Back, finally

It must have been a bittersweet return to work for Toronto Animal Services staff. It probably felt good to be earning a pay cheque again but, on the other hand, it seemed as soon as the doors opened, people were lining up to leave behind animals.

The first dog that was brought in was for an owner requested euthanasia. The JRT was old and had been seizuring all night. It was time to say goodbye. Glad I wasn't there for that.

Shortly after that, Bach was brought back from his stay up at TAS north (more on him tomorrow).

The rest of the animals were dumped by their owners. Nine cats and three dogs today, I think, was the count. Some of the dumpers were crying. Why? Were they really expecting sympathy for tossing their pet so they could go move into a new condo?

Oh what a hard decision. Oh boo hoo. A new trendy downtown condo or kick out my dog? Oh boo hoo. It's just that the condo's got rules against dogs and it's such a beautiful condo. Overpriced just right and really trendy - not that I'm a follower of trends, but you know how it is. My friends will just gush when I invite them over for cocktails. I know. It's too bad, you don't fit the new condo weight requirements. I'm sure you would've had a great life there too. No hard feelings, right? It's hard on me, also, you know. Boo hoo hoo. I hope you don't get euthanized. Sniff, sniff. Oh look. Time to go. Gotta pick out some new curtains. I want sheer, really sheer. So sexy that way.

Phury, too big for the new condo:


Smokey, too expensive:


Smokey's a beautiful dog with a rich black coat. We're guessing he's a Doberman/Great Dane mix. He's come in with such a bad ear infection that his right ear is completely swollen shut internally.



You can see how scared he was in the video at having been abandoned. He was owner searching the whole time I had him out, peering at everyone in the far distance to see if his owner had come back for him and looking away disappointed and anxious every time. Yep, it was heartbreaking but hopefully he'll come around in a few days.

As for the dogs at Hamilton/Burlingon SPCA and other private fosters, they will be be brought back to TAS South over the next few days. There really wasn't much anyone could do today in that regard because city council didn't ratify the workers' contract until late in the day. It would have really sucked to have brought all the animals back in only to have to ship them out again if council hadn't approved the contract.

Still waiting for the strike to end

From caacQ:

Tazz. Australian Shepherd mix. Female weighs about 40 lbs, possibly in heat, injured back leg(walks with a bit of a limp) very frightened, terrified of going indoors, most likely was abused very very submissive. Maybe 1-2 years old.



Unnamed Chow Chow. 7 years old, surrendered male neutered. Very nice, obedient and house trained. He is a big suck, other dogs attack him and he says nothing.


These are just two of the dogs who could have been pulled from Montreal pounds/shelters and transferred to Toronto Animal Services for rescue by now if the city strike weren't still dragging on. Every day the two sides keep arguing brings these dogs a day closer to being euthanized.

Last week that's where I thought they were headed but with news that the strike might be over any day now, there's hope.

Still, I have to wonder, in the last 5 weeks, how many dogs could we have saved who are now gone?

Here are a couple of others.

Everest. Golden mix. Male, intact, very friendly, great with other dogs, listens very well, doesn't bark much, clean in cage. Bad ear infection possibly ear mites since the Surolan hasn't been working to treat it. Possibly 2-4 years old.



Tobby. Lab. Male, intact, surrendered, good with cats, dogs and small children. He is VERY obedient, house trained. He is a great dog and has been with us over a month now. He is about 5 years old ... was surrendered because he looses fur!



Update: Oops. Stop reading the news for a couple of hours and miss everything. Looks like a tentative deal has been made with both unions. Ratification vote on Wednesday. Back to work right after that hopefully. I don't see why there would need to be any ramp up time at TAS.

If all goes well, maybe we'll see a load of rescue dogs come in by the end of the weekend.

Toronto city strikers

Continued from here.

You know you read in the news about all the Toronto city workers going on strike and their union making all these demands and it's easy enough to paint all the city workers with one brush. What colour that brush is of course depends where on the economic policy spectrum one likes to plant oneself. That loaded socio-economic discussion is beyond the scope of this blog but I was talking to someone yesterday from TAS who was walking the picket line at "the dump" and he was telling me about the situation on the ground. It's not as monochromatic as people may think.

Apparently, walking the pickets is not compulsory but if you don't, you won't get paid your ten bucks an hour or something like that from the union. So, if you're savings are non-existent because, say, you've just spent your last cent on getting another dog rescued from some high kill pound somewhere, then it's either picket or find another job. For those working at TAS who are more flexible in the monetary department, some of them have chosen not to support the strike (by not picketing) because of its impact on the animals, not just the animals in the facilities at the moment but also the ones which aren't being rescued because the South Shelter is closed.

That's something that the union heads might want to take note of. If they want to get the public onside, and right now, I think they need as much help in that regard as they can get, they might not want to implicate themselves with cute puppies and kittens rotting away somewhere because of their strike action. If not now, then next time, and I'm sure there will be a next time, they might consider letting at least an essential crew of TAS staff stay on the job so that animals don't end up suffering.

For most of us, the city strike is a matter of inconvenience. For the animals, especially the ones not being rescued, it can be a matter of life and death.

As a side note, I just want to give a huge thanks to all the readers here who contacted me, or TAS South directly, volunteering to foster dogs and cats for the duration of the strike. Your generous offers are sincerely appreciated and if you don't already have a new temporary family member, there's a chance you might get a call in the coming days if the strike goes on longer than expected. Thanks again so much.

Toronto Animal Services South - Empty

Continued from here.



All of the animals at Toronto Animal Services South have been relocated to fosters or the north shelter while the staff await the strike decision to be made Sunday night. They're still hoping for a resolution but things aren't looking too good right now.

Continued here.

Going north

I'm sitting with Bach on the little patch of grass that is still accessible. Bach, with his striking ice blue eyes, watches the workers put up barricades for the Indy track. Off around one of the bends, I hear someone squealing his car around a corner, really squealing, action flick, car chase like. The guy's just driving some beater but I guess because he sees the track being set up, his X-Box brain kicks in and he figures he can try out some moves.

Bach lies down on the grass. He's hot in the haze of the sun and the grass probably helps cool him down. He rolls over on his back and paws me for a belly rub. I'm spending some extra time with him because this will probably be his last day down at Toronto Animal Services South before he gets transferred up to the north facility for the duration of the city workers' strike.

TAS South has been busy getting ready to shut down. The other three shelters are remaining open. This doesn't make sense to me as I think the south shelter is the best facility - not that I'm biased or anything - but I'm told part of the reason is because the Indy will make access to the South shelter difficult if not impossible. Given that there will be enough worries with no regular staff to look after the animals, the city wants to keep things as simple as possible.

The plan, then, is to move all the animals from south to north. Thing is, TAS South staff would prefer to not put their cats and dogs through the turmoil and anxiety of being housed at the north shelter because no one really knows who will be looking after the animals there when the strike starts. Managers probably, but managers of what? Accounts, trucks and H.R.?

Jen, the person looking after cats at TAS South, has done an incredible job finding temporary cat fosters for the duration of the strike. More than forty cats have already gone out and the few remaining will hopefully be picked up sometime soon.

Most of the dogs have been fostered out as well but there are a handful remaining who will be kept up on the TAS adoption page, so who knows, maybe they'll get homed before the shelter transfer.

But Bach is definitely going up to TAS North. He was adopted out a few weeks ago but returned because his owner discovered he had heartworm at their first vet visit. Her vet told her that his treatment would cost $3000. I think that's a bit padded considering the drugs, while expensive, only cost a few hundred dollars, but hey, everyone wants to make a buck.

So Bach is back and he won't be put up for adoption until he gets put through the heartworm treatment which will last six weeks. And the treatment won't start until after the strike so that's probably another 2 - 3 weeks.

I'm a little worried for him. It feels like sending a sick kid off to summer camp not knowing what the camp facilities are like, not knowing even who's running the camp.

But Bach being Bach being a dog, is presently doing just fine. He doesn't appear to be showing any symptoms. No coughing, no lethargy. He's just enjoying his belly scratches and soaking up the sun, relishing what could be his last few minutes outside for many weeks to come.

He better make it back okay.


(Bach was one of the last out-of-province rescue dogs to be adopted out before TAS started doing heartworm testing on all their rescue dogs. TAS used to test all their dogs but never got any positive results so they figured they might as cancel the tests, at $20 a pop, and put the money elsewhere. Now heartworm seems to be much more prevalent, hence the testing once again.)

Strike stuff ontinued here.

Bach stuff continued here.

Foster cats

The impending Toronto city workers strike date, June 22, next Monday, is fast approaching. While most of the dogs at Toronto Animal Services South have found placement with rescues or fosters, a lot of the cats have not. That's not from lack of trying but there are just a lot more cats than dogs at the shelter.

If you're so inclined, you could really help out by fostering a TAS cat for the duration of the strike. There are no guarantees but it's unlikely the strike will go for longer than three weeks. If it's not settled by then, city workers will probably be legislated back to work. That's what happened last time.

The animals who don't find their way into foster care will be transported to one of the other city shelters where they will be managed by a reduced staff of who knows who. It sounds like it's going to turn into something more akin to a warehousing environment than a shelter environment. Sure, it may not be the end of the world for the animals but it won't be very nice.

If you're interested, this is the TAS South number: 416 338 6668. Ask to speak to the person looking after the cats (if you get the answering machine, hang up and call back later, otherwise, you'll be waiting a very long time). Or you can drop me an e-mail and I can give you the direct line to the person trying to find fosters.

Continued here.

Strike mandate

With all the turmoil going on at Toronto Humane Society, it's a good thing Toronto Animal Services will still have its doors open for strays and abandoned dogs.

Or will it?

There are talks right now between the city and a couple of its unions over their collective agreement and from what the papers are reporting, those talks aren't going very well . Last month, the unions had already voted in support of a strike mandate if negotiations break down. That would affect garbage pick-up, pools, daycares, ferries. And Toronto Animal Services.

They could all be on strike within two weeks.

Because of that possibility, TAS South will temporarily stop taking in rescue dogs from other shelters. There may be one more drop-off from Montreal this week but then that will be it until the labour situation is settled. The kennels will need to be as empty as possible as there'll only be bare bones staffing, maybe only managers there. I don't how that would work out. There's a lot of stuff to do for only one or two people.

Staff may be lucky enough to get most of the dogs out to various rescues - even if only temporarily - before any strike action takes place but the cats, unfortunately, don't have anywhere to go.

I don't think most at TAS, from either side of the dispute, are looking forward to a strike. I just hope it gets resolved quickly because I'm sure the animals left there won't be enjoying it either.

Continued here.