Shortly before Mr. Trow became president for the second time in 2001, the THS lost its contract with the city to pick up injured and stray animals after years of arguing over politics and money.So I can see the combination of a THS-wide sensible reluctance to perform euthanasia on healthy but unwanted animals, plus tough internal standards for adoption, leading to an excess of animals. But was one man's extreme reluctance to perform euthanasia, and his micromanaging ways, all it took? How did he keep getting selected president? If people have been leaving for years, did things just recently hit critical mass so that people have gone to the media and opened themselves to legal action by violating confidentiality agreements? I refute the single bonehead theory: at the very least, the board of directors were applying no meaningful oversight.
In 2006, the city ended its oversight: A city councillor was no longer included among the directors of the society's board, of which there are currently 15, according to Animaltalk.
Mr. Trow first became THS president in 1982. More than a year later, the city intervened and Mr. Trow resigned. The THS, which also has a satellite shelter in North York, is an affiliate of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The relationship between the two groups, however, is strained. A libel suit brought forward by the THS against the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA remains before the courts.
The THS has sought $200,000 in damages after the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA included the following line in a 2007 lottery flyer: “Please remember that the Toronto Humane Society and the Canadian SPCA (Montreal) do not support any animals in this community”
The structure of THS management has also changed during Mr. Trow's second presidency. The chief executive officer position has been eliminated, and Mr. Trow has assumed the duties normally reserved for a paid employee rather than a volunteer president.
Amy White was the director of communications at the THS when Mr. Trow was elected. She said that before his term she had direct access to the board of directors and conferred with them on committees.
“So that basically stopped, and I only had access to Tim, more access than a person would want,” she said.
She said that Mr. Trow often micromanaged staff and volunteers on every shelter decision, right down to adoptions.
A year ago, Murray wrote a letter to the society's board of directors, outlining her concerns. She reported how the room designated for cats with respiratory infections was full, and sick cats were placed in the back hallway. Cages were "filthy with diarrhea, food material and nasal spray," Murray wrote.There's more in that link, including Trow's desire to keep alive a dog that all his vets said was too aggressive to keep. He's convinced that he's right and they're wrong.
The shelter's policy is not to refuse any animals that arrive at its doorstep. That does not make the society unique. Some other shelters also have the same practice.
Given the conditions, however, "if you wanted unlimited intake, you have to have higher rates of euthanasia, if you're not looking after them properly," Murray says. ...
Trow's desire to keep animals alive runs deep and wide. Near the main office, a room has been annexed for the isolation of cats with FIV, the feline version of HIV, waiting for adoption. ... The shelter is overcrowded, he admits, but limiting animal admissions is not the answer. "It's a terrible suggestion," he argues. "Should we let them die on the street?"
He blames the city's five animal shelters for not taking in the number of animals they should — one-third fewer animals than the society admitted last year.
The city, meanwhile, says it accepts all strays and surrendered pets that come through its doors. The Humane Society receives more animals because it is better known and publicized, says Ron de Burger, the city's director of healthy environments.
Trow is not overly worried about disease incidence. "There are always diseases in pounds and shelters." He says the animals arrive harbouring disease and don't necessarily pick it up at the shelter. "These are minor respiratory diseases along the lines of a cold."
He also rejects claims that animals are dying. "Far, far fewer animals are losing their lives than before," he says, because of low euthanasia.
In fact, deaths inside the shelter are up, Trow's statistics show. The numbers are small in relation to the thousands admitted each year, but in 2000, the death rate (excluding euthanasia) was 0.5 per cent or 48 animals. In 2005, it was 1.8 per cent, or 170 animals, almost four times more.
This, Trow says, is "because of efforts to save them, rather than saying, `This is a sick animal, we need to euthanize them.'"
So why are the veterinarians making these claims?
"I think they genuinely disagree with trying to save more lives," he says.
The THS issued a statement yesterday saying the shelter was “completely vindicated” following Tuesday’s inspection by agents from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of their River Street facility in Toronto.What happens to the cats and dogs at the Toronto Humane Society?
But a spokesperson for the Ontario SPCA called that characterization premature.
“The investigation is ongoing and we are limited as to the information we can provide at this time. We can disclose that we found animals in distress requiring immediate intervention and as a result, orders have been issued,” Ontario SPCA Senior Inspector Mindy Hall, who is the lead investigator on the case, said in a statement.
In the days following a series of articles in The Globe and Mail, the Ontario SPCA has received “dozens of additional, credible complaints outlining serious concerns that point to a pattern of poor care over the course of many years,” the statement read.
The THS’s affiliate status with the Ontario SPCA has also been suspended, ending the agency’s authority to conduct animal cruelty investigations.
Years of feuding with Toronto Animal Services and with the Ontario SPCA have prevented a collaboration that would benefit animal welfare, other animal advocacy groups say. A week after allegations surfaced against the shelter in The Globe and Mail, members of the board of directors have yet to formally meet. The charity’s membership list remains closely guarded by its president, Tim Trow, who has avoided six visits from a process server seeking the society’s membership list. That has prevented a group of concerned members and former staff from gaining access to the list and building an insurrection.posted by maudlin at 8:22 PM on June 7, 2009
Chances are that the Ontario SPCA’s investigation will take weeks, and in the intervening time, many animal advocates wonder about the fate of the 1,100 animals that are left with fewer than 80 staff and a dwindling force of volunteers to tend to them. And then there are the lost and abandoned animals that will continue to land on the THS’s doorstep.
...
Mending bridges with other animal lovers and rescue groups should be a priority, said Liz White, director of Animal Alliance, a Toronto-based animal advocacy group. “First of all, there needs to be co-operation between the OSPCA, the Toronto Humane Society and Toronto Animal Services,” she said.
Ms. White suggested a lack of co-operation has created inefficiencies among the city’s shelters. She put forth a working model in which TAS would be the front-line shelter taking in lost or abandoned animals, and the THS would acted as a “second-chance program” for animals that are more difficult to match with an adoptive family. This division of labour has been successful in other Canadian cities, such as Calgary.
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posted by Caduceus at 2:43 PM on May 30, 2009 [8 favorites]