OSPCA’s dual role as a charity with its own police force.

Can the Toronto Humane Society rebuild?
April 10, 2010

Mary Ormsby

Mucking out the troubled Toronto Humane Society begins Monday with no dogs, cats or rats around to distract their human handlers from a remedial animal care camp.

The aim of the court-approved six-week learning clinic is to rebrand the 123-year-old shelter — currently a legal litter box of criminal charges, bullying allegations and civil action — as a kinder place for animals and for people who want to adopt them.

If only a fresh start for a place dubbed “a house of horrors” was as simple as mopping floors and reviewing quarantine protocol.

“If there’s just a new coat of paint on the walls, then I’m not going to be pleased because (then) there was no need to empty the shelter,’’ said small mammal advocate Vanessa Sarges, who adopted three rats from the facility as workers scrambled to remove 200 animals in 12 days.

For the downtown shelter to regain community trust, “there will have to be some significant improvements down there,” the Stouffville woman said.

Questions abound as the makeover begins, from the meaning of a planned euthanasia “scorecard,” to the propriety of an investigator’s new girlfriend.

In fact, the vision of new THS executive director Garth Jerome may not survive if the shelter’s incoming board, to be chosen in a court-supervised election on May 30, doesn’t like the changes. Potentially contentious issues include his plan to accept about 30 per cent fewer animals, a major departure from a philosophy of never turning one away.

Even Jerome’s June 1 planned re-opening is in dispute, with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals saying the date to open doors to the public — which means animals would be back in the building — has not yet been confirmed.

Another issue raising questions — along with eyebrows — involves OSPCA lead investigator Kevin Strooband. Strooband began dating a THS employee during a probe of the shelter, a relationship THS lawyer Frank Addario called “astonishing.”

The OSPCA said the romance between Strooband and a woman who has since been laid off from the shelter isn’t a conflict of interest. In an email, OSPCA spokesperson Rosaline Ryan wrote:

“Kevin is an excellent peace officer, a first-rate investigator and a man of immense integrity. The Ontario SPCA had discussions with Kevin about this issue and we, were, and are satisfied that at no point did his personal life affect his judgment or actions as our lead investigator. The OSPCA continues to have the utmost confidence in his abilities and integrity.”

There are also questions about whether the two sides are in an unhealthy competition for donor dollars.

There is no other animal group in Ontario like the OSPCA. It is a charity. It is also empowered to enforce animal cruelty statutes as the overseer of 50 provincial humane societies.

“Most people see us as just another animal welfare society and don’t recognize our role as regulators,” OSPCA chief executive officer Kate MacDonald said. “They don’t recognize that our agents and inspectors have the power of police as it pertains to animal welfare laws.”

That mandate to follow tips culminated in the unprecedented set of criminal charges that are part of the largest investigation the OSCPA has ever conducted. The OSPCA raided the shelter on Nov. 26 and charged five senior managers, including past president Tim Trow, with cruelty to animals. MacDonald said a “groundswell” of complaints from people, including management, staff and veterinarians provided enough information to pursue the THS.

Addario, however, called the OSPCA takedown “a pretty sorry chapter in law enforcement.”

He also challenged the fairness of the OSPCA’s dual role as a charity with its own police force. Addario said that sets up an “inherent conflict of interest” with the THS as both groups troll for donations to survive.

“That means it’s competing for funds with another charity in relation to whom it has a narrow but important law enforcement role — and with whom it has had historic ideological differences around euthanasia,” Addario said of the THS, the largest affiliate in the OSPCA’s stable and well known for its reluctance to euthanize animals.

“It’s inescapable that (money) would be a point of contention.”

Addario said “not a penny” of donor funds are paying THS legal fees. He said the shelter bought an insurance policy for $15,000 several years ago, largely to protect volunteer dog walkers from claims, but the policy also covers the senior managers’ legal woes.

When it comes to passing the hat, both groups have been equally successful. The OSPCA — which also receives some government money — raised $6.9 million in 2008, while the THS drummed up $6.86 million in support. Since the raid, THS has reported some financial worries but donations in early 2010 were on par with those a year ago.

Rob Godfrey, the OSPCA’s volunteer chair of its board of directors, said talk of a long-standing feud over money or other business is rubbish.

“I have not seen any feud between the two or any vendetta between the two,’’ said Godfrey, who became chair in December. “It just hasn’t existed. It’s never come up,’’ said Godfrey, who introduced Dog Day at Toronto Blue Jay games when he was the club’s vice president of business operations with the OSPCA’s guidance. “It’s never come up at a board meeting. It’s never come up when ... people are chit-chatting on the side.”

What will come up, beginning Monday, are dramatic changes for the THS that Jerome drafted in consultation with a diverse group of veterinarians, the OSPCA and officials from Edmonton’s humane society. Key points include:

• A “soft target” of keeping no more than 715 animals, with emergency cases only permitted up to a new hard maximum of 810.

• A euthanasia scorecard with five factors to be assessed by vets in deciding whether an animal should be euthanized. There will be a threshold score for humane euthanasia which will vary depending on circumstances such as total shelter population and mix of healthy and unhealthy animals. In marginal score cases, attending vets are encouraged to consult with colleagues, according to an affidavit filed by Jerome.

• The veterinary staff of six full-time doctors will have contractual autonomy to make their own decisions on treating injured, ill and dying creatures and when to proceed with humane euthanasia.

• New admission procedures included pre-arranged appointments.

• As part of the six-week training, professors from the University of Guelph will instruct veterinarians on the latest science. Staff vets will in turn teach others on the staff of 45, along with specialists in areas such as the care of exotic animals.

• Better bedside manner for THS workers.

“We are going to be training our staff particularly in good customer service because it’s one area — and I’ll be open with you — that we’ve faced criticism for in the past,’’ said Jerome.

He believes the public will see a better THS when it re-opens.

“I’m confident we can turn the public’s perception from one of suspicion and uncertainty to one of absolute trust in the organization,” said Jerome, who plans to gradually return animals now in foster homes back to the THS over the last two weeks of May.

“I can assure you we are going to do everything possible to live up to the promises we made.”

Andrew Fraser is seen cleaning the walls at the Toronto Humane Society so they can be painted. The Humane Society is closing its doors on Monday for renovations.
CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR