Is the OSPCA doing all it can to protect animals?

Critics say the OSPCA is underfunded and unaccountable

Yorkregion.com
October 10, 2018
Kim Zazour

When news broke that 13 horses had died and 15 more were left starving in Stouffville, animal lovers were quick to pounce on the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA).

How could the taxpayer-supported provincial agency let this happen? Why weren’t officials watching more closely, punishing more quickly, doing everything they could to save the starving creatures?

Animal advocates said it was not the first time the organization dropped the ball.

But animal welfare experts say what constitutes animal neglect or abuse is not a black-and-white issue --and what authorities are able to do about it can be even murkier.

This summer, in a quiet subdivision in northeast Aurora, neighbours say they were kept awake by the sound of a whining, wailing puppy left outside in a concrete-covered backyard.

“It was so painful to hear,” says Stacey Snowden, who first heard the howls in the wee hours on Aug. 17.

The noise woke her neighbour Melanie Hutchinson around 4 a.m. When dawn broke, they saw the cries came from a black puppy huddled against the sliding glass door of their neighbour’s house.

Snowden, concerned the puppy was alone in a yard dominated by an uncovered pool in both hot and rainy weather, says she spoke with the owners, who seemed unaware and unconcerned.

She then called the OSPCA and was told to call the Town of Aurora animal control --who told her to call the OSPCA. The OSPCA then told her if it was an emergency, to call police, who said it was an issue for the OSPCA.

“We were just sent around in circles,” Snowden said.

The crying continued the next night and day with more neighbours growing concerned, some engaging in over-the-fence altercations with the animal’s owners.

Snowden believes it wasn’t until concern went viral on social media, with threats to launch a covert rescue mission, that authorities took their queries seriously --72 hours later.

Town staff offered the owners information on pet responsibility and police asked them to bring the puppy indoors, but the pet was back outside again as soon as they left.

Neighbours say they were disappointed with the OSPCA’s response, and remain confused as to which authority is in charge.

According to Town of Aurora spokesperson Stephanie Mackenzie-Smith, municipal animal service officers deal with off-leash, lost pets, licensing, dog bites, noise and pet education, while the OSPCA is responsible for investigating neglect and abuse.

But Walters says the community still feels as if no one is standing up for mistreated pets.

“No one wants to take responsibility. We shouldn’t have to walk this minefield.”

A similar situation erupted in Newmarket this summer when a dog broke through a window in an apartment on Main Street.

Neighbours grew concerned when it appeared a tenant was breeding dogs in the 700-square-foot apartment, leaving them malnourished and alone in festering feces.

They contacted police, the town and the OSPCA.

Debbie Stevenson, Newmarket animal control officer, says she knocked on the door and left a message letting the dogs’ owner know there had been complaints.

But concern ramped up when one of the dogs smashed the second-storey window July 7.

On July 13, Stevenson says she and the OSPCA visited the property and the OSPCA ordered the owner to bring the dogs to a vet --but the agency did not remove the dogs.

Now, neighbours say, the owner has disappeared and taken the animals with him.

“Unfortunately, owners have rights. I can only go so far,” Stevenson says. “I can try to make contact and ask them to fix the problem. But when it comes to potential cruelty and entering the property, that’s the OSPCA, which can impose higher fines and criminal charges.”

According to Melissa Kosowan, spokesperson with the OSPCA, the organization investigated the Newmarket situation “following up accordingly to ensure the dogs receive the care they require,” but the persons of interest cannot be located. She asked anyone with information to call 310-SPCA (7722).

But that answer is too vague for animal advocates like Lianne Goldin who believes the OSPCA should be more transparent.

Animal lovers may be tempted --when confronted with such cases --to take action into their own hands, she warned. It can also drive animal abusers, who have been targeted on social media, to go “underground,” as appears to have happened in this situation, she added.

Those who tried to get action for malnourished horses in Stouffville were also frustrated.

The community had to “nag and badger” the OSPCA into pressing charges against the Small family, according to horse sanctuary owner Rae Ierullo.

The OSPCA encourages the public to call its provincewide hotline 310-SPCA (7722) to report suspected animal cruelty, but Ierullo says it took four days for the OSPCA to return that call when she reported concerns.

When the community began to unearth the bodies of dead horses in the back paddock, they called the OSPCA again. Ierullo says the agent who responded told them she was only concerned with live animals, not dead.

“That felt like a police officer looking at a murder victim and saying, ‘too late now.’ Shouldn't the manner of the death be of concern to the agency charged with protecting animals? At no time during this horrendous experience did I feel any commitment on the part of the OSPCA's agent to see justice served.”

OSPCA spokesperson Stephanie Johns says the organization is not a first responder agency and is bound by legal procedures to gain access to an individual’s property.

“When the Ontario SPCA receives a call for concern surrounding the health and welfare of animals, we respond by first attempting to make contact with the owner. If we are unsuccessful at making contact ... we must legally post a notice requesting the owner respond.”

The society has legal authority to remove an animal in three situations, Johns says: if a vet has examined the animal and determined it should be removed; if the OSPCA agent has reasonable grounds for believing the animal is in distress and the owner can’t be found promptly; or if the owner does not comply with an order from the society directing him/her to alleviate the animal’s distress.

But those who keep tabs on animal welfare agencies say the organization could do better.

Lynn Perrier, founder of Reform Advocates for Animal Welfare, says animals in dire stress and life-threatening conditions are being ignored by the OSPCA.

“Animal abusers get a slap on the wrist because OSPCA rarely shows up at court to work with crown attorneys and the OSPCA Act is so vague it can be manipulated any way OSPCA chooses to interpret.”

But Kosowan disagrees. Investigating officers collect evidence and if that evidence indicates an offence has occurred, he or she lays a charge and appears at court when subpoenaed, “the same as any other witness."

“It’s important to remember that the OSPCA does not write the laws we enforce. When a member of the public has a concern about current legislation, we encourage them to contact their local MPP.”

Adriana Pisano Beaumont, a human-animal studies scholar in Richmond Hill, believes a lot of good is being done by the OSPCA, but understaffing causes problems.

“There seems to be a reticence to engage owners when there is clear evidence of the basics (water, shelter, etc.) and I think it's because they know the legislation won't support them removing animals unless there is clear evidence,” she says. “If they seize the animals, they have to pay for their care, then defend their decision before a judge --who sadly, almost never seem to be aligned with the OSPCA.”

The organization is classified as a charity and is exempt from Freedom of Information laws, she adds, but still receives more than $5 million annually from the province --with little public accountability for the money.

Brock University associate professor Kendra Coulter says the OSPCA is constrained by legislation and underfunding.

Coulter and Amy Fitzgerald, associate professor at the University of Windsor, co-authored a report on the subject. Their research found many cases where officers desperately want to do more but were bound by legal obligations.

They say “shockingly low levels of funding” translate into few officers being responsible for massive case loads and, in some parts of the province, sweeping geographic regions.

“The work of animal cruelty investigations is physically, psychologically and emotionally trying,” the report says.

OSPCA officers see animals in distress, they see violence, neglect, people coping with dire poverty or illness or the abuse of children and women alongside animals; at the same time, they are disrespected by the public due to a lack of understanding.

Mike Zimmerman, who recently retired after working for 12 years on the animal care portfolio for the provincial government, says he is saddened to see animal protection in “disarray.”

Zimmerman administered the OSPCA Act and monitored the organization’s activities, leading the team that substantially rewrote the Act in 2009.

“For the first 90 years, the OSPCA did a good job but lately some real concerns have been raised. There are many parts of the province without local service delivery and animal protection is too often being left to municipal animal control officers who don’t have authority to enforce the provincial law.”

There should be better public education to make OSPCA policy clear, he says, and more hiring and officer training. Instead, “there seems to be no way to hold the system to account."

Ultimately, he says, animal protection should fall under the provincial government.

Kim Knapp, an animal advocate who has worked in animal rescue and rehabilitation for more than 25 years, agrees the OSPCA should be provincially run --and animal ownership rules more clearly defined.

“As long as there’s housing, water or food, the SPCA won’t get involved --but that housing could just be a roof deck, the water could have green slime, the food could be a tossed dead chicken. Is that abuse? ... There should be clear animal ownership guidelines. We berate other countries and we’re no better. We need to take better care of our own animals first.”