Questions About Dog Vendors Emerge As Rabies Scare Spreads
Friday January 25, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff

The hunt for anyone who came in contact with rabid puppies at a local flea market is keeping Toronto Public Health officials busy and the urgency is expanding along with the search. The longer those who may need treatment fail to get it, the more chance they or a family member could contract the disease or accidentally help spread it.

At least a dozen dogs were sold at Dr. Flea's, a popular market at Highway 27 and Albion. Authorities have warned anyone who was at that location from January 5th on, or near the vendor's farm in Chesley, Ontario, to call them immediately. The local booth was called "Pets R Us", while the farm operation used the name "Feed Me More Pets."

Until authorities can account for them all, the hunt for the animals - and those who were either bitten by them or came into contact with their saliva - will continue. Experts are now suggesting that number could be in the thousands.

So far, officials have managed to trace the chain of events, without being able to actually find all the canines. "We know for certain it was a farm family in Perth County and the county unit is involved in the investigation," explains Dr. Rosanna Pellizzari of Toronto Public Health. "These were puppies. The mother dog had an incident with a skunk and obviously the skunk must have been rabid. The mother dog died. Two of her puppies died. The farmer sold the remainder of the puppies to a vendor in Chesley, Ontario."

But new questions are being raised about how the man selling the dogs was allowed to do so without anyone checking on their health. "Right now the only law that we can actually apply to it ... is the O.S.P.C.A. Act, which tells us that the animals are to have adequate shelter, adequate food, adequate water. That's a really vague kind of definition," complains Toronto Humane Society spokesman Lee Oliver. "And beyond that there's nothing. There's no rules saying that the breeding animals are to have a health check."

He hopes people considering adopting a dog will take a lesson from this emergency, and only deal with agencies they're sure about. "If you can't see the mother and father of the puppy you're thinking about, you don't really know that you're getting, what they say you're getting."

The incubation period for rabies varies and there is a vaccine that can stop it. But waiting too long is fatal. Officials are crossing their fingers they'll be able to find all the people possibly affected in time. "We have no human cases and we hope not to have any human cases of rabies," Pellizzarri confirms.

If you have questions, think you were in the market during the affected period, have one of the dogs or believe you may encountered the affected puppies, call:

Toronto Public Health: (416) 338-7600, between 8:30am-10pm

York Region Public Health: 1-800-361-5653, until 8pm

Peel Region Public Health: (905) 799-7700, 9am -10pm.

Things to consider before adopting a dog

Deciding to own a dog

Finding a reputable breeder

Toronto Humane Society: Adopt A Dog

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Char & Ziggy