please submit only 1 application, noting your first choice.

The Best Things in Life are… Rescued!

Meet Mikasa!

Foster Families Needed

As most adoptions happen in the city, YARN relies heavily on foster homes in the city when pups are ready for adoption. We look after all the vet appointments and adoption applications.

YARN cannot continue accepting litters, unless it has foster homes to care for them in the city, while they find their homes. We are in need of some great Fosters Families to help our little fur-babies when they arrive in Whitehorse.

SHELTER HOURS:

Tuesdays - Fridays 12pm-6pm, Saturdays - 10am-6pm

126 Tlingit St, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 6J2 | Tel: 867 633 6019 humanesocietyyukon.ca

If you are interested and able to help in fostering please get in contact with us via our page @YukonAnimalRescueNetwork or send us a message via Facebook messenger or email: cheryl@YukonAnimalRescue.net

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Monthly PET themed page

• Will contain adoptable pets from local shelters

• May contain reader submitted pet pictures and success stories

12 ads, 1 year

• 2x2 or 1x4 $80/issue - $912/year if paid in advance

• 2x4 $160/issue - $1,824/year if paid in advance the notes of their songs are ones that have reverberated through these valleys and mountains for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Coming to Qoyllur Rit’i is not something to be taken lightly. Even if one is not part of these comparsas (troupes), most people believe that one needs to make a commitment to come for three consecutive years. Some visitors come for only a day, but many spend several nights in the mountains and bring with them tents and tarps to rest under.

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Most don’t rest much, however.

Crosses are carried up towards the glacier in special processions, people wait in long lines to go into the sanctuary to greet the image of Christ, and families gather at the base of the mountains and build miniature houses of stones to represent the ones that they one day wish to have. Strangers get symbolically “married,” and stalls line the trail, below the shrine, hosting a market selling toy cars, ceramic livestock, bundles of fake money and all sorts of representations of possible desires for the future. The nights are filled with different dances, fireworks, sacred initiations up in the mountain, and loud continuous music under the full moon.

Ukukus, traditional Andean dancers representing the mythological offspring of a woman and a spectacled bear, are a quintessential part of Qoyllur Rit’i. Some times also referred to as “pabluchas,” ukukus dance and play pranks, but they are also in charge of maintaining order, preventing excessive drinking and punishing any offenders. Qoyllur Rit’i is not a game. Preparations are made several months in advance: there are rules and codes of conduct and, for many who attend, it’s a very serious and important part of their year. For some, it’s about deepening their faith; for others, it’s a time of cleansing or a type of penance. People come to make offerings, to ask for a blessing or to seek healing (both physical and spiritual). Historically, ukukus were the only ones allowed to climb up to the sacred glacier where they would collect blocks of ice that were believed to have healing properties. The water from the melted blocks would be taken home to bless the fields and to bring good luck to the communities. This is, however, no longer done because of a growing awareness of how rapidly the glacier has been retreating.

It’s said that the Peruvian Andes are home to more than 70 per cent of the world’s tropical glaciers and the Cordillera Vilcanota (the mountain range where Qoyllur Rit’i takes place) includes almost 500 of these glaciers. Long-term shifts in weather patterns and temperatures are being observed everywhere, and Peru is no excep- used as holy water seems quite profound now.

Most visitors leave via the same path they came, but a few groups spend several nights in the glacial basin and eventually continue the pilgrimage for 24 more hours, carrying with them the images of the Virgen Dolorosa and the Lord of Tayancani, through the night, to receive the sunrise, Inti Alabado (the praising of the sun), before descending to the town of Tayancani. The long trek from the base of Apus Sinakara and Qolqepunku, to this area, is an example of the internal fortitude of these comparsas. They dance and play their music all day and night, with tion. The dry season is becoming longer, water more scarce; and abnormally high UV index readings, more common.

To the Indigenous Quechua people of the Andes, the mountains have spirits. They’re referred to as Apus and protect the people and animals who live near them. Traditionally, offerings to these divine entities were woven into Andean daily life but gradually have become forgotten as more and more people move to cities. The accelerated melting of these glaciers, whether it’s caused by consumerism and burning fossil fuels or by a forgetting of ancient traditions and a lack of offerings to the mountain spirits, is clearly a symptom of an imbalance in the world.

The fact that glacier ice was no sleep, fuelled only by their faith and maybe a few leaves of chewed coca. Views of Apu Ausangate accompany them in the distance, and the stars of the Milky Way and the light of the moon guide them during the last few hours before they wait in a long line to greet the sun. They then continue on dancing in rows, over the dry, grass-covered hills, to eventually arrive in Tayancani and then make their way back to their communities. Next year, they will come back to these mountains to once again show their devotion and love for the Lord of Qoyllur Rit’i, as well as the Apus and Pachamama (Mother Earth), hoping to still find the life-bringing glaciers of the Andes waiting for them. n

ACTIVE LISTINGS

Wed May 31 & Jun 7 Ladies Kickboxing 12:05 PM Eight Days Martial Arts Muay Thai Kickboxing full body workout.

Wed May 31 & Jun 7 Zumba 6:00 PM 7th Ray Studio A fitness program that combines Latin and international music with dance moves. Register online

Wed May 31 & Jun 7 Insanity Live – Beginner 6:00 PM The Heart of Riverdale Community Centre 8 week series, drop-in or register online https://bit.ly/3SyoqAL

Wed May 31 & Jun 7 Spirit Bear Karate The Heart of Riverdale Community Centre 6:30 PM & 7:30 PM Traditional Okinawan Shorin-ryu Seibukan Karate Do. Adult Class (16 y/o and up) http:// spiritbearkaratekobudo.ca

Wed May 31 & Jun 7 Badminton

Adult Drop-in Takhini Elementary 7:30 PM Open to everyone 18 years old and older and all skill levels.

Thu Jun 1 & 8 Lunchtime Fitness Classes 12:00 PM Northern Strength Academy Tuesdays classes are more resistance and strength focused and Thursday classes more HIIT cardio. Drop in & passes are available. https:// bit.ly/3oiTBVz