BREAKING NEWS! is what pops out at you on the THS main page but somehow they missed this HUGE story about their own people.
5 senior staffers, including a veterinarian, have been arrested and face multiple allegations and charges of cruelty to animals, as well as other charges.
I don’t know Canadian society or laws but this gets interesting. The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) started investigating complaints of animal abuse by and at the Toronto Humane Society (THS). It appears that the Ontario SPCA has quite a bit of legal authority, including authority over THS.
Killing them with kindness. This is the beginning of an investigative report. Just days later, THS was raided. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/644372; and http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/06/02/humane-society.html?ref=rss
The staff of THS “felt vindicated” because the investigation resulted in concerns about just 4 cats (of 1100 animals). And more on this “catfight”. And Ontario SPCA suspended THS’ shelter status. Huh, sure sounds like more than a 4 cat issue but, wait... Now I’m not the least bit sure what that “suspension” entailed because THS certainly appears to be going right along, business as usual, at least from their website’s appearance. There are multiple “Breaking News!” entries on that page and one is for November 23rd and one for November 25th. (I’ll be coming back to that second one!) Starting to look like a 4 cat issue 'cause surely Ontario SPCA wouldn't allow them to continue to care for 1,000+ animals, business as usual for 5+ months if it were "serious". Yeah, apparently they would!
5 THS senior staffers, including Gary McCracken, Romeo Bernadino, and Andy Bechtel, arrested and charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty. “The Toronto Humane Society’s president [Tim Trow] and chief veterinarian [Steve Sheridan] are facing criminal charges of animal cruelty for running a dysfunctional shelter where animals were allegedly denied food and water and left to die suffering in their cages... Mr. Trow, Mr. McCracken, Mr. Betchel and Mr. Bernadino were all charged with cruelty to animals, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, and obstruction of a peace officer. Dr. Sheridan was charged with conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and cruelty to animals.”
14 volunteer board members of THS each face 5 charges of animal cruelty. (That just warms my cockles! I keep telling people they can't volunteer for these boards and ignore their duties because it can bite you in the arse. It SHOULD bite you in the arse if you don't perform your oversight duties. Goody, goody, goody!) It's a non-profit group and you're a volunteer. Guess what? You probably have a higher duty to perform than your paid corporate counterparts!
And where does that leave all the animals in one of Canada’s largest animal shelters? The Ontario SPCA turned to the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee. They declined to assist. “A team of veterinarians has moved into the shelter and started inspecting the animals to ensure they are healthy and well cared-for, and to help determine whether further charges should follow. The shelter will be closed to the public until the inspection is concluded, likely in a few days.”
1,000+ animals likely at that shelter. I guess they’re OK for a few days but nary a word on the THS or Ontario SPCA websites so far to beg for assistance with this dire situation. Oh, well, I guess there wouldn't be a "OOPS, we seriously mucked it up and abused animals or let them be abused but please, oh PLEASE, send us some more money..." plea. How exactly would one spin that request so it doesn't sound utterly absurd?
It strikes me that, if this had been in the US, it would likely now hold the “largest animal cruelty seizure in US history” title; beating out the 1,045 seized in Houston not so long ago. Shouldn’t animal shelters and humane organizations be held to AT LEAST the same standard as individual owners? Shouldn’t SPCA have resources before confiscating?
Interesting, here we have one humane organization (THS) that apparently didn’t have the resources for proper animal care and in swoops another humane organization (OSPCA) that apparently doesn’t have the resources to properly care for the animals and they’re the ones who were supposed to be stupervising the other group of dimwits. Am I the only one who wonders if these groups should be entrusted with animals at all? Am I the only one who wants to scream WTF?????
Something different should have happened. Maybe these animals should never have been with THS. Would their lives have been worse then? We'll probably never know but I surely wonder about that more and more as these humane organizations continue to swoop in and snatch up privately owned animals only to beg and plead because they don't have the proper resources to care for them and, in this international economy, they sure aren't likely to get it now. Yet they keep right on swooping in to take animals that are owned and getting at least some care while so often closing their doors to voluntarily surrendered animals. Above I mentioned 2 breaking news stories on the THS website. The first one is a sad, pathetic plea concerning 2 dogs "abandoned" in their fenced area. Why would someone do that instead of walking them in and turning them over? Because THS is apparently one of THOSE shelters that swoops in and confiscates but does NOT accept surrenders. Note the silence on the Intake page on the subject.
So now what happens to THESE animals; the 1,000+ currently at THS? I’m guessing the kill rate at this shelter is about to skyrocket!
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An invite to Kate Hammer of The Globe and Mail: Come on down to Houston, Texas, USA please. I’d dearly like to take you on a tour of collected documents and then the facilities of the City of Houston, Bureau of Animal Regulation and Control (BARC). We NEED someone like you and I don’t think we have any investigative reporters left in this country.
I wonder if we can get an Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee. It sure looks good on paper. Oh, well, it doesn’t seem to work any better than what we do here in the US.