Animal rights advocates to raise awareness of ongoing PC failures 

Content warning: This story includes descriptions of graphic animal cruelty that some readers may find disturbing.

On July 19, members of the Humane Initiative and other animal advocates will assemble in Niagara Falls to raise their voices for those who can’t speak for themselves.

One of the city’s streets was the scene of a heartbreaking and horrifying reality that’s becoming more common across Ontario. Dakota, a young german shepherd, was subjected to barbaric living conditions, shackled and gagged with a tight muzzle forcing a plastic bag deep into its throat, before finally breaking free in the dangerous heat. She collapsed, bloodied and gasping for breath before passing away. 

The Pointer detailed Dakota’s tragic story, and how it exposed many of the gaps within Ontario’s animal welfare regime. 

Merlin was another victim of cruel behaviour, dragged by his leash over a steaming sidewalk in the summer of 2023 in a heartwrenching display of needless animal suffering  that was caught on camera by passersby. On July 4, the owner was fined just $2,000 by Ontario’s Animal Welfare Service (AWS), despite clear evidence of animal cruelty as defined in the Criminal Code of Canada.

It’s not just dogs. A horse rescue in Oro-Medonte was recently the subject of an AWS investigation (after numerous complaints and tips from advocates) for allegedly allowing its horses to starve and live with festering wounds.

Merlin

Dakota

A horse supposedly under the care of "Above the Stars Equine Rescue". 

(Humane Initiative/Facebook)

In all these cases, it took persistent complaints and demands from animal advocates to get any action from AWS officers or the police. 

The lack of transparency and accountability within Ontario’s animal protection system is allowing animals to continue to be harmed, advocates say, and the time for reform is now. 

“We believe that with awareness comes action. Our goal with this demonstration is that people will become aware of how completely broken Ontario’s animal welfare system is and realize that they can make a difference,” Donna Power, co-founder of the Humane Initiative said. 

The demonstration will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Highway 420 and Stanley Avenue in Niagara Falls. More details can be found here. 

The need for action is the result of repeated failures by the current PC government to adequately fix a system that is rife with opportunities for abuse, advocates say. 

In 2024 the PCs introduced the Preventing Unethical Puppy Sales Act (PUPS), which officials claimed would put an end to puppy mills in Ontario. 

Instead, the new legislation had glaring omissions including a lack of enforcement measures or standards that could actually put a dent in the puppy milling industry which exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The PUPS Act created new standards for the handling and care of animals, but many are vague and superficial, creating unreliable mechanisms for keeping animals safe.

The legislation did nothing to actually prevent someone from operating a puppy mill. Under PUPS, it is legal for a breeder to confine 100 breeding dogs in cages 24/7 without giving them any exercise. 

“The Act is currently just window dressing,” Camille Labchuk, the executive director of Animal Justice, told The Pointer last year. “That’s obviously what people would think of as a puppy mill and that’s not illegal.”

Another glaring example of Ontario’s inadequate animal welfare system occupies a large parcel of land just 10 minutes down Stanley Avenue from where the Humane Initiative demonstration will take place—Marineland.

The park, where 18 beluga whales have died since 2019, has yet to open for the season. It has been the subject of complaints about the treatment of its animals for years. Its owners are now trying to sell the park, leaving the future of the aquatic animals that are reportedly still there—including 31 beluga whales, dolphins, seals and sea lions—uncertain.

Power says problems can be found in most communities. 

She points to municipal animal shelters across Ontario filled to capacity; unsold litters being dumped on roadways to die as sales dip; the lack of action taken by AWS following repeated complaints; and insufficient laws and enforcement mechanisms that allow the proliferation of puppy and kitten sales in online marketplaces.

Earlier this year, over the course of three months, Peel Police were finding dead and mutilated bodies of 8 to 10-week old puppies in parks and other public spaces in Mississauga. In April, 43-year-old Jiong Wang was arrested in the barbaric case. Advocates said lax laws around the buying and selling of puppies allowed this to happen—and will continue to happen unless change is made. 

“I guarantee you there is already someone else out there already doing this. We only found this guy, and he only got caught and charged because he was dumping puppies in a public place,” Labchuk, told The Pointer at the time. “This was foreseeable from many many miles away. If you wanted to design a system to give predators easy access to animals you could not come up with a better system than unlicensed breeding and free, online marketplace.”

Advocates have said the inefficiency of AWS under the PCs and the misdirection of resources are key reasons why animals continue to be harmed. 

Ontario, a province with a population of 15.8 million people, has fewer animal welfare inspectors than Manitoba, which has a population of 1.5 million. It’s the reason, advocates say, why only ten percent of serious animal cruelty cases result in charges. These are often only provincial offences, not criminal charges despite clear evidence of criminality. In 2023, of the more than 22,000 inspections and investigations conducted, only 1.3 percent resulted in charges being laid. 

In 2024, of the $27.2 million budget for AWS, 76 percent went to salaries and benefits; only about $4 million (14.7 percent) was directed toward “services”. 

Few AWS inspections and investigations result in charges. 

“We the people of Ontario pay for this system and the government answers to us,” Power said. “Without comprehensive reforms to the legislation and downstream regulations and policies, defenceless animals will continue to be neglected and abused and the people who harm them will face no consequences.” 

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