THUNDER BAY — The municipality is “stepping back in” to providing animal services says commissioner of corporate services Keri Greaves.
During Monday’s committee of the whole meeting, city staff will update council on a expansion of the animal services the city provides, including collecting lost and stray animals.
Stepping back into the animal service role and reconnecting with community partners will be “transitionary," said Greaves. The city does not have the resources to fully operate an animal shelter with adoption services.
“We will be there to care for the animals, but only for a short time because really at the end of the day we want these animals to be either back reunited with their with their families or moved on to their forever home,” says Greaves.
The expansion of services includes creating online presence, establishing a process for re-homing animals, modernizing their standards of care, and creating an animal services task force.
The city has already updated its animal services webpage with a list of dogs that are currently in care. Accompanying each dog is a photo and the location where they were found.
Greaves says the intent is to “reunite them with their with their families.”
If the city isn’t able to reunite the animals with their families, the next step is to partner with a shelter or rescue who have an established foster care network.
He says the city does have a facility with 33 kennels for dogs, but only 15 animals could occupy the space comfortably — giving each dog a comfortable amount of space, and ensuring quarantine and isolation rooms are remain available for dogs that have a medical or aggression concern.
The council report says animal services is currently caring for 11 dogs (73 per cent of "comfortable" capacity). So far this year, 36 dogs have been impounded; 18 have been returned to their owner, and seven were transferred to local rescues for re-homing.
Greaves says the task force is a longer-term initiative that would see municipal and community partners work together to identify and discuss gaps and provide recommendations with regards to animal services.
“We're currently in the midst of early discussions with several rescues and shelters in the community. We have to set up a process. We have to set up the proper transfers, but we've had good discussions with these shelters and rescues. I think it's gonna be a good relationship moving forward,” says Greaves.
The changes come after animal welfare advocates in the city raised serious concerns with gaps in services, prompt the city manager to comission a review of city animal services.
He explained that back in December of 2020, the previous council approved a merger of its animal services with licensing and enforcement, combining them into one division: municipal enforcement services (MES).
The idea was to use community partners to handle stray and injured animals, as well as, find them a new home.
However, according to Greaves, the changed relationship between the non-profit and rescue organizations and the city “have put a strain on the system” and those relationships.
“Since 2020, we have taken the stance that its not a municipal role to come and collect that animal. We're changing that. We will begin collecting in that animal, bringing it to our facility, and then start the process to either reunite it or to re-home it,” says Greaves.
At the moment, there is no immediate need to re-allocate funding to animal services he says. The city is going to take these steps to house lost and stray animals while trying to reunite or find them their forever home.
Correction: An earlier version of the story incorrectly referred to the service expansion as temporary. The expansion is expected to be permanent, however details have yet to be finalized.
