More from CBC today on the ridiculous turf war waged against the Toronto Humane Society by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This week's cruelty charges against five top Humane Society officials are summarized as follows:
“The animals are left to catch horrible diseases, die in their crates based on the euthanasia policy and refusing to let the veterinarians who work here to do their jobs,” Christopher Avery, lawyer for the OSPCA, charged.*
(*Translation for the uninitiatiated - "do their jobs" = kill animals)
The Toronto Humane Society's reluctance to "euthanize" is apparently considered cruelty by some in the animal welfare business.
I am glad these well-meaning folks don't have police powers in our hospitals.
What a sorry spectacle.
- Garry J. Wise, Toronto
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8 comments:
Sorry, man - I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. Reading the accounts of some of the vets who have worked there - and then refused to work there ever again - I'm not at all surprised or sorry to see these people arrested. Especially Trow.
Refusing to euthanize an animal that is in pain with no hope of recovery IS cruelty. Absolutely. And comparing it to euthanizing humans is ludicrous. Cats and dogs do not understand what is happening to them, cannot tell us what they are feeling, and do not have access to the same types of medical treatments or pain medications that people do. Anyone who has ever had a pet die can tell you that.
It's all well and good to try to avoid euthanasia whenever possible, but having more animals die in their cages than are put down is hardly an improvement. And then there's the mummified cat in the ceiling...
A sorry spectacle? To leave a live trap unmonitored, to neglect to give pain medication to sick, injured and dying animals, to fail to quarantine diseased animals, to cage animals who have no hope of adoption for undetermined periods, is indeed a sorry spectacle.
It must be very hard for those who love animals to euthanize them, but unfortunately sometimes the alternative is worse.
Perhaps.. But don"t you think pressing cruelty charges against a group of professionals who have dedicated their lives to animal welfare is a bit of an extreme way to begin what may well be a necessary enquiry regarding these concerns?
The problem is, ever since the THS severed ties with the OSPCA and the City, there has been no real mechanism for oversight. They are only accountable to their donors, and their donors are kept in the dark as much as possible. So exactly what sort of an enquiry could you conduct without involving the police?
The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (http://www.canlii.org/en/on/laws/stat/rso-1990-c-o36/latest/rso-1990-c-o36.html) establshes an Animal Care Review Board that could have addressed these issues.
While I'm not at all familiar with the Board's procedures, it is clear the OSPCTA could simply have apprehenddd the animials, and the THS could have brought an application to the Board to civilly review the Society's decisions.
As well, if we genuinely have an animal welfare crisis at the THS (as opposed to a different philosphical approach), the government could certainly convene an enquiry.
That is probably what would happen if an analogous issue arose at a Childrens Aid Society, nursing home or hospital, don't you think?
The Toronto Humane Society should be renamed the Toronto Cruelty Society.
There is nothing humane in their policies or proceedures.
Animals are killed all the time. Look at the sandwich you're eating or the roast you are carving. That is the pecking order... kill and eat or be killed and be eaten.
Humans have evolved... a tiny fringe above that. Meat killed for food must be killed humanely and without pain if possible.
When I find an injured animal in the wild - I know the right thing to do even if I can't always bring myself to do it.
Killing with kindness is still killing. And with the horrible price of pain and suffering.
If animals are to be left to die in whatever horrible circumstances they find themselves in - there is no need for any public-tit-sucking society calling themselves Humane.
Let dog eat dog.
The Children's Aid Society, hospitals and nursing homes are all funded by the Provincial government. The THS receives no government funding because Liz White decided that she didn't like the strings that came attached.
As for the powers of the OSPCA in this situation, I don't know. But I can't imagine the THS would have allowed them to just march in and take the animals without a fight.
Under Ontario's new Provincial Animal Welfare Act passed earlier this year, the OSPCA has the authority to inspect facilities where animals are housed, lay cruelty charges, apply for custody of animals while charges are before the court, as well as require veterinarians to report suspected cases of animal abuse including causing or permitting distress.
This is not about a "turf war", and it is not about a different "philosophical approach". It is about cruelty to animals in the care of the THS.
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