Last Friday night I watched the excellent documentary, Cat City on Global. It's about the stray cat problem in Toronto and how various groups try to help out. Toronto Cat Rescue is featured prominently as are many other independent cat rescuers. Toronto Animal Services is also mentioned in the film with scenes talking about adoptions as well as euthanasias.
In the documentary, there are a few sequences with Bill Bruce, the head of Calgary Animal Services, presenting possible strategies to humanely alleviate the abandoned cat problem. Bill Bruce has arguably set up the best animal control agency in Canada, possibly the world, especially if you judge by CAS' ultra low euthanasia numbers.
There are a lot of things we in Toronto could learn from Calgary but we also need to be careful to not compare apples with oranges. There are some major differences between the situation in Calgary with that in Toronto and I discuss some of those here but a few major ones stand out and bear repeating.
Calgary Animal Services doesn't have to deal with Breed Specific Legislation which in Ontario have resulted in the killing of thousands of Pit Bulls and dogs which sort of look like Pit Bulls. Instead, dog laws in Calgary are more sensibly based on misdeeds, not breed.
CAS does not accept any surrendered animals whereas TAS accepts all surrendered animals. For obvious reasons, this difference in policy will skew the euthanasia results. In Calgary, animals will only be accepted for surrender at the Calgary Humane Society. This an example of the separation and coordination of services with respect to animal welfare which has been worked out so well between CAS and Calgary Humane Society. This brings me to the final point, really the most significant one.
The dedication of the Calgary Humane Society to their animals is pretty apparent. The information I get off their very professional website shows them to be highly focused on important animal welfare concerns (as opposed to, say, interagency mudslinging or celebrity adulation). They seem to be doing everything right including having a behavioural team which works with problem dogs, an extensive veterinary team, community outreach and a well organized volunteer program.
Of course it's easy enough to paint a glowing picture of one's own organization, while overlooking any faults it may have, so I try to dig up some CHS dirt on-line. Well, guess what. I can't find anything - to which I say, Good! Finally, a large animal welfare organization in Canada that isn't replete with conflict to the detriment of its animals.
One of the things that really inspires me about the Calgary Humane Society is their working partnership with Calgary Animal Services. This is an ideal situation allowing each agency to focus on their respective mandates while still being able to cooperate with one another in the area of saving animals. Having these agencies work together can only increase their mutual efficiency as well as garner greater public goodwill.
This cooperation between local animal control and the local humane society is the way things should be in Toronto. Unfortunately, with Tim Trow and his hate-on for Toronto Animal Services at the helm of the Toronto Humane Society, this will never happen. As a city, we'll never be able to make any big advances in animal welfare until the THS, the largest and most lucrative animal welfare organization in the city, sheds the monkey on its back, gets straightened out and begins to rebuild relationships internally with its staff and volunteers and externally with TAS and other city rescues.
Renewing the THS will be the most significant positive step towards improved animal welfare in Toronto. Run properly, the THS would have a huge impact on the lives of animals through reinvigorated THS services like spay/neuter clinics, pet food bank, adoption services, rescue coordination, trap/neuter/release for feral cats, behaviour modification training, only to name a few. And the THS, once it gets its name cleared and regains its political clout, would have enough influence to tackle bigger issues like improving animal cruelty laws and breed specific legislation.
This is where you can help out.
Start by applying for a membership at the Toronto Humane Society. There's a membership drive on right now to recruit as many concerned and informed people into the THS as possible with the hope that once enough new people are members, the old board can be voted out. A membership is going to cost $30 and as loathe as you may be to contribute any money whatsoever to an organization like the present day THS, it's a risk that might help lead to positive change.
The membership form is here and you can mail it in or submit it in person to the THS at 11 River St. Please keep a record of all your submissions and if you end up paying in cash, ask for a receipt, because there's always a chance you might get rejected if someone thinks you're not going to toe the company line.
Whether you get in or not, drop THS Protest an e-mail at thsprotest@hotmail.com and let them know your status. It'll help them keep track of who's on side and how they can contact you when voting time comes round.
Even if the THS board isn't removed by vote, there's a good chance they'll be booted by some other means and then your membership contribution will be even more important to a newly formed THS.
A well run Toronto Humane Society, especially one working with a sympathetic Toronto Animal Services, can resolve the majority of animal welfare issues in the city as well as assist animals in other jurisdictions.
Calgary's doing it. We can too.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Stanley - Lost dog notification - FOUND
Update: Found. See third comment.
My name is Elisa. I am emailing people who are invested in animal well being to get more eyes looking for my beloved pet. He went missing late at night on Oct. 10th from Yonge and Sheppard area in North York, and the last reported sighting was at Bayview and Post Rd, by Sunnybrook Hospital.
He is a neutered male, mixed breed dog, looking mostly like a collie/St. Bernard/Bernese mountain dog mix. He is mostly a reddish-brown colour, with a black/white face. He is wearing a muli-coloured, striped collar with City of Boston tags. Stanley is very shy with people, so I think the best chances are for people with dogs who might spot him to call Animal Services at 416-338-7297 or the Humane Society at 416-392-2273, as well as his family at 416-xxx-xxxx. Stanley was just up visiting for the long weekend, so he is not familiar with the city. When calling the family please ask for Jason. I am attaching a couple of pictures of Stan, as well as a flyer. If you have a center where the flyer could be posted it would be much appreciated, as well as mentioning, if possible, to connection, staff, clients and/or friends. We miss Stanley very much and hope to be reunited soon.
Please note I've left out Elisa's phone number but her e-mail is elisahegg @ yahoo.com without spaces. In the flyer, there is mention of an unspecified amount reward.
My name is Elisa. I am emailing people who are invested in animal well being to get more eyes looking for my beloved pet. He went missing late at night on Oct. 10th from Yonge and Sheppard area in North York, and the last reported sighting was at Bayview and Post Rd, by Sunnybrook Hospital.
He is a neutered male, mixed breed dog, looking mostly like a collie/St. Bernard/Bernese mountain dog mix. He is mostly a reddish-brown colour, with a black/white face. He is wearing a muli-coloured, striped collar with City of Boston tags. Stanley is very shy with people, so I think the best chances are for people with dogs who might spot him to call Animal Services at 416-338-7297 or the Humane Society at 416-392-2273, as well as his family at 416-xxx-xxxx. Stanley was just up visiting for the long weekend, so he is not familiar with the city. When calling the family please ask for Jason. I am attaching a couple of pictures of Stan, as well as a flyer. If you have a center where the flyer could be posted it would be much appreciated, as well as mentioning, if possible, to connection, staff, clients and/or friends. We miss Stanley very much and hope to be reunited soon.
Please note I've left out Elisa's phone number but her e-mail is elisahegg @ yahoo.com without spaces. In the flyer, there is mention of an unspecified amount reward.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Choices
Sometimes when there's room at Toronto Animal Services South, they'll bring in dogs from other jurisdictions to try to get them adopted out in Toronto. Quite often these dogs are from Quebec but sometimes TAS will also select dogs from the U.S., usually from a high kill shelter in Ohio because the contacts, process and transport are established.
So how do you choose the dogs? There's only so much money. There's only so much space. You can't take them all. Do you choose the puppies because they will go quickly or do you leave them behind because you hope they'll stand an okay chance of being adopted even where they are? Do you choose the older dogs because they have no chance where they are or do you leave them behind because, well, they're older dogs and most people don't want them? Do you choose the black dogs because there's some prejudice against black dogs in the States and not so much here? Do you choose the purebreds or the mutts? Do you choose the big or small? Do you choose the shy or the outgoing?
It might seem like a feel good job to be able to do something like that, rescue dogs from elsewhere, but how good would it feel if you knew that in choosing one dog, the ones not chosen would likely die? How do you choose?
(click on images to enlarge)
These are ones that were chosen from the above and with help from Open Arms Rescue, they arrived in Toronto a couple of days ago:
Roman
Rollo
Raisin
Parker
Jayden
Godspeed to these five in finding their new homes and God help those left behind.
For adoption information on these and other dogs (and cats and other animals), please visit Toronto Animal Services.
So how do you choose the dogs? There's only so much money. There's only so much space. You can't take them all. Do you choose the puppies because they will go quickly or do you leave them behind because you hope they'll stand an okay chance of being adopted even where they are? Do you choose the older dogs because they have no chance where they are or do you leave them behind because, well, they're older dogs and most people don't want them? Do you choose the black dogs because there's some prejudice against black dogs in the States and not so much here? Do you choose the purebreds or the mutts? Do you choose the big or small? Do you choose the shy or the outgoing?
It might seem like a feel good job to be able to do something like that, rescue dogs from elsewhere, but how good would it feel if you knew that in choosing one dog, the ones not chosen would likely die? How do you choose?
(click on images to enlarge)
These are ones that were chosen from the above and with help from Open Arms Rescue, they arrived in Toronto a couple of days ago:
Roman
Rollo
Raisin
Parker
JaydenGodspeed to these five in finding their new homes and God help those left behind.
For adoption information on these and other dogs (and cats and other animals), please visit Toronto Animal Services.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Scenes from a dog park - 7
Is there such a thing as Thanksgiving Eve? There should be as a lot of people I know are celebrating the holiday with friends and family tonight, Sunday, the day before Thanksgiving proper up here in Canada.
It's a gorgeous day for Thanksgiving Eve. The sun is out in strength like it hasn't been for a while now. The air is cool and fresh. Leaves are starting to fall and right now they're at the point where they're still decorative on our sidewalks and yards and not yet the cause of more raking and bagging and disposing.
I brought Stella to the park behind Medieval Times by the CNE grounds this morning, something which I don't do very often anymore because we've been mostly leash walking these days. When Stella is off leash she just stands around or sniffs a few spots or grazes on grass - and that's not enough exercise and like most of us city folk, she needs her exercise.
The park used to be an unofficial off leash park and it's ideal for that. It's totally fenced in and except for a few weeks in August when the CNE turns it into a parking lot, only people with dogs ever use it. I say it used to be an unofficial off-leash park because in the last month it's become an official on-leash park with signs posted up indicating that compliance with the by-law is mandatory.
I'm not sure how much the new signage has impacted on the usage of the park by dog owners but when I was there this morning, no one else was there. In fact, when I walk by it on most mornings now, I hardly ever see anyone. The park isn't always heavily trafficked but you can usually count on there being a few dogs running around especially on a great weather day like today.
I started bringing Stella to the park the first year I got her. It was an overgrown field back then, a bit of a dump and unused, with fencing that was falling over. A fellow dog walker and I started going in there and letting our dogs have the run of the place because even though the fencing wasn't perfect, it kept our dogs contained and safe. Pretty soon, other people began bringing their dogs in as well and soon there were maybe 6 or 7 of us fairly consistently using the place. A couple of months into it, though, CNE security chained up the one entrance gate and we were locked out.
Not wanting to give up on the park, a few of us found out who was in charge of the place and talked to them and eventually got them to open up the park for us again. The CNE even went so far as to fix up the fencing, put in additional exit gates and started maintaining the field on a regular basis. It was all pretty nice, idyllic even, a worry free bit of fully fenced in parkland for dogs in a city where something like that is almost impossible to come by.
It may have been tempting and easy enough to keep the park a secret - after all, it was out of the way and no one really knew about it except for the handful of us - but instead we spread the word that it was open and that it was a great place for dogs to go off-leash without the owners having to worry about runaway dogs or traffic or parents with small children.
It may have been tempting to keep the park a secret and maybe we should have. The place became quite popular and along with increased usage, came problem users, not many, but enough. One professional dog walker used to come by with her eight or ten dogs, let them through the gate and then spend the next 10 or 15 minutes talking on her cell phone, eating her Egg McMuffin breakfast while her dogs crapped all over the place. She'd make an effort to pick some of it up but she missed a lot of it. Another guy used to unload his dozen dogs into the park and shout marching orders at them like some army sergeant, which the dogs would for the most part ignore, and it was all quite entertaining in a that's kind of fucked up behaviour sort of way for the rest of us as we watched. As his dogs crapped, he'd bag the stuff and then long distance throw them in the direction of one of the exit gates with the intention of gathering them up on his way out. I'd never seen flying blue bags of shit before that and wouldn't even have cared much except that inevitably the guy would miss a bag or two on his way out and then someone else would have to pick up after him.
It wasn't just the professional dog walkers, though. There were also dog owners who started showing up who wouldn't pick up after their dogs. It only takes one or two like that to ruin the park for everyone else. One dog, two craps a day over the course of a year - that's over 700 piles of crap and that's enough to turn any clean park into a poop minefield.
There were other problems as well, like aggressive dogs running loose, dog fights, dog owner politics, ticket happy Toronto Parks and Rec Officers - including one who exhibited clear signs of stalking female dog owners. Most of these problems, though, got sorted out and certainly there was nothing happening there that any other dog park in Toronto didn't face.
Over the years, most of the original group of dog owners disappeared. Last year, the friend who first started using the park with Stella and myself moved to another part of Toronto. By that point, I wasn't really using the park very much anymore either, only occasionally stopping in at the end of a walk and only for a few minutes to let Stella say hello to some familiar faces.
This past summer, the park gates were locked up again. I made a few phone calls to the CNE only to find that the person I used to deal with about park issues was no longer there and no one seemed to know who exactly was in charge anymore. Eventually, I got connected with someone in marketing of all things and was told that the park was locked due to the city workers' strike. Another dog owner made a few calls as well and was told the park was locked up because it was too filthy with dog feces - which it wasn't.
I suggested we get a group organized to try to get the bottom of this and we managed to get a few names together on an e-mail list but that's about as far as it went. No one really seemed that interested in making any phone calls or doing any digging on how to get the park back and I didn't want to be the point person on this because I hardly used the park anymore.
The CNE came and went and sometime in mid September, the locks were taken off the gates but the new leash law signs went up. There's not much point in bringing a dog to a fenced in park if the dog has to stay on-leash. It's no different from any other place in Toronto. It's about as helpful as bringing our dogs to the library. Locking the gates to the park for over a month, drove all the dog owners away. Now the by-law enforcement policy seems to be keeping them away.
So, there I was with Stella, standing in the middle of a nicely manicured little park, with the sun out and a cool breeze announcing the arrival of fall. Stella grazed a bit, every so often looking up to the gate to see if anyone was coming in. No one else came in.
It's a gorgeous day for Thanksgiving Eve. The sun is out in strength like it hasn't been for a while now. The air is cool and fresh. Leaves are starting to fall and right now they're at the point where they're still decorative on our sidewalks and yards and not yet the cause of more raking and bagging and disposing.
I brought Stella to the park behind Medieval Times by the CNE grounds this morning, something which I don't do very often anymore because we've been mostly leash walking these days. When Stella is off leash she just stands around or sniffs a few spots or grazes on grass - and that's not enough exercise and like most of us city folk, she needs her exercise.
The park used to be an unofficial off leash park and it's ideal for that. It's totally fenced in and except for a few weeks in August when the CNE turns it into a parking lot, only people with dogs ever use it. I say it used to be an unofficial off-leash park because in the last month it's become an official on-leash park with signs posted up indicating that compliance with the by-law is mandatory.
I'm not sure how much the new signage has impacted on the usage of the park by dog owners but when I was there this morning, no one else was there. In fact, when I walk by it on most mornings now, I hardly ever see anyone. The park isn't always heavily trafficked but you can usually count on there being a few dogs running around especially on a great weather day like today.
I started bringing Stella to the park the first year I got her. It was an overgrown field back then, a bit of a dump and unused, with fencing that was falling over. A fellow dog walker and I started going in there and letting our dogs have the run of the place because even though the fencing wasn't perfect, it kept our dogs contained and safe. Pretty soon, other people began bringing their dogs in as well and soon there were maybe 6 or 7 of us fairly consistently using the place. A couple of months into it, though, CNE security chained up the one entrance gate and we were locked out.
Not wanting to give up on the park, a few of us found out who was in charge of the place and talked to them and eventually got them to open up the park for us again. The CNE even went so far as to fix up the fencing, put in additional exit gates and started maintaining the field on a regular basis. It was all pretty nice, idyllic even, a worry free bit of fully fenced in parkland for dogs in a city where something like that is almost impossible to come by.
It may have been tempting and easy enough to keep the park a secret - after all, it was out of the way and no one really knew about it except for the handful of us - but instead we spread the word that it was open and that it was a great place for dogs to go off-leash without the owners having to worry about runaway dogs or traffic or parents with small children.
It may have been tempting to keep the park a secret and maybe we should have. The place became quite popular and along with increased usage, came problem users, not many, but enough. One professional dog walker used to come by with her eight or ten dogs, let them through the gate and then spend the next 10 or 15 minutes talking on her cell phone, eating her Egg McMuffin breakfast while her dogs crapped all over the place. She'd make an effort to pick some of it up but she missed a lot of it. Another guy used to unload his dozen dogs into the park and shout marching orders at them like some army sergeant, which the dogs would for the most part ignore, and it was all quite entertaining in a that's kind of fucked up behaviour sort of way for the rest of us as we watched. As his dogs crapped, he'd bag the stuff and then long distance throw them in the direction of one of the exit gates with the intention of gathering them up on his way out. I'd never seen flying blue bags of shit before that and wouldn't even have cared much except that inevitably the guy would miss a bag or two on his way out and then someone else would have to pick up after him.
It wasn't just the professional dog walkers, though. There were also dog owners who started showing up who wouldn't pick up after their dogs. It only takes one or two like that to ruin the park for everyone else. One dog, two craps a day over the course of a year - that's over 700 piles of crap and that's enough to turn any clean park into a poop minefield.
There were other problems as well, like aggressive dogs running loose, dog fights, dog owner politics, ticket happy Toronto Parks and Rec Officers - including one who exhibited clear signs of stalking female dog owners. Most of these problems, though, got sorted out and certainly there was nothing happening there that any other dog park in Toronto didn't face.
Over the years, most of the original group of dog owners disappeared. Last year, the friend who first started using the park with Stella and myself moved to another part of Toronto. By that point, I wasn't really using the park very much anymore either, only occasionally stopping in at the end of a walk and only for a few minutes to let Stella say hello to some familiar faces.
This past summer, the park gates were locked up again. I made a few phone calls to the CNE only to find that the person I used to deal with about park issues was no longer there and no one seemed to know who exactly was in charge anymore. Eventually, I got connected with someone in marketing of all things and was told that the park was locked due to the city workers' strike. Another dog owner made a few calls as well and was told the park was locked up because it was too filthy with dog feces - which it wasn't.
I suggested we get a group organized to try to get the bottom of this and we managed to get a few names together on an e-mail list but that's about as far as it went. No one really seemed that interested in making any phone calls or doing any digging on how to get the park back and I didn't want to be the point person on this because I hardly used the park anymore.
The CNE came and went and sometime in mid September, the locks were taken off the gates but the new leash law signs went up. There's not much point in bringing a dog to a fenced in park if the dog has to stay on-leash. It's no different from any other place in Toronto. It's about as helpful as bringing our dogs to the library. Locking the gates to the park for over a month, drove all the dog owners away. Now the by-law enforcement policy seems to be keeping them away.
So, there I was with Stella, standing in the middle of a nicely manicured little park, with the sun out and a cool breeze announcing the arrival of fall. Stella grazed a bit, every so often looking up to the gate to see if anyone was coming in. No one else came in.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Update on Victor and Luna
From Victor's (aka Quincy) owners to TAS:
I wanted to send you this picture of Inka AKA Luna and Quincy AKA Victor who met at the park on Monday. They have become very good friends.
Thanks for all your hard work in trying to get them a home. Quincy is doing very well and we love him very much.
Looks like someone used the shrink ray machine on Luna and ended up with Victor (or vice versa).
Another photo of Luna here.
I wanted to send you this picture of Inka AKA Luna and Quincy AKA Victor who met at the park on Monday. They have become very good friends.
Thanks for all your hard work in trying to get them a home. Quincy is doing very well and we love him very much.
Looks like someone used the shrink ray machine on Luna and ended up with Victor (or vice versa).
Another photo of Luna here.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Toronto Animal Services Friday review, Oct. 9
DawsonDawson is a Rottweiler/German Shepherd mix and he's a splendid young dog. I'm not sure how old he is but he's still got a puppy look and puppy moves. He's one of those dogs who approaches people with big butt wags while lowering himself in preparation for the possibility of a tummy scratch.
DeuceDeuce, an older Collie, is a great people dog and will bond quickly with a human companion but doesn't much like other dogs. That's fine. At his age, I'm sure he'd prefer to just go on calm walks with his owner over rough housing at the dog park.
RoxyRoxy is a Boston Terrier and will be gone in 5 seconds when she hits the adoption floor.
This batch of dogs rescued in Montreal by:
Thanks to Lucy, one of the volunteer dog walkers at TAS, for driving these guys from Quebec.For adoption information on these and other dogs (and cats and other animals), please visit Toronto Animal Services.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Grace
Taking in an older, sick animal is undoubtedly one of the highest forms of altruism. The payback is a few more weeks, months or, if exceptionally lucky, years of a good life for the animal at the risk of almost certain heartbreak for the owner.
A little over a year ago, a friend, Gudrun, took home a dog from Toronto Animal Services who was deemed too old and sick to be put into general adoption and would have almost certainly been euthanized. Gudrun gave Gretel a welcoming home and much love and when Gretel passed away a month ago, it was terribly sad, as is the passing of every cherished pet, but there was consolation knowing that Gretel had lived at least a good year at the end of her life.
Missing the pitter patter of canine feet, Gudrun started looking around for another dog, again focusing on seniors as those are the dogs most often overlooked by the adopting public. So, I introduced Gudrun to Mabel.
Mabel's age is a bit of a mystery but she's no young 'un. The TAS vet placed her at between eight and ten years old and while old age alone would not have failed her in the health test, her diseased kidney in combination with some other ailments did.
Gudrun met Mabel for the first time on Friday, and on Saturday, Gudrun took Mabel home.
Mabel is now Ursula and after a bit of an iffy start with Gudrun's cats, she's now settled in quite nicely. Let's hope Ursula's health issues don't prevent her from enjoying the time she has left, however long that may be.
Update on Ursula here.
A little over a year ago, a friend, Gudrun, took home a dog from Toronto Animal Services who was deemed too old and sick to be put into general adoption and would have almost certainly been euthanized. Gudrun gave Gretel a welcoming home and much love and when Gretel passed away a month ago, it was terribly sad, as is the passing of every cherished pet, but there was consolation knowing that Gretel had lived at least a good year at the end of her life.
Missing the pitter patter of canine feet, Gudrun started looking around for another dog, again focusing on seniors as those are the dogs most often overlooked by the adopting public. So, I introduced Gudrun to Mabel.
Mabel's age is a bit of a mystery but she's no young 'un. The TAS vet placed her at between eight and ten years old and while old age alone would not have failed her in the health test, her diseased kidney in combination with some other ailments did.
Gudrun met Mabel for the first time on Friday, and on Saturday, Gudrun took Mabel home.
Mabel is now Ursula and after a bit of an iffy start with Gudrun's cats, she's now settled in quite nicely. Let's hope Ursula's health issues don't prevent her from enjoying the time she has left, however long that may be.
Update on Ursula here.
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