Dog days at puppy penitentiary

Puppy mills are very lucrative businesses. When about 100 fox terrier dogs were found in a Blainville, Quebec home, starved and filthy, people around the province were shocked. But in Quebec there are no laws that regulate who can be a dog breeder. This pitiful Blainville establishment used to be owned by the current occupant’s mother, who passed away two years ago. The SPCA actually inspected and recommended it as recently as 2003. But back then there were only 15 dogs in the house.

The only reason the SPCA and Blainville police investigated this particular bungalow was because a neighbor called and complained about the rotten smell coming from the emaciated animals.

In Quebec there is very little risk to churning out dogs and cats for profit without looking after the animals’ heath and wellbeing. A new provincial law was put into place in January to protect the welfare of animals, but it is being enforced by a grand total of two inspectors for the entire province of Quebec.

In 2002, the Quebec government established the Association for the National Intervention for the Welfare and Security of Animals (ANIMA-Quebec). The Quebec City-based organization trains veterinarians to conduct investigations and ensure the welfare of animals throughout the province. They have the right to investigate breeding operations without a warrant.

Compared to other Canadian provinces, however, Quebec’s enforcement of animal protection law is sadly lacking. Animal protection legislation was originally introduced in Quebec in 1993 and only adopted in January 2005. The new Quebec legislation allows for fines up to $15,000 and allows the courts to ban someone from owning pets for up to two years. ANIMA-Quebec began doing its inspections in June 2005. It is the only agency with the mandate to enforce this law.

There are only five people employed by ANIMA-Quebec and only two of the employees are in-the-field inspectors. The organization is under-staffed and under-funded. They cannot legally solicit the public for donations because the government does not want to force the SPCA to compete for funding. Instead, ANIMA-Quebec must solicit money from corporate donors.

Compare this attitude towards animal welfare with the province next door. In December 2002, Ontario’s government took concrete action to oversee people breeding dogs and cats for sale. They introduced the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Amendment Act, Bill 129, which toughened up the safety and hygiene requirements for cat and dog breeders and introduced harsher punishments for offenders.

Now the maximum punishment in Ontario is a $60,000 fine and two years in jail. In addition, the court may prohibit the offender from being involved with breeding cats and dogs for sale for any amount of time. That means an individual can be barred for life and a business can be barred forever.

There are over 200 inspectors in Ontario and their budget is about $40 million annually.

Tough legislation is meaningless when it’s not enforced. Quebec’s enforcement agencies need more people and more funding to be able to monitor puppy mills and catch sub-par breeding operations in our province. Otherwise, bad breeding practices will continue and tragic scenes like those at the Blainville puppy mill will remain commonplace.

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