Saturday, June 13, 2009

A comedy of errors

I can hardly believe this. From this morning's Globe and Mail, further evidence from reporter Kate Hammer that sanity at the Toronto Humane Society is fast slipping away.

Mr. Lambden said he was asked to participate in this choreography of tiptoeing: moving sick cats out of rooms that had yet to be inspected into rooms that already had.

Holy cover-ups batman! Moving cages of sick cats around from room to room to avoid detection by the OPSCA inspectors? Reminds me of a sketch routine the Marx Brothers might do. Who exactly is the mastermind that thinks up these strategies at the THS? Well, you got to give that wunderkind an A for effort. And possibly 2 years in jail as well.

... interfering with an agent or inspector in the course of their duties is a provincial offence.

It carries a maximum penalty of a $60,000 fine and two years in jail. "It would be significant to the investigation - it would mean that we were not able to see every animal there, which of course was our objective," she said.


Now you see, that cage moving thing, that's the kind of thing that can be orchestrated when you give someone a day's warning that there's going to be a "surprise" raid. Next time, maybe think about doing what the real police do. Show up at the door at 4 in the morning without first letting the whole city know about it the day before.

Kristin Williams, a spokesperson for the Ontario SPCA, said she didn't have any knowledge of animals being hidden from inspectors ...

Marx Brothers, meet the Keystone Cops.

Thank God for brave employees like Michael Lambden who refused to participate in the dirty tricks. If his allegations prove true, he should be given a Toronto citizen's award for sticking his neck out and talking to the Globe about what happened during the raid.

And one for Kate Hammer as well, who continues to jack hammer away at the once seemingly impenetrable fortress THS. Its masters must now surely be trembling behind their wall of silence.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

No doubt Kate has enough ammunition to write articles like this every day for a year. Hopefully, she doesn't have to.

monica said...

Thanks Fred for everything that you do on this blog - the updates, super pictures & info on the dogs at TAS, & your great stories, as well as all the info you've been providing on THS & other animal related topics. I look forward to reading it everyday.

Anonymous said...

So, let's see, we moved sick cats out of uninspected rooms into rooms that had been inspected and, one assumes had healthy cats in them.

I think I'd be less concerned about interfering with the inspection than I would with exposing healthy cats to the dangers of contagion. oh, but wait, that's not illegal, is it....

Anonymous said...

I'm certain the OSPCA will be investigating that. Did the THS really think they would get away with that? If theey weren't already in trouble, and then in trouble with all the people who have come forward since, that will hook them.
Consider, beyond the illegality of it, the perversity of hiding animals in distress who should be euthanized, or at least medicated, putting them into cat carriers, causing more distress, just so they can have a few more days or months of dying slow deaths.