THUNDER BAY — The state of animal welfare services in the city is causing concern for many in Thunder Bay.
City Manager John Collin said administration has received many complaints about it's provision of anmal services in recent months and the entirety of that system is under significant capacity constraints.
Collin informed council during on Monday's meeting that city will be commissioning a review of its animal welfare services.
Collin told council he has directed commissioner of corporate services Keri Greaves to find an independent third-party subject matter expert to conduct the review.
That subject matter expert will be tasked to first examine all of the concerns and comments that have been received from the community, Collin said.
“In the second instance, they will review the city's current service model with a lens of how it fits into the broader animal welfare service system of the province.
“Whether there are gaps that the city could or should address and to determine if the model is still appropriate in 2025,” he said.
“You are all aware that as a result of a restructuring back in 2022, the city's animal shelter services transitioned to a public safety and animal impoundment model,” Collin said.
The former animal services department was replace with municipal enforcement services (MES).
Under the new model, Collin said, municipal law enforcement officers continue to respond to calls like dogs threatening public safety, stray dog pick up, dog bite investigations and injured or deceased dogs or cats on city property.
“The implementation of the model at that time meant that the municipal pound from that point forward no longer accepted any and all animals as it did before.
“Coinciding with the implementation of this model and coming out of the pandemic, what we have seen is significant pressures on the entire animal services system in Ontario. That system includes provincial resources legislation and regulation, not for profit organizations, volunteer organizations, and municipal services.”
On the evening of Tuesday, Nov 12, a public group was created on Facebook under the name ‘Thunder Bay Animal Lovers For Change,’ within 24 hours the group had more than 200 members.
The group is a forum for stories of interactions with MES in the hopes of changing the way MES handles calls.
Kim Taminen, founder of Paws for Love, said that MES is no longer catching loose dogs in the city.
"They tell us that if you have the dog in your possession, they cannot pick it up, and we are responsible for that."
Paws for Love has been contacted by many people thinking that the organization can assist by taking in dogs, Taminen said.
“We can't, I mean, our hands are tied too, just as anybody else in the public is,” she said.
Taminen said MES has reached out to her itself, asking for help in adopting out the dogs they have in their care, that were not picked up by the regular owners.
“We said no problem. I told them that what I could do was advertise on our page. I can advertise on there for re homing with no adoption fee,” she said.
She said several dogs like Ben (pictured) have been posted on Paws for Love Dog Rescue's Facebook page. The post stated that Ben has been sitting in Animal Services for 49 days.
"I would need a slow introduction to another dog due to the fact I have been locked up separately for 49 days. Looking for someone to give me the love I deserve," the post said.
Adam Carruthers, supervisor of municipal enforcement services said the amalgamation of animal services and bylaw for municipal enforcement services.
“We have changed our model from what was previously an animal shelter to a municipal animal pound.”
He said there is a set of criteria to be met when impounding an animal.
“An officer would look at a case-by-case basis and determine if there was legal authority to impound an animal.”
Taminen said she and many other were unaware of the change to the rules and she hopes to see them returned to what they were before.
