We Cannot Rescue our Way Out of This Crisis!

Let me be very very clear….rescues are amazing!!!

The commitment, the long hours, the sweat, the personal debt incurred and so many tears are a testimony to their dedication to protect the vulnerable, the voiceless. Rescuers ROCK!

BUT…unless the root cause is fixed we are quite frankly putting a bandaid on a dam that is full of cracks.

I am speaking about Ontario here but this situation is Canada wide; we are in an animal welfare crisis, it is not getting better – in fact it is getting worse. For many in the rescue, advocacy, activist world….we do not see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Do I sound just negative and cynical? Yes I do because the situation we find ourselves in warrants a reality check and we need to call a spade a spade.

Root Cause Issues:

• Ruling governments and their elected members who lack the courage to make morally right decisions if that position will most certainly not please their boss and/or the powerful voting blocks that keep them in power.
  • Examples:
    • The PAWS Act
      • Vaguely worded with immeasurable Standards of Care
        • How can an inspector gauge compliance when the “measuring stick” is words like “adequate” and “appropriate”
        • So many cases if even charged have their charges dismissed because of shotty evidence
      • Poorly trained field inspectors and under resourcing leads to very poor response in many parts of the province.
        • Example:
          • Carly Young (Niagara dog owner accused of killing her dog). AWS Inspector wasn’t even aware it was her job to engage Niagara police to commence a criminal investigation
          • Jessica Kippen (Hamilton woman who ran an unlicensed dog business)
      • The PUPS Act
        • Doug Ford refuses to bring in a breeder licensing requirement that would allow oversight and enforcement.
          • Breeders remain hidden and free to continue harming animals
          • But Ford got his sound bite out to the public that “puppy mills are now prohibited” – the PUPS Act is absolutely useless
      • Over Population of dogs and cats
        • Government provides very little assistance to make low cost spay/neuter clinics more accessible
      • Lack Of Animal Welfare Infrastructure
        • Doug Ford committed to replicating the support infrastructure that the OSPCA possessed – nothing has been done
        • Because Ford is unwilling to make efficient investments in these critical elements that would allow animals at risk to be removed from dangerous situations, rescues are forced to pick up pieces of this broken and poorly run operation.
          • Rescues get no government support even though they are relied on so heavily by this government
      • Anim

• Legislation & policy that is superficial and full of vague language and loopholes that allows the government to release a sound bite that will please the public BUT won’t really mean substantial change to the way things have always operated.