That's pretty impressive. Instead of running the THS, perhaps Tim Trow et al. should be running CSIS.
(Please note that Ken Wood did not in any way speak on behalf of Toronto Cat Rescue).
I went back to the post mentioned in the letter and sure enough, someone named Ken Wood was indeed speaking in one of the videos - so, I deleted the link to the video which is posted on Youtube. The last thing Ken needs is more problems from me. Of course, the vid's still on Youtube but that's out of my hands.
In the THS letter, Romeo Bernardino, the signatory, takes offence at the statement, "they don't spay and neuter" in reference to the THS. Legally, I'd guess, the THS does spay and neuter sometimes, just not all the time.
For example, the THS didn't speuter this dog before putting it up for adoption (click on image to enlarge):
Or this one:
Or this one:
And they didn't speuter this cat:
Or this one:
Or this one:
Questions to ask: How many puppies and kittens will these unaltered animals produce? Even if there is a no-breeding contract associated with the adoption, what assurances will there be that the contract is followed? What are the enforcement mechanisms? What if the animal is given to another owner? What if the owners move or otherwise "disappears"? How will the THS enforce a no-breed contract then? Even if the the owner has good intentions, what happens if the adopted animal accidentally runs loose and becomes unsupervised?
The only sure way to guarantee that an animal will not reproduce, creating more unwanted animals, is to spay/neuter before the animal leaves the shelter. That's stuff you learn in kindergarten for the animal rescue community. The THS hasn't learned this or at least hasn't learned it well enough.
Nevertheless, the current speuter percentages are still better than the situation three months ago. Is this just due to chance or could this improvement have anything to do with all the bad publicity the THS has been getting from people like Ken Wood? If so, then at the very least, the recent constructive criticisms of the THS may have resulted in improvements with their facility. For now.
Now as for this legal threat being issued by the THS legal snipers, well, they've definitely proved themselves to be pretty good at using up their time and money information gathering and lawyering but they might want to consider hiring someone to help out with the PR stuff cuz that they ain't so good at.
I understand there's also a second letter in which the THS demands that Ken retract his statements and apologize in The Globe and Mail. Hey, I want to apologize to a friend I stole a stick of gum from when I was five but that doesn't mean The Globe will necessarily publish it. Also, the only thing an apology will do, if it does get published, is show how ridiculously heavy handed the THS is when it comes to dealing with its critics. You hold a gun or a lawsuit to someone's head and there's no telling what the person will say and no one will believe it anyway.
The other benefit from a Globe apology may be that tens of thousands of people are driven to this blog to check out what all the fuss is about. Fine, I'll take the free publicity but how's that supposed to help the THS?
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I was looking at the THS site to find their number and lo, they've issued a bunch of statements. They are in such denial. Don't they realize the best thing they could do, for the animals AND public relations, is to acknowledge that they need to change?
This may have been my favourite part:
"Any staff, that feel that they are being threatened, harassed or are in a hostile workplace, are to report these incidents to Ian McConachie at mcian@live.com and they will be reviewed by legal counsel and appropriate action will be taken."
Yeah. Threatened by the OSPCA. I'm sure it's a more hostile workplace now than under Tim Trow...
In a statement on their web page (where, as redstarcafe pointed out – to my surprise – they now identify themselves as the Toronto Humane Society AND HOSPITAL ) THS claims to “look forward to continuing to provide the highest standards of care to the animals entrusted to us.” Hmmm... Among what i’ve read so far in The Globe, Star, Post and Sun: a cat left to starve in the rafters after being captured in a (deliberately set)live trap, cats ‘entrusted to them’ eating food that expired 6 years ago (latest story in the Globe), a cat neglected to the point where treatable eye ulcerations were ignored to the point of prolapse, a cat allegedly attacked by Bandit who was seriously injured but left untreated for days, and a cat’s claws untrimmed to the point they were turned back and digging into its paws. Oh, and about a cat that actually was neutered: left with stitches in that “posed a risk of death 11 days beyond the normal 10-day removal deadline.” (as reported in the Sun). I then there’s something about a boiled cat?
That’s some high standard...
Uh-oh, they're reading THIS post, and the one you did on Saturday, and all the other ones. I hope OBAAT has a team of good lawyers just like the ones the THS donors are paying for!
OMG, that snotty letter to TCR...
OK, they're now a hospital. Hambley's statement on the THS site goes on and on about it:
"We are proud to work at the largest companion hospital in Canada and for a Humane Society that has been delivering care to animals since 1887. The Society has been around this long because it fills the desperately needed role of adoption facility and haven, and it is the only facility in Toronto with a hospital capacity to take care of the most sick and vulnerable animals abandoned in the Toronto area."
Well, that would explain all the sick animals and the old moldy food.
BTW, in early October 2009 over 50 unaltered cats were offered for adoption on the THS website.
A friend counted.
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