All three animal doctors are from the province of Alberta, and have been involved in helping "special needs" dogs, including four pit bull dogs who survived Hurricane Katrina that devastated the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, a Globe and Mail report said.

The three bought Rabbit Island from a California man in January, and have since made it a human and canine retreat.

Dr. Pilar Gosselin and fellow vets Dave Brace and Dave Szentimrey plan to allow only a few dogs to stay to run free on the island, which has a lodge, four cabins, a bathhouse, a desalination plant and equipment to produce solar and wind power, the report said.

"I've committed myself to making the dogs' lives better," Gosselin said. "They can be themselves, not cause trouble, not evoke hostility."