Cruelty-law update lacks teeth: Humane Society
Minister promises stiffer penalties, more funding, but Toronto group calls for clearer wording in act
September 03, 2007
Michele Henry, Staff Reporter
The Toronto Humane Society is disappointed with Monte Kwinter's promises of stiffer penalties for animal abusers and more powers for cruelty investigators.
The minister of community safety and correctional services made a series of pledges Friday to change provincial legislation regarding animal cruelty. He also announced better funding to train investigators – an increase to $500,000 a year from $119,000.
Although the funding increase is immediate, the promised change in the legislation is dependent on the Liberals winning the provincial election on Oct. 10.
At a press conference held at the Toronto Zoo, Kwinter promised to amend the 80-year-old Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to make abusing animals an offence in Ontario, punishable by a maximum $25,000 fine and up to five years in jail.
Unlike every other province in Canada, Ontario has no provincial law against causing distress to an animal.
It falls under the Criminal Code, which sets the maximum penalty for abusing an animal at up to six months in jail, a $2,000 fine and a two-year prohibition on owning animals.
"This is tremendous," said Craig Mabee, of the OSPCA. "This is a great day for animals in Ontario."
However, Timothy Trow, president of the Toronto Humane Society, said he was unhappy with Kwinter's announcement because it left out what he believes is an essential ingredient of effective legislation: a provincial standard of animal care.
"It's something that would say that in the province of Ontario you must treat animals humanely," he said. "It's an extremely simple and modest request. I'm baffled they haven't put that in."
Without such a standard written into the act, Trow said, stiffer penalties are meaningless because there's no clear definition of what constitutes an "offence against animals."
"He hasn't spelled it out," Trow said. "I think that's the key to it all."
While various groups have been demanding better animal protection laws for some time, calls heightened in recent weeks after animal cruelty investigator Tre Smith, of the Toronto Humane Society, broke into an SUV to rescue an overheated Rottweiler trapped inside. Smith, who handcuffed the dog's owner to his car, was suspended from active duty as a cruelty investigator.
The promises Kwinter announced yesterday include authorizing cruelty officers to inspect places that raise or sell animals, exotic and native, where there is suspected abuse. In the current legislation, roadside zoos have been relatively immune from such probes because they are regulated by the Ministry of Natural Resources.
To kick off such inspections, Kwinter said he will hand the OSPCA, the body that governs the training of animal cruelty investigators, a one-time sum of $100,000.
If his government wins the upcoming election, he plans to rewrite part of the OSPCA Act, making abuse a provincial offence and increasing the maximum penalty.
The OSPCA is "thrilled" by Kwinter's promises, which also include a commitment of $80,000 over two years to fund programs caring for pets of abused women, and exempting from liability veterinarians who report suspected abuse.
Michael O'Sullivan, chairman and CEO of the Humane Society of Canada, said these announcements are a good start. He would like to see judges required to hand down minimum sentences, however.
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