The numbers of dogs and cats, former pets, being supplied to researchers is alarming. Between 2012 and 2016, more than 12,000 dogs, and in excess of 11,500 cats went to research in Ontario.
GLOBE NEWSWIRE: “As shocking as it sounds, the Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs allows anyone to pick up dogs and cats from streets and roads in municipalities without animal bylaws and sell them to research facilities. These animal-collectors are being allowed to claim ‘ownership’ of the dogs or cats they have rounded up, even though the animal might be someone’s family pet,” said Liz White, Director of Animal Alliance, part of a “No Pets in Research” coalition. White continued, “When we asked the Minister to explain who exactly can pick up these animals and sell them to research, he refused to clarify.”
Ontario’s Animals for Research Act allows for the “owner” of a pet dog or cat to donate that animal to a research facility. The Act reads, “Nothing in this section prevents the acquisition by a research facility of a dog or cat that has been donated to the research facility by the owner thereof.” The truly disturbing part of this issue is that Ministry staff have interpreted that to include “Animals surrendered to humane societies or picked up in communities without municipal bylaws governing stray cats or dogs” as stated in Appendix D in a Ministry document entitled “INSTRUCTIONS FOR REPORTING THE NUMBERS OF ANIMALS USED FOR RESEARCH.”1
“Animals picked up in such municipalities should not be legally considered to be stray – without families. Many people allow their cats to go outside. These are animals who have homes and families and yet they can end up in research,” White continued. “To date, both the Minister and the staff have refused to provide clarification as to who is permitted to pick up these dogs and cats and why they can claim to be the owners. A heavily redacted Freedom of Information request provided no additional clarification”. SOURCE…
The following is a statement from the Animal Alliance of Canada:
“No Pets in Research”, a coalition led by Animal Alliance of Canada, is calling upon Premier Ford and his government to amend Ontario’s Animals for Research Act and ban the use of pet dogs and cats in research. The numbers of dogs and cats, former pets, being supplied to researchers is alarming. According to numbers provided by the government, in the five years between 2012 and 2016, more than 12,000 dogs, and in excess of 11,500 cats went to research in Ontario.
“Ontario is the only province that legislates that researchers must be given access to these animals and as a result, a large number of lost companion dogs and cats wind up in Ontario research facilities instead of in adoptive homes,” said Liz White, Director, Animal Alliance of Canada. “According to the Act, researchers must pay $6 for an impounded dog and $2 for an impounded cat, providing a cheap source of research subjects”…
“I have spent over three years submitting numerous Freedom of Information requests to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, which is responsible for the Act, and cannot find out which pounds give their animals to research and which research facilities are requesting these animals,” said White… “Taxpayer-funded pounds and shelters should not exist to supply a cheap source of animals for research. Sending former family friends to research is a practice that must be ended immediately.” SOURCE…
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