MONTREAL
- The Montreal SPCA is eager for details about the city of Montreal’s
planned new $23-million city-wide animal shelter so it can decide
whether it wants to partner with the city and help run it.
The facility, which the city says could be managed by a non-profit
group, won’t open until 2014 and it’s not known yet whether a new
building will be built or if an existing facility — like the SPCA’s Jean
Talon St. shelter — could be adapted.
Nicholas Gilman, executive director of the SPCA in Montreal, said the
group is thrilled about the prospect of a city-run facility, whether or
not the SPCA is chosen to run it, because pet overpopulation is still
an urgent, growing problem.
An estimated 25,000 cats and dogs are abandoned or lost annually in
the Montreal region and they generally end up at either the non-profit
SPCA or the privately held Berger Blanc in east-end Montreal. Thousands
of these pets are euthanized because not enough people want to adopt
them. The two reasons often cited as the main causes of pet
overpopulation are the lack of low-cost sterilizations and fines for
irresponsible pet owners.
The SPCA and Berger Blanc have lucrative contracts with
municipalities on Montreal Island and Laval to pick up dead and stray
animals and provide adoption services. But the city of Montreal says it
wants its one facility to provide shelter and pound services for all 19
boroughs and possibly the 15 other cities on Montreal Island. The city
stated last week it prefers that a non-profit be in control, meaning
that Berger Blanc — the focus of a highly publicized TV investigation in
2011 showing botched euthanizations there — could see its business
nosedive.
Pierre Couture, president of Berger Blanc, did not return phone calls from The Gazette on Monday.
Gilman said the SPCA needs more information before it can say it
wants in. He noted there could still be enough work for the SPCA in
Montreal even if it does not play a major role in the new facility. It
all depends on the division of responsibilities.
“For example, the city might take in all of the animals and the SPCA
could commit to taking those animals that the city cannot adopt” out,
Gilman said. “We could take animals that need a home but need more time
to allow the public to shop for them. There are lots of ways we could
work together.”
Eva Demianowicz, of the Humane Society International Canada, said her
group would not be interested in ongoing daily operations of an animal
shelter but could offer the city advice.
Martine Painchaud, a spokeswoman for Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay,
said the city will soon put out a detailed request for bids from
non-profit groups to run the new facility. Each of the borough councils
should also soon vote on new animal control policies covering things
like the maximum number of animals permitted per household (the city
says it should be four with no more than two dogs).
This way there will be a “harmonized” set of policies throughout the
city, she said. The boroughs will have the choice to send their stray
animals to the new facility or not, she said.
Plateau Mont-Royal Borough spokeswoman Catherine Piazzon said the
borough’s participation “will come down to the details of what is being
offered and how much it costs.” The borough currently pays the SPCA
$65,000 a year for animal control in the borough.
Sud-Ouest Borough Mayor Benoit Dorais said “there needs to be a
mechanism of accountability” for boroughs to feel comfortable
participating in the new citywide facility. Sud-Ouest Borough had to
renew its $120,000 annual contract with Berger Blanc in 2010 because the
pound was the sole bidder, he noted. The borough “is definitely
interested” in a new facilityl but it will depend on the details, Dorais
said.
Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau added that his city would also probably be
interested. “We all have stray dog and, especially, cat problems,”
Rouleau said. “We need to make improvements.”
mharrold@montrealgazette.com
In July 2011, a Standardbred U.S. racehorse named
Silky Shark died in a Quebec slaughterhouse.
