http://www.simcoe.com/opinion/editorial/article/815386--hundreds-to-be-killed

May 13, 2010 - 6:05 AM

Hundreds to be killed
EDITORIAL
The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) has a lot of explaining to do. And so too does the Ontario government.

OSPCA said it will have to put down more than 300 animals at its Newmarket shelter because the people in charge of looking after these animals didn’t follow ‘procedures.’

This is the same organization, which, just a few months ago, waltzed into the offices of the Toronto Humane Society to bring animal cruelty charges against that facility and the people who ran it.

What makes it even more offensive is this is the same organization that has the power to lay charges against everyone else – from pet owners to large farming operations – without any of the usual legal restraints.

Under Bill 50, the OSPCA can enter an individual’s property without a warrant. Even police can’t do that.

And all they need is an allegation that animal abuse is taking place. And it gets better.

Once charged, the accused will have to prove their innocence – they are assumed guilty –rather than the usual way in our courts where one is presumed innocent.

This is probably the worst kind of infringement on our individual and property rights in all of Canada. And for that we can all thank the McGuinty government.

And yet, in Newmarket, the same people who run roughshod over everyone else have perpetrated this horrible mess that has resulted in suffering and the death of more than 300 animals because they can’t keep their own house in order.

It’s outrageous and unconscionable and, in fact, the worst case of animal abuse in recent memory in this province.

It’s time to prosecute the people responsible to the fullest extent of the law and make changes to the ill-advised law that allows OSPCA to operate without any kind of checks and balances in the first place.

This incident has clearly shown it is incapable of policing itself.