Shiloh Berscheid, 6, in hospital after being mauled by a stray dog in northern Saskatchewan. Photograph by: Liam Richards , Saskatoon Star Phoenix

SASKATOON — A Saskatchewan town has started capturing and destroying stray dogs after a vicious dog attack on a young child.

The dog, now destroyed, attacked six-year-old Shiloh Berscheid on Saturday evening in Ile-a-la-Crosse in northern Saskatchewan.

The boy was airlifted to Saskatoon for surgery and received 60 stitches to help heal deep bites on the left side of his face.

Angella McKay, his mother, spoke out about the incident in a bid to force town officials to fix the community's stray dog problem.

On Wednesday, a man started to patrol Ile-a-la-Crosse streets searching for stray dogs on behalf of the town. His job is part-time, working on an as-needed basis.

"That's what I wanted them to do, to do something right away," McKay said, now out of the hospital with Shiloh.

"People are great at getting something done when a situation blows up. Now it's about ensuring this guy is out on a regular basis in the long-term."

Ile-a-la-Crosse village council has struggled for several years to find a regular dogcatcher to control stray dogs.

The town is compensating the man and lent him a municipal truck to haul the dogs to the bush, where they will be destroyed.

The town is warning residents to keep their dogs tethered if they don't want the new dogcatcher coming around.

"If you love your pets, you need to take some responsibility and tie them up," said Mayor Duane Favel, adding a more humane approach would be ideal but is, for now, not feasible.

"We don't have the facilities to house the dogs or the money to feed them or spay or neuter them," he said.

In the meantime, the town is mulling other long-term solutions, such as pet care education.

"It's too bad it came to this point," said town administrator Diane McCallum.

"But people realized the dogs got out of control. Those dogs won't ever be eliminated. This'll have to be ongoing work. It's not a one-time thing."

Ile-a-la-Crosse is about 500 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.