OSPCA vs. THS
There is a long standing feud between the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) and the Toronto Humane Society (THS). This feud came to ahead when the THS were allegedly caught off guard and five members of their staff were arrested when the OSPCA and the Toronto police raided their River St. location yesterday.
Charges have been laid against the society's president, Tim Trow, and four other members of their staff. The charges allegedly include conspiracy to commit an indictable offense, cruelty to animals as well as obstruction of a peace officer.
Pretty hefty allegations for a centre that insists they've done nothing wrong.
The two organizations have been on opposing sides for ages regarding euthanasia. The Toronto Humane Society typically takes a rehabilitation approach, while the OSPCA is not opposed to euthanasia for any reason, and use it at their discretion.
For those that are unaware: the OSPCA is the governing body over Ontario animal welfare organizations.
Let me paint a little picture for you:
A dog is in the backyard of its home, a fully fenced lot where two young children are playing on the other side of the fence. They are taunting the dog; poking it with sticks through the chain link, barking at it, running back and forth, yelling, and throwing a ball at the fence.
With a toss, the ball is launched over the fence and one child begins to climb that fence to retrieve said ball. The dog, now aggressively chases that ball which was used to taunt him only minutes ago. It lunges for the ball, at the same time as the child, and latches on to his arm instead of the ball.
No one was there to see the incident or the behaviour that led up to the child jumping over the fence.
The dog is now aggressive and deemed a danger to society.
It happens all the time, people.
But! because of the different outlooks these two organizations have regarding the issue of euthanasia, the dog now faces two completely different fates - depending on which one he is surrendered too.
This animal, under the care of THS, would likely be evaluated and possibly adopted out into the care of an experienced dog handler with no children or other animals in their home. Someone who is aware and understands the significance of proper training and supervision of this animal; someone who will take the precautions required to keep this animal - and public safe.
The OSPCA would customarily euthanize the animal based on the fact that it bit a child. End of story.
This is a typical (completely fabricated) example of why the two organizations butt heads they way they do.
Back to the issue at hand:
The OSPCA raided the River St. location of the Toronto Humane Society back in June, 2009 based on the allegations brought forth in a newspaper article stating that the animals were living in squalor, the animals were suffering and the veterinarians were overruled by staff members, as well as the president, when it came to proper care for an animal with regards to its quality of life and euthanasia.
The THS alleges that they haven't heard from the OSPCA since the June incident and were suddenly bombarded by these recent arrests and further allegations which took place yesterday. They claim there has been no contact with the governing body, nor have they requested any of their records.
The are a number of factors which play into the deteriorated relationship of these two organizations as mentioned by THS spokesman Ian McConachie on a Toronto-based morning radio show, one of which is an OSPCA member allegedly sitting on the THS board which creates a conflict of interest. McConachie believes a third party should have been in charge of this investigation based on the bad blood between these to entities.
The Toronto Humane Society is currently closed to the pubic and will be until at least Tuesday, December 2, pending the OSPCA inspection and investigation.
Let's hope these allegations are falsified and the OSPCA is unable to substantiate the validity to these claims because this centre houses many, many of Toronto's animals in need of a home; as it has for nearly 100 years.
It seems the bad blood is directed more towards the management rather than the centre itself, as Christopher Avery, the criminal lawyer representing the OSPCA, states "The THS is a wonderful organization that's been around for over 100 years caring for the animals of the city, except for the reign of Tim Trow and his current management team."
I, personally would love to see that the Toronto Humane Society is cleared of these allegations as I am very much a believer of their philosophies regarding euthanasia - or at least the philosophies they lead us to believe they follow.
I guess we'll have to wait and see how this plays out.
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This is an original Canada Moms Blog post.
Samantha blogs at her personal site, Temporarily Me as well as at Craftastrophe: because handmade isn't always pretty.
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