As many of you know I am a vegetarian and a huge lover of animals. The Toronto Humane Society and its board have been charged with animal cruelty after a surprise raid revealed conditions that were beyond inhumane and appalling, with hundreds of animals in distress and some even to the point of requiring euthanasia. “Animals at the Toronto Humane Society are living in ‘a house of horrors,’ inspectors said Nov. 27, 2009. Neglected animals allegedly live and die in terrible pain; feral cats roam free between walls.” (CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR)
You can read more of the horror stories in The Toronto Star, which is a pretty unbiased paper as far as they go. It is DISGUSTING.
The charitable donations (ie. money you and I donate, or what’s been willed to the THS from long-standing members) are being used to pay for legal fees for THE SAME PEOPLE AT THE CENTER OF THIS CORRUPTION & INHUMANITY. The below article summarizes how the THS, headed now by the same board who elected Tim Trow as their President year after year, wants to essentially hit a “reset” button on the River Street Shelter, euthanizing hundreds of animals, and ignoring the current scandal while empowering once more the same sick individuals who created this disgusting mess to begin with.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Become a member of the THS and follow the story. Make your voice heard at meetings and DO NOT allow them to get away with this.
Please share this information with your friends lists and make people aware that this disgusting misuse of funds and blatant continued corruption of an organization that is run primarily on charitable donations CANNOT be allowed to euthanize hundreds of animals and continue their pilfering of funds donated to HELP animals, not neglect, mistreat and generally be INHUMANE towards the creatures they claim to protect.
Thanks for taking the time to read and re-post.
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THS seeks court approval to close shelter for 6-8 wks
PLEASE NOTE WHEN READING THE BELOW ARTICLE:
The “board” referred to is the same board who elected Tim Trow as their President year after year – including after the Sept30/09 AGM. recently appointed Garth Jerome as their new executive director.
Please also remember that 3 of the current directors, Bob Hambley (the “new President”), Alan Johnson, and Bud Walters were supporters of Tim Trow in his first term as President in the 1980’s before Trow resigned amid allegations of animal neglect and mismanagement – allegations that are shockingly similar to those he’s facing today (see http://www.reformths.com/images/1983_84_Toronto_Star_articles.pdf ). THS’s current V.P., Joan Milne, is Alan Johnson’s sister.
In Mr Jerome’s affidavit the board approves his plan to ‘rehabilitate the THS in a manner’ where it can ‘best serve’ Toronto . Sounds impressive – yet why only now are these changes being proposed, and had Nov26’s arrests not taken place what state would the THS have been allowed to continue to devolve into? It’s like locking the barn door after the proverbial horse has escaped.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/toronto-humane-society-wants-to-clear-its-cages-and-start-anew/article1516745/
Toronto Humane Society wants to clear its cages and start anew
Shelter would be closed for six to eight weeks, and many animals likely would be euthanized
Kate Hammer
From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail
Published on Tuesday, Mar. 30, 2010 4:00AM EDT
Last updated on Tuesday, Mar. 30, 2010 4:14AM EDT
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The Toronto Humane Society is seeking a court’s permission to close its doors, clear the cages and make sweeping changes to its animal-care policies in a rebuilding effort that would amount to pressing the reset button on one of Canada ’s oldest and largest animal charities.
The closing, which was recommended by independent animal-care experts and approved recently by the charity’s board of directors, would last approximately six to eight weeks, with the shelter likely reopening in June. Such a move would leave the fate of the dwindling number of animals still inside the shelter, estimated at about 200, in the balance. Most have health and behavioural problems and, with slim chances of being adopted, many would probably be euthanized.
In an affidavit recently filed in court, THS executive director Garth Jerome outlined his designs “to rebuild the THS as a shelter and adoption centre from the ground up, and regain the public’s confidence in the organization.”
Mr. Jerome said he would have to regain control of animal care from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to carry out the rebuilding. A court awarded control of animal care in the shelter to the OSPCA three months ago, after the provincial organization charged five senior THS managers and its board of directors with animal cruelty.
See attahed affidavit from Toronto Humane Society executive director Garth Jerome
“The current situation gave the organization a chance to re-evaluate its mission and its goals,” said Frank Addario, a lawyer for the board of directors, who added he was reluctant to discuss the matter further as it remains before the courts.
The OSPCA said that “such a drastic step” should not be taken without consulting the charity’s membership.
“In addition, we do not agree that the decision to close the facility, even temporarily, should be made by the current board of directors of the Toronto Humane Society,” said Brian Shiller, a lawyer for the organization.
Most of the members of the board of directors have “indicated an intention to resign shortly,” he said, and any plan for renewal of the embattled charity should be considered at a special meeting of the members.
Mr. Jerome’s affidavit states that during the closing, the entire River Street facility would undergo a deep cleaning, staff would be retrained and a new computer system for tracking animal intake and care would be implemented, among other changes.
Ontario Superior Court Justice David Brown will consider the proposal next week, when hearings will begin on an application by some THS members and the OSPCA to have the charity’s current board of directors removed and order an election for a new board at a special meeting of the members.
The affidavit also outlines some problems that contributed to the need for a shelter overhaul, including animal corpses stored at too-warm temperatures, overcrowding, and animals whose physical and mental states had deteriorated to the point that they had little quality of life.
Euthanasia policies remain a controversial issue at the shelter, where six dogs, some of them favourites of dog-walking volunteers, were euthanized on Friday. The deaths fuelled a demonstration outside the shelter over the weekend in which protesters called the OSPCA dog murderers. However, in a statement posted on the shelter’s website, Mr. Jerome said the decision to euthanize the dogs was made by the THS.
Marcie Laking, a volunteer familiar with the dogs, most of whom were pit bulls who had lived in the shelter for years, said she blamed their deaths on bickering among THS staff, volunteers and the OSPCA.
“If we spent half as much time trying to adopt these animals as we did taking shots at each other there’d be no animals in the shelter, they’d all have homes,” she said.
According to Mr. Jerome’s affidavit, as of March 2, there were 255 animals in the care of the THS, including just 160 cats and 22 dogs. When the OSPCA took control of the shelter in November, there were more than 1,100 animals.
“It is my objective to keep the animal population at the THS moving through our facility quickly to adoptive homes or foster homes so that we do not accumulate a disproportionate number of chronically ill, unadoptable animals,” Mr. Jerome said.
“To a large extent, I believe that closely monitoring and controlling the population of unadoptable animals, coupled with an aggressive adoption campaign, will prevent the problem of overcrowding in the future.”
