Animal cruelty bill lacks teeth: critics
Jason Fekete and Matthew Jay, Calgary Herald and Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, April 02, 2008
With cases of "horrific" animal cruelty reported in Alberta, animal rights advocates are calling on Ottawa to ditch a bill they say isn't tough enough on the abusers.
"It's absolutely horrific what's been going on here," said Tamara Chaney, a Didsbury dog groomer who started a petition rejecting the bill.
Chaney launched the petition after a border collie-Lab named Daisy Duke was dragged behind a pickup truck in Didsbury and had to be euthanized in the fall of 2006.
More than 111,000 people signed the petition.
Two private member's bills are before Parliament. Advocates say Bill S-203, which is headed for final reading Friday, is too lenient.
The other bill, C-373, has passed second reading. In addition to increasing penalties, it would update the scope of the law to protect animals from brutality and neglect.
While S-203 also increases penalties, critics say it doesn't modify existing cruelty laws, which are difficult to enforce.
Cheryl Wallach, spokeswoman for the Calgary Humane Society, urged MPs to kill the legislation.
"It really doesn't do much to help organizations like ours," she added.
Like Chaney, she supports Bill C-373, which would provide a legal definition of an animal, currently considered a piece of property -- denying legal recognition and protection of wild animals. It would also clamp down on the breeding and training of animals for the purpose of fighting.
"The issues with the current legislation need to be addressed and 373 does that," Wallach said.
Shelagh MacDonald, program director for the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, said S-203 fails to update existing legislation. "It's like fixing the brakes on a car when the engine won't start," she said.
MacDonald appeared at a news conference Tuesday morning in Ottawa, alongside Liberal MP Marlene Jennings and Joe Comartin of the NDP to rally opposition to the bill.
"Bill S-203 is nothing more than a smokescreen that will allow acts of cruelty to continue unabated," said Comartin.
He said the bill is an attempt to look like action by politicians on the issue when there is none. According to a report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Canadian courts convict barely one per cent of animal cruelty cases.
Under S-203, there would be no legal definition of what an animal is and animal neglect would have to be proven to be predetermined or wilful in order to be prosecuted.
MacDonald wants to see a law that will crack down on cruelty without infringing on legitimate practices. It's important, she said, that animal cruelty laws don't interfere with farmers, hunters and anglers or anyone else engaging in otherwise legal activities.
Liberal Senator John Bryden, who introduced the bill, waded into the animal cruelty fray after watching the five previous bills that sought to address the problem fail to become law.
"(The previous attempts) died primarily because the bills tried to do too much," said Bryden. "I put a bill in that didn't change the law, it addressed the penalties."
He was convinced animal cruelty laws remained stagnant because of bickering over details. Bill S-203 seeks to increase the maximum prison term for animal cruelty to five years for an indictable offence and a maximum 18 months plus and/or a $10,000 fine for a summary conviction.
"Mine isn't a Cadillac bill, it's a Chevy," he said.
According to Bryden, Bill S-203 is supported by both the Conservative government and the Bloc Quebecois. He said many in the Liberal caucus expressed support for the bill last fall, including the rural, Atlantic and northern Liberal caucuses.
Bill C-373, supported by CFHS along with other animal protection groups, veterinarians and policing groups, was introduced in October 2006 by Liberal MP Mark Holland. It stops short of becoming an animal bill of rights, said MacDonald.
This legislation has nothing to do with animal rights, it has to do with bringing animal cruelty laws into the 21st century," she said.
© The Calgary Herald 2008