Please email me privately for a the attachment mentioned in the article.lorrie.harvie@ssmb.com

ACTION ALERT: ANIMAL ALLIANCE OF CANADA

ANIMAL ALLIANCE and a distraught Laurie Bishop, Royal's companion, demand
answers from Ontario's Minister of Agriculture, Brian Coburn
 

NOVEMBER, 2nd, 2001: Many of you may already have heard about the tragic
circumstances, resulting in the death of Laurie Bishop's beloved companion
dog,Royal.

On the September long weekend, Royal wandered off his property, near the
town of Dundalk, northwest of Toronto. He was found some distance from his
house by a caring person who turned him over to Arteeka Canine Control, the
dog pound for the area.

At the time he was impounded, Royal, a 13-year old golden retriever, was
wearing a collar embroidered with his name and bearing his dog tags. He was
also tattooed.  His nails had just been clipped.  He was a little overweight
and was being treated for "hot spots" but was in good physical condition,
still going for long walks and playing with the younger pup in the
household.  Royal was obviously cared for by someone, a fact that both the
pound keeper who sold Royal and the research staff who bought him apparently
overlooked.

Royal was a gentle, trusting, well cared for old dog. The sale of Royal by
Arteeka to the Guelph research facility is a violation of the Animals for
Research Act.  He was not held for the 72 hours legally required by the
Act - in fact, he was held barely more than 24 hours of the countable time.
The Arteeka Canine Control facility did not hold him the required amount of
time, and the facility that took him - the University of Guelph - did not
exercise due diligence in determining whether he was eligible for purchase
as an experimental subject.

Both the pound keeper who sold Royal and the researcher who bought him
violated the Animals for Research Act.

I would like to say this is just an isolated story.
I would like to say that it won't happen again.
I can't.

Every single day, across Canada, dogs and cats - former companions - are
sold to research labs. The ONLY way to ensure that this never happens again
is to keep up the pressure to amend the Animals For Research Act - and ban
the use of pets in research!

I have included a lot of information in the document below, so that you can
write a well-informed letter. Please, send an email, snail mail, fax or make
a phone call. The use of pound animals for research MUST stop - NOW! If you
could send a copy to us as well, it will help us to keep track of how many
letters the Minister receives.

The Animals For Research Act is administered by OMAFRA. Please contact the
minister's office, and your own MPP and ask that the Act be amended to
exclude pound animals from being sold for research. If you don't know who
your MPP is, call Elections Canada at 1-800-463-6868.

Your taxes include a component to pay for local animal control. It is
SUPPOSED to be a safety net. If your dog or cat wanders off your property,
they can be taken somewhere safe until you find them. The process was NOT
designed to be a cheap source of animals for the research community. Please
also ask your own municipality whether your animal control sends to
research -  and let them know that you are opposed to the practice.

If you need any further information, please contact us. You can contact
Shelly Hawley-Yan at shelly@animalalliance.ca or Liz White at
liz@animalalliance.ca or at 416-462-9541.

LIST OF CONTACTS
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Hon. Brian Coburn
MINISTER'S OFFICE
11th Flr
77 Grenville St
Toronto , ON M5S 1B3
Phone: 416-326-3067
Fax: 416-326-3083
E-Mail: minister@omafra.gov.on.ca

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH
Alan G. Wildeman
Vice-President (Research)
Room 416, University Centre,
University of Guelph,
Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1
Phone: 519-824-4120 ext. 3081
Fax: 519-837-1639
E-Mail: wildeman@uoguelph.ca

Dr. Denna M.Benn,
Director - Animal Care Services
University of Guelph
Phone: 519- 824-4120 x4305
E-Mail: dbenn@ornet.or.uoguelph.ca

Recommended Actions - October 30, 2001
We demand, at a minimum, that the following steps be taken:

1. The University of Guelph must provide proof of Royal's fate to Laurie
Bishop. She is entitled to all documentation in their possession relevant to
Royal, which will confirm whether/when he was killed and whether or not he
was/is being used in any experiment(s).
2. The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Brian Coburn, should
conduct an investigation pursuant to section 21 of the Act, and ensure that
all appropriate charges are laid and prosecuted, in relation to  Arteeka
Canine Control, the pound operator which appears to have violated several
sub-sections of section 20 of the Act.
3. All municipal councils who have a contract with Arteeka Canine Control
(whether oral or written) should be notified of the outcome of the
investigation referred to in point 2 above. If the investigation concludes
that there was any wrong-doing, the municipalities should review their
contracts, the pound records, and particularly the "disposal" of dogs either
by euthanasia or by sale to a research facility, to ensure that the Animals
For Research Act and the contracts themselves are not being breached.
4. The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Brian Coburn, should
conduct an investigation pursuant to sections 4(3) and 21 of the Act. He
should ensure that all appropriate charges are laid and prosecuted, in
relation to the University of Guelph - the registered research facility
which received Royal in apparent contravention of several sections of the
Act.
5. The Freedom of Information Officer for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food
and Rural Affairs should publicly disclose the following information:
(1) a list of Ontario pounds that supply animals to research;
(2) records documenting the acquisition, use and disposal of pound-source
dogs for research at the University of Guelph; and
(3) the pound records from Arteeka Canine Control for the past 12 months.
6. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs must ensure that no
other family's companion suffers the same fate as Royal and his family. The
only way to do this is to amend the Animals For Research Act, so that it
clearly and specifically prohibits any further seizures of animals from
pounds to be used in research.

Royal - The Chronology of Events

September 1st to 3rd:
· Royal was a thirteen year old Golden Retriever, who lived with his human
companion, Laurie Bishop since he was a pup.
· On September 2nd   (the Labour Day weekend), Royal wandered of their
property, possibly in search of Laurie who was away for a few days.
· After several hours of looking for Royal, Laurie's husband, Barry Clarke
called the Animal Control number in the local phone book.  He was directed
to the Owen Sound SPCA and got an answering service, which was not able to
direct him to the animal control in his area - Dundalk.
· Barry called both the police and fire departments and they recommended
calling the township office, but since it was a long weekend the offices
were closed.

September 4th:
· Barry placed an ad about Royal in the local paper, which would run the
following day.

September 5th:
· As a result of the ad, Barry received a call from the Hill's - local
people who had found Royal on the Sunday morning (September 2nd), the day
after he went missing.  They found Royal while out for a walk and called
Arteeka Canine Control staff, who came and picked Royal up.  The Hills
described Royal as extremely friendly and told the animal control person
they would adopt Royal if he was not claimed.
· Barry immediately called Arteeka Canine Control and left a message on the
answering machine. When his call was not returned, he persisted, calling 4
more times before he was able to speak to an employee. A horrified Barry was
told that Royal had already been adopted.  He told the employee that he had
to have Royal back and he wanted to know who had adopted Royal.  He was told
that information was confidential.
· In a desperate attempt to appeal to the man, Barry said "Royal needs
special attention - if you would tell the people I'm sure they would return
him". The reply was that he would..."see what he could do".

September 6th:
· The next day Barry called Arteeka.  This time he was told that the
adoptive family had Royal euthanized by a veterinarian because the dog was
having seizures. Barry believed that he had been told the truth and told
Laurie the news.
· Devastated, Laurie, who was still away, called Arteeka.  She reached the
employee who had impounded Royal and was told that Royal had been at the
pound a full 5 days - since Friday, August 31st. When she questioned it, the
employee also said, "You know there is a hefty bill involved here, but we
won't send it to you - we'll let the township eat it."  Laurie explained
that she did not care about the bill - all she wanted was to have her dog
back. Laurie requested information about the adoptive family and the
veterinarian who had apparently euthanized Royal but was told that the
information was confidential.

September 7th and 8th:
· Over the next 48 hours Laurie and Barry called the township office and
their local councilor. They began to realize that something was very wrong.
They tried to get answers and kept being told "We'll look into it" or "There
's nothing we can do for you".
· Finally Craig Daniels, Chief Inspector for the Ontario SPCA told Laurie to
call Penny Lawless, an inspector with OMAFRA, who referred them to Gerrit
Rietveld, the OMAFRA inspector for the Fergus area where Arteeka is located.
Gerrit listened to Laurie's story and said he would look into it and get
back to her.
· By now Barry and Laurie were very frustrated. After telling their story to
a number of different people, they found out that the Arteeka pound sends
dogs to research. Laurie contacted Shelly Hawley-Yan, the Director of Animal
Alliance's Project Jessie - a program that rescues dogs and cats from pounds
that sell to research.

September 17th:
· Shelly first spoke to Laurie on September 17th, two full weeks after Royal
's disappearance.  Laurie indicated that she had already been in touch with
OMAFRA, but hadn't heard anything back from them.
· Shelly also requested that OMAFRA investigate the situation, and asked
that the research facilities be contacted about Royal, in case he was still
alive.

September 19th:
· Gerrit Rietveld called to tell Laurie that OMAFRA had records from the
pound but that he could not release the information without department
approval.
· On the same day, Dawn Pate - Manager of Multi-Sectoral Issues, and Gerrit'
s immediate supervisor - called Laurie and said that the information could
not be released without approval from their legal department.
· Alarmed at not being told what happened to Royal, Laurie called a number
of people, including Gwen McBride - Director of Livestock Technology at
OMAFRA.

September 24th:
· On Monday, September 24th, Laurie received a call from Gwen McBride who
told her that Royal had been euthanized at a "supply" facility. When Laurie
asked for more information, Gwen explained that further information could
not be released because of legalities.
· After more calls to OMAFRA, Laurie was told that the case had been turned
over to another department for investigation and it could take several weeks
before more information was released.  She was told that she could file a
Freedom of Information request if she wished to pursue the matter.
· After finding that Royal had been sold to a "supply" facility and since
the University of Guelph purchases dogs from local pounds to be used for
research, Shelly let Laurie know that Royal was likely sold to a University
of Guelph pound dog conditioning facility run by Dr. Denna Benn.

October 2nd:
· On October 2, Liz White met with the Canadian Council of Animal Care
(CCAC), explained the situation and raised concerns regarding Royal.
Although they are a voluntary, peer-review group and have no legal authority
to interfere in the operation of this facility, they must have contacted Dr.
Benn and relayed the details about Royal.

October 3rd:
· On October 3rd, Dr. Benn phoned Laurie directly. She told Laurie that an
older Golden Retriever had been purchased from Arteeka Canine Control on
September 5th at 7:30 am. He had been judged to be too old for any of the
current research programs so he had been euthanized by 9:00 am that same
morning.
· When Laurie asked Dr. Benn directly about whether she had received any
paperwork or checked to see that Royal had been held the required amount of
time, Dr. Benn replied, "No, I have been dealing with pounds for years and I
just go on trust."

Royal was much loved, well cared for dog. The sale of Royal by Arteeka to
the Guelph research facility is a violation of the Animals for Research Act.
He was not held for the 72 hours legally required by the Act.  In fact, he
was held barely more than 24 hours of the countable time. The Arteeka Canine
Control facility did not hold him the required amount of time, and the
supply facility that took him, did not exercise due diligence in determining
whether he was eligible for purchase as an experimental subject.

Anyone who might have taken the time to actually look at Royal would have
seen a chubby well cared for older dog.  He was very friendly and social.
His nails had been trimmed 2 days prior to his leaving the property. The
hair on the lower half of his body was trimmed because of hot spots. He was
not matted or bedraggled. He was wearing a blue collar with his name
embroidered into it, and also wearing a dog tag. He was tattooed on his
groin and it could be clearly seen, since his hair had been recently trimmed
down.

But because no one really looked at Royal, he was seen as an "unwanted"
stray. A dog that had no purpose or value if he wasn't useful for the
current research programs.

NOTE:  Under the Animals For Research Act, a pound must hold any animal
picked up as a stray for at least 72 hours before it can be adopted out, or
sent to a registered research facility. This time period is not to include
weekends or statutory holidays. Since Royal was picked up on Sunday of a
long weekend, his time period should have been counted from Tuesday morning
and he should have been safe until at least Thursday night.
 

Facts On Pound Seizure
· Pound animals are lost, homeless and abandoned pets.
· Pound seizure is the practice of selling lost and homeless dogs and cats
from municipally funded pounds for the use in experimentation.

Acts governing pound seizure:
· Only Ontario and Alberta have legislation requiring cats and dogs from
pounds be sent to research laboratories.
· Alberta: In 1996 Alberta passed its Universities Act, which forbids
research institutions from purchasing dogs for research purposes, but makes
it incumbent upon municipal pounds to make all unclaimed dogs available to
facilities of medicine on request.
· Ontario: The Animals For Research Act states that dogs and cats may not be
killed if they have been requisitioned by a research laboratory. The act
specifies the price per dog to be $6, and cats, $2 each. However, municipal
pound operators who supply animals for research in Ontario make additional
money by charging board and high transport fees.

The status of pound seizure by province:
· British Columbia: A survey conducted by Animal Alliance in 2000 confirmed
that research facilities in British Columbia do not use pound animals for
research purposes.
· Alberta: Despite the Act, Calgary Animal Control stopped sending their
pound animals to research a number of years ago. In January 2000, staff from
the University of Alberta announced that they will no longer take animals
from the pound for research because of the risk of taking pets.
· Saskatchewan: It is not known whether pound animals are sold to research
institutions in this province.
· Manitoba: The City of Winnipeg has a contract with the University of
Manitoba to sell their pound dogs for research. Over the years the number of
dogs sold has ranged from as high as 300 to as low as 90.
· Ontario: Although approximately 10 pounds still give to research in
Ontario, Animal Alliance has been instrumental in convincing many of the
pounds and municipal councils to stop the practice. Also, Animal Alliance's
Project Jessie program rescues between 300 and 400 cats and dogs a year from
pounds that continue to sell to research. As a result, the number of dogs
and cats sold to research institutions has been reduced by over 60%. In
1988, 2,413 pound dogs and 831 pound cats were sold for research in Ontario.
Ten years later, the number of pound dogs and cats sold were reduced to 969
and 320 respectively.
· Quebec: Quebec continues to be the largest supplier of pound animals to
research both in Quebec and to institutions in other provinces. There are no
laws in Quebec protecting pound animals sold for these purposes.
· New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI: It is not known whether pound animals
are sold to research institutions in these provinces.
· Newfoundland and Labrador: With the most available information, it is
likely that no pound animals within this province are sold to research
institutions.

Municipal pounds and shelters:
· The most progressive municipal animal controls do NOT sell animals to
research. Providing animals for research weakens the community's faith in
the local animal control facility, making the public less willing to take
animals to such facilities for sheltering.

National animal research guidelines:
· According to the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), the voluntary
federal agency which oversees the care and use of lab animals in Canada;
3,084 random source (pound) dogs were used in Canada in 1999, the most
recent available figures. Total numbers of dogs used in research, teaching
and testing was 7,444.
· There were 691 random source (pound) cats used in Canadian labs in 1999,
according to the CCAC. The total number of cats used was 2,567.
· There is no prohibition on the type of experiments for which pound dogs
and cats can be used.
· The number of pound animals used for experimental purposes may be
considerably higher. In the introduction to the CCAC Animal Use Survey -
1999, the CCAC states:

As per the 1998 statistics, a breakdown of the cats and dogs categories into
random source and purpose-bred is provided. However, some institutions were
unable to provide such breakdown. Consequently, 202 cats and 888 dogs are
classified as "source not specific".

Of the 10,020 dogs and cats used in research, the source of 1,090 dogs and
cats - 11% of the total - cannot be identified.

Arteeka Canine Control Contracts

Township of Center Wellington
(algamation of Fergus, Elora, East& West Garafraxa, Nickel and Pilkington)
PO Box 10
1 MacDonald Square
Elora, ON N0B 1S0
phone: 519 846-9691
Mayor George Pinkney
phone: 519-822-7917 fax: 519-846-2825

Town of Mapleton
(algamation of  Peel Twp, Maryborough + Village of Drayton)
PO Box 160
Drayton, ON  N0G 1P0
phone: 519-638-3314 fax: 519-638-5113
Mayor Carl Hall

Melancton Twp
RR#6
Shelburne, ON  L0S 1S0
phone: 519-925-5525 fax:  519-925-1110
Reeve  Gary Mathews

Village of Dundalk
80 Main St E
Dundalk, ON N0C 1B0
phone: 519-923-2144 fax:  519-923-2685
Mayor Ainsly Jack

Proton Twp
RR#1
Dundalk, ON N0C 1B0
phone: 519-923-2110 fax:  519-923-9262
Mayor Jim MIlliner
phone: 519-923-6892

Wellington North
(amalgamation of Arthur, Mt. Forest, West Luther)
Box 125
Kenilworth, ON N0G 2E0
phone: 519-848-2120 fax:  519-848-3228
Mayor Don Ross
phone: 519-338-5281
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