CALGARY- A southeast Calgary community is going to the dogs.

An elusive pooch has been roaming around New Brighton for weeks—including during the cold snap—prompting concerned residents to try and bring her inside. However, she has other plans.

Akira is a skittish husky-wolf cross, who is about a year and a half old. Animal Services officers have tried unsuccessfully to catch her, along with anyone able to get close to her. She is not a stray, but it’s not clear who owns her as no one has gotten near enough to read the tags.

Since she won’t come inside, dog lovers living in the community have banded together to keep her alive.

“People are getting up in the middle of the night to go to her bedding. Wash it, dry it, keep it rotated so there is always a warm shelter for her to be in,” says resident Curtis Harren. “Making sure food is there for her, in a safe place.”

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City staff say part of the reason Akira won’t come inside is because she’s being so well fed by those in the neighbourhood, that she has no incentive to eat the food from humane traps set up in the area.

“We’re so thankful to the residents, they’ve been really helping us a lot recently, but we’re just saying please don’t feed the dog at the moment,” says Damian Cole from Animal Services. “We’re trying to get her into a trap and the best way to put her into a trap is for it to be food-driven.”

If she is ever caught, a wolf dog rescue organization has already offered to take her in, socialize her, and hopefully adopt her out.