TIFFANY MAYER Sun Media October 20, 2009

TIFFANY MAYER Sun Media October 20, 2009

OSPCA blamed for heartworm epidemic

Welland humane society manager says he will stop importing Louisiana dogs

ST. CATHARINES — A landowners’ rights group campaigning against the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals stepped up its attack on the animal welfare group this week by blaming it for a heartworm epidemic in the province.

The Ontario Landowners Association, a hardline group of rural property owners, says the importing of dogs from Louisiana to shelters in Ontario for adoption has caused “an alarming increase in heartworm” in the southwest corner of the province.

But humane societies in St. Catharines and Welland, which have taken in Louisiana dogs, and one of the agencies that transports the pooches to Canada, say precautions are taken to ensure the animals’ health.

(--Continued fom home page--)Jack MacLaren, landowners president, said this is a symptom of a larger issue the landowners take with OSPCA, an agency he said has too many powers, limited training and is abusive to animal owners.

MacLaren said his organization also takes issue with the SPCA being an enforcement agency that must fundraise — a conflict of interest, he said. The sale of the Louisiana dogs, including a recent adoptathon in St. Catharines, is just another example of that.

“We have a big problem with the OSPCA, the way it is now run,” MacLaren said. “Their main focus is not animal welfare, it’s fundraising.”

Kevin Strooband, Lincoln County Humane Society executive director, said he takes issue with the landowners’ claims about the heartworm epidemic and the association’s use of that to push an agenda to have the OSPCA stripped of its powers.

“They’re meeting that agenda by giving out this information. We … will refute their claims,” Strooband said.

Still, the Hamilton Academy of Veterinary Medicine said there was a tenfold increase in the number of heartworm cases last year. Its website says the increase was evident in dogs imported into Canada from areas of the U.S. where heartworm is endemic, “specifically but not limited to the state of Louisiana.”

The Ontario Veterinary Medical Association also noted a 280% increase in heartworm in Ontario between 2005 and 2008.

Dogs from Louisiana began arriving in the province in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in 2005.

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