Anatomy of a humane society feud
The OSPCA and the Grey Bruce Humane Society have been fighting for 10 years and even mediation hasn’t resolved all the differences

by DON STONEMAN

Last November, an article published in the Owen Sound Sun Times quoted OSPCA Agent of the Year Jennifer Bluhm as saying “there was a lapse in enforcement” in humane animal treatment in the Grey Bruce area before she took over. Tara beef farmer Allan Smith snorts about this.

Bluhm was cited by the OSPCA for “a history of doing all she can to protect animals.” She was responsible for the laying of 60 criminal and provincial charges, more than any other OSPCA investigator in 2004 and closing a roadside zoo.

Smith stepped down recently as a director of an organization formerly known as the Grey Bruce Humane Society Inc (GBHS). The organization changed its name recently as part of a deal that was mediated between the GBHS and the OSPCA. The two groups have been fighting for 10 years, according to Smith.

The GBHS was incorporated in 1991, says president and retired trout farmer Doreen Ford of Hanover, who has been a board member since the organization was formed. Ford asserts that the OSPCA became unhappy with its Grey-Bruce affiliate because its board was controlled by hunters, fishermen, trappers and farmers and attempted to get them off the board.

The OSPCA disaffiliated the GBHS in 2001, Ford says, and its agents were no longer able to investigate cruelty. Ford’s view is that “they didn’t like the way agents did paperwork.” The OSPCA “had changed the forms but they didn’t bother to tell us.”

Draper acknowledges that the OSPCA had concerns about the work the GBHS was doing.

The disaffiliation was a decision of the OSPCA board, Draper says, but Ford says her group was allowed only 10 minutes to present to the board before a decision was made to vote on the disaffiliation.

Ford argues that the GBHS had been very active in the community. Agents volunteered their time but had their expenses paid. Ford and board member Smith both stress that agents emphasized education, rather than laying charges. Jennifer Bluhm, who heads up the SPCA affiliate in Bruce and Grey, admits that the controversy over the disaffiliation may have led to some resentment against her position and presence in the community. She reports directly to OSPCA headquarters rather than to a local board.

The GBHS and the OSPCA clashed again more recently over a legacy of more than $100,000 left to the local organization. The issue was finally settled last fall through mediation, Ford says. According to Ford the OSPCA can’t use “Grey-Bruce” in its branch’s name. The Grey Bruce organization can’t use the words “humane society” in its title and it gets to keep the legacy to run its animal shelter south of Owen Sound.

Ford, a former OSPCA board member, has concerns about how animal cruelty and welfare issues are handled in the two counties.

Smith too disagrees with the OSPCA’s direction in Grey-Bruce. “They are now insisting that agents be paid, he points out. “I don’t know how the OSPCA is going to afford to pay their inspectors and agents,” adds Smith. “We were operating quite well with volunteer agents.”

Smith says that it seems as though the OSPCA is picking on the small hobby farmer. “I haven’t heard of any mainstream farmers being affected yet,” says Smith. Will they be? “It is a possibility,” Smith says carefully. “If you have livestock you have injured stock. If you have an animal with a turned up hoof, they can charge you.”BF