Reigning Cats and Dogs

Urgent .... the LA Shelter could use your help!

2012-01-28T00:02:00.000-04:00

I love the kind hearts at the Lillian Albon Shelter in Amherst! Back when I was doing the research to start the homeless pet project properly, they were one of the few groups around who were genuinely No Kill.

Time has always been relative for them .... adoptables have always been kept in safe hands for however many weeks or months that it took for their kindred spirit to find them.

Even better ... in my books ;) ... at a time when pets over five often got the short end of the long needle ... the LA Shelter never hesitated to take seniors.

Best of all of course is that they have never defined healthy and treatable by the dollar sign.

Crumpet is only twelve weeks old but has already had a very eventful life! When this beautiful little dog was brought to the vet with a broken leg, her family discovered that they could not afford her treatment!

The short version of this story is that Crumpet was surrendered to the kind hearts at the Lillian Albon Shelter. When the vet was unable to save her little leg, it had to be amputated.

The good news is that she is a dog and so is not going to have any of our human hangups about being handicapped. Anyone who has ever lived with a 'tripod' can tell you how quickly they adapt and adjust, eh?

The good news is that Crumpet is an adorable and affectionate little pup who still has so much to offer!

The bad news is that the shelter now has to look for help with a fairly substantial vet bill! What time is it? It is always time to support the groups that always pull out all the stops for the adoptables in their care .... so that they will be able to continue such wonderful lifesaving work!

Time to stop trying to make a silk purse out of a corporate sows ear

2012-01-26T13:13:00.001-04:00

From today's Herald.
Kijiji pledges to help prevent puppy mills from doing business
January 26, 2012 - 4:35am By BRIAN MEDEL Yarmouth Bureau
Never buy a dog in a parking lot, online ad says

Susan Clark takes part in a protest May 15, 2010, in downtown Halifax against puppy broker Gail Benoit, who has been convicted of animal cruelty and is alleged to be still selling puppies in the province. (TED PRITCHARD / Staff) Buying a pet from an online classified ad can be risky business — at least in this province.

At Kijiji.ca, they are working to eradicate suspicious ads that offer parking lot puppies.
"We rely on our users to . . . let us know of any ads that they’ve come across that may be questionable," said Shawn McIntyre, Kijiji’s community relations manager.
Kijiji uses an array of sophisticated tools to filter ads but still needs public input about things they might not be aware of, McIntyre said Wednesday from the popular website’s head office in Toronto.
In Nova Scotia, the sale of dogs, particularly puppies, on websites like Kijiji has often resulted in complaints to the SPCA.
"We have a great working relationship with (the SPCA). They let us know if anything comes up that we need to be aware of that may involve Kijiji," said McIntyre.
Earlier this month, Eileen Jay saw a Kijiji ad offering a puppy she wanted to purchase. A Nova Scotia woman was selling a bichon frise puppy.
Jay called about the advertised dog and talked about how they could get it to her on Prince Edward Island.
The seller, who identified herself simply as Ashley, would not make the drive.
"Then she wanted me to Western Union her over (some) money and I said, ‘I can’t. . . . I don’t know you,’ " said Jay.
"And my family was saying, ‘Look out. This could be a Gail Benoit.’ "
"I didn’t even know who she was," Jay said of Benoit, a Digby-area resident convicted in 2009 of selling sick puppies. Benoit was found guilty of animal cruelty and assault charges stemming from a 2007 seizure of pups from her home.
The puppy seller continued to call Jay, seeking money and locations to meet. They finally settled on a Halifax location.
"She wanted me to pay $150 for delivery and $650 for the puppy," said Jay.
The seller blocked her phone number so it appeared as unknown on Jay’s caller ID, except for one time.
"She called me . . . about 25 times," Jay said about the persistent Nova Scotian.
"She failed to block out one (call) and it came right up as . . . Gail Benoit."
A woman who answered the Digby phone number Wednesday, responding to the name Gail, said, "I don’t think so," when asked if she was selling pups on Kijiji.
Jay quickly decided to miss the Halifax rendezvous.
She said the puppy seller called a few more times to leave some rather nasty messages but eventually stopped.
Jay said she learned a lesson.
"Don’t ever agree to meet anybody anywhere but their home."
People may contact Kijiji through a flagging system to notify it of ads that may be suspect.
"We do have a code of conduct on our website when it comes to the pets category that clearly outlines what we consider to be an unethical pet reseller," said McIntyre.
The Nova Scotia SPCA had a lot of input in helping Kijiji write its pets-for-sale code, he said.
"We filter (ads) to look for things that may sort of indicate that an ad is too good to be true. If an animal is drastically under-priced or doesn’t have a lot of information, we will ask questions and we expect our users to do the same."
McIntyre said details about a dog’s lineage are important.
"We want our users to provide as much information as possible and use clear images of where the animals are kept so that when users view these ads on Kijiji they can make a decision based on that."
He said Kijiji strongly advises against anyone meeting in a parking lot to buy a dog.
"That is obviously a red flag for us."
No one has begun legal action against Kijiji with respect to an ad, said McIntyre.
"It’s something obviously that we’re . . . always going to be concerned with. It’s not something that has come up, however."
In some cases, Kijiji can remove a questionable pet ad within minutes of it being posted. And going to the library to post an ad so a blacklisted home computer won’t show up is of no help.
"We can find you no matter what," said McIntyre
The sale of puppies from parking lots continues however, said Scott Saunders, a Nova Scotia animal welfare advocate.
A transaction was attempted this month near Middleton, off Highway 101, he said. Someone suspicious of the seller bailed out and contacted Saunders, he said Wednesday.
"They don’t know what they’re getting into," he said.
"People go, they meet in a parking lot, they pick up a puppy that they’ve done no research on whatsoever."
bmedel@herald.ca
Well then! If there is one thing that I can say with surety after thirty odd years of earning my daily bread in a kitchen, it is that trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear is simply a pipe dream!
Shortbread cookies do not taste the same when they are made without butter.   Organic vegetables really DO taste better.   And the best thing that can be said about frozen pizza dough is that its quality is outweighed by the cost!
Kijiji has been dancing as fast as it can for years to justify the traffic of living breathing sentient beings in the unsupervised environment of their free online ads.
When Kijiji first set up shop seven years ago, animal advocates begged the company not to allow the traffic of living animals.  One would think they were standing on solid ground to ask, seeing as Kijiji's parent company EBay has never permitted the practice, eh?
I know that I have flip flopped on this issue a bit. At first, I was all full of angst about the ads providing a thin veneer of respectability to the unscrupulous sorts who take advantage of kind hearts looking for a pet. I was horrified when Petfinder partnered with Kijiji to promote its adoptables!
For a brief and shining moment, I almost bought into the justification for all that. The competition for market share. Access to a popular market base.   Best of all was the bit offering all the respectable info about rehoming and adoption.
Sadly, as a friend of mine said this morning "people only see what they want to see"    Just before Christmas, there was another well publicized article about Kijiji selling pets. A Nova Scotia woman had been horrified when her new puppy passed away !     She had been concerned by the condition that the puppy was housed in, but still brought him home anyway in spite of the cautionary "rehoming and adoption tab" that is now a standard part of ads selling pets now.   ( The testy topic of why the 'free to a good home' ads are not afforded the same protections is a sticky subject that will have a post of its own one of these days, eh? )
She had also been posting a warning ad on Kijiji. Not to be mean, but when one followed the links back to the original ad, there it was in big bold red letter that "this pet should not be rehomed until 30-Dec-11"
The point I am making in my meandering way is that 'self regulation' never, ever works.    Putting the meat processing industry on the honor system resulted in a horrific outbreak of listeria.   If the RCMP stopped doing spot checks for seatbelts and such, it would take no time at all for alcohol related accident statistics to soar.
There is only one single simple solution to this problem!    Kijiji can follow in the shoes of its parent company and stop allowing ads for live animals. Period.
Lets face it .... for every Petfinder adoptable whose ship comes in through Kijiji, there are many more ad listings that make more work for rescue.   The Petfinder Partnership is just a pretty window dressing to cover up the seamy underside of the free online ad sites. They do not make their money from the ads ... it is the traffic that generates their revenue!
All the Petfinder partnership does is provide that thin veneer of respectability to unsupervised situations instead of addressing the actual problem!   The only meaningful pledge that Kjiji could make is the one single one that they refuse to entertain ... .stopping the practice of allowing the ads for living animals!
What time is it?   It is always time to remember that the way ahead for the animals will only ever be paved by strong voter feedback.   Here in the real world, where "caring about the animals" is never going to be part of any corporate mission statement, it is time to remind our MLA's that the only solution will be a private member's bill to ban the traffic of living, breathing sentient beings in all the free online ad sites!

A beautiful Happy Tail looking for a place to happen !

2012-01-25T12:40:00.000-04:00

What a joy to be able to safely go wherever we want in the woods this morning! Last night's balmy mist put paid to the rest of the ice on the trails, so we were even able to climb up to the ridge .... which is normally a very rare treat in January.

Miss Ruby is more than my heart ... she is my undisputed deputy .. the firm paw in the velvet boot :) Why is my undisputed right hand dog? Is it that she is a girl? Does all the shep in her family tree make her smarter than the average bear?

For whatever reason, I would not trade my girl for anything! She is my 86 pound teddy bear at night and my constant joy by day.

Anna reminds me a lot of Miss Ruby. She is beautiful and gentle and settled into domestic bliss like an old pro. This low key girl is marvelous with other dogs ... although there has been no opportunity in her foster home to be sure about the cat thing. But hey .. every second sentence out of my mouth the first month Miss Ruby was here was 'Leave those cats alone, Missy!'

Does she look familiar? She should! Anna was one of the dogs from up North that hitchhiked back to Nova Scotia with DART NS.

No question about it, Anna is a smartypants! When the DART NS team was loading up the dogs coming back to East Coast German Shepherd Rescue, Anna was quick to recognize an opportunity for a better life. She hopped right in the truck ..... and the short version of that story is that the Band Chief gave her his blessing!

What a clever girl! The only surprise to this story is that somehow she is still waiting for her ship to come in! Who would have imagined that this gentle and laid back lovely would still be waiting for her own lucky day.

To be perfectly honest ..... one could almost envy the beautiful journey waiting for the kind heart wise enough to appreciate what others have overlooked!

What time is it? It is time for everyone to put on their thinking caps and help this lovely laid back gal connect with the lucky kindred spirit who will say 'you are THE one'!

Cutting to the heart of the matter

2012-01-24T23:56:00.000-04:00

Preliminary Report: Cape Breton Branch, Nova Scotia SPCA

Date: January 23, 2012
Contributions: Neil Fraser (Chief Provincial Investigator), Steve Hector (Special Constable, OSH Supervisor), Dr. Lesley Steele (Chief Provincial Veterinary), Sandra Flemming (Director of Animal Care), Kristin Williams (Executive Director)
Preface
The Nova Scotia SPCA has temporary custody and control of the shelter in Sydney, following the successful injunction order motion on Thursday, January 19, 2012.
Since that time, the Society has undertaken a number of audits and assessments to determine the health of the animals and the safety of the building. These have included regulatory and animal care assessments as outlined by the Animal Protection Act, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association and the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. An Occupational Health and Safety audit is also being conducted to determine safety hazards and necessary infrastructural renewal. The findings will provide a baseline and inform short- and long-term priorities for improvement.
Dr. Lesley Steele, the Chief Provincial Veterinarian, has also examined all animals in the facility and contributed her observations and recommendations. As a result of the preliminary findings, the shelter will be closed to all intake starting immediately, with the exception of animal control.
This decision has been made because of the number of sick animals in the building, the extensive infrastructure deficiencies and the lack of available trained staff. Among the medical issues in the shelter are two confirmed Parvo cases, and approximately 50% of the general population requiring treatment for parasites, fleas and mites. There is also incidence of lice. All animals are receiving quality medical treatment and adoptions will still be facilitated where circumstances permit.
1. Animal Care Shelter Audit
An animal care shelter audit was conducted, based on the Association of Shelter Veterinarians’ Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters(http://oacu.od.nih.gov/disaster/ShelterGuide.pdf) and the Society’s provincial policies (http://www.spcans.ca/documents/about/POL_manifest_201111.pdf). These standards are considered industry best practices for the operation of an animal shelter. This assessment was completed by Sandra Flemming, with input and recommendations by Dr. Lesley Steele (hard copy available upon request) and was completed between January 19 and 22, 2012.
The following concerns were noted:

There is no process established for animal flow, medical care, adoptions, intake, cleaning or disease control.
Limited information was on hand for most animals (no intake dates, descriptions were inadequate, limited medical information noted, along with some conflicting information noted).
Medical and health information is still not organized and easy to find or understand. There is little to no comprehensive information on the vast majority of cats. Cats in the free roaming cat room have so little information to identify them that Dr. Steele and PAS Staff were not able to determine which animal belonged to which record.
Cats continue to have no detailed records of their intake vaccine and parasite treatment, nor have had weights taken for accuracy. There are cats that have been there for up to 10 months that have not been seen by a vet.
In at least 5 cases, cats have been improperly sexed. Cats in the common cat rooms have intake cards that have a question mark in the “sex” category. This means that there are unneutered and unspayed females mixing together, and free roaming.
Many cats lack muscle mass and have week back legs resulting from inadequate exercise and the inability to move naturally in small kennels. Much of the cat caging is too small for the humane caging of adult cats.
Cats and Dogs may have received their initial vaccine and deworming treatment, but have not received any additional updates for deworming or flea treatments. Nearly every cat examined by Dr. Steele has severe ear mites, with many also having fleas and at least one confirmed case of lice. All of these animals were currently on the adoption floors being handled by both volunteers and the public.
Two cats (one pregnant) were so congested from upper respiratory infections that neither were able to swallow and Dr. Steele was unable to medicate. These cats were in the general population cat rooms and should have been isolated and treated immediately.
Intake had pregnant and sick kittens and cats housed together.
Intakes are being regularly done on dogs, only because it has been tasked to Animal Control officers as part of their job.
Dog (Betsy), senior (approx. 12 years old) is so crippled with arthritis that she struggles to stand up and even sit without swinging her hips to the side. This dog is not under any pain management and up until we placed her in the manager’s office was living and sleeping on the floor in the main dog room on concrete as she cannot climb onto a bed. It is our understanding that she has been at the facility twice for long term stays in excess of several months.
Confirmed cases of Parvo in the building. A dog was taken to a vet clinic prior to our arrival, and was not tested for Parvo (we were told it was because the dog did not produce a fecal, although it is clearly acceptable and indeed more accurate to perform a test rectally). A rectal test was performed by Dr. Steele with the dog coming back as high positive. It is currently at the vet’s receiving treatment. The entire dog room has been exposed and a second case was confirmed.
Recent changes include the moving of the washer and dryer to another area of the building, which based on the new location, could result in more cross contamination. Additional improvements include one cat scale (that does not work properly), a dog scale, new sinks, two new cupboards in one cat room and the use of provincial policy intake sheets for use on dogs only.
They still do not have communication binders or whiteboards to share information concerning the status of animals.
There is no documentation in the building that is easy to understand or is complete. This includes staff schedules, payroll information in addition to animal care statistics.
Animal Control staff were allowed to keep their vehicles at home. One officer has been able to retain their vehicle while off on sick leave for several weeks.
Animal Control staff were permitted to perform euthanasia in the field versus taking an animal to a vet to be properly assessed.
Based on the scope of the operations, 4 animal care staff trained at the current level is insufficient for this facility. We will be increasing the staffing to 5 fulltime animal care staff with improved training and oversight.
Staff have been inadequately trained and the majority of staff have not shown up for work (3 of 4 animal care workers). The staff member that did show up demonstrated an inaptitude for cleaning protocols and a lack of confidence for administering vaccinations. She stated that staff have limited to no medical experience and to do not know basic animal care procedures, such as drawing blood, forcing feeding and administering subcutaneous fluids.
The staff were also unable to identify basic ailments such as mites and no daily health checks were being performed. Improper or insufficient vaccination protocols were also being employed.
Most rooms were filthy. Some doors do not reach the floor which permits for disease spread. It also results in cats being exposed to barking dogs which intensifies stress. The noise level is unacceptable and inhumane for the cats.

The deficiencies of the physical infrastructure are too extensive to completely detail, but include the following:

Exposed wires hanging from electrical outlets
Huge holes in the walls in areas of the building that show no signs of having been repaired
Dog kennels still have extremely degraded and porous surfaces
No working dishwasher in the building to help sanitize toys and bowls
Limited heat in main dog room and cat intake (highest temperature reached is 55 degrees Fahrenheit)
Wood shelving units continue to be used everywhere in the building which present an opportunity to spread disease as it cannot be cleaned
The vast majority of overhead lighting has no covering over lighting fixtures.

Overall

There is not a single area of the shelter that is functioning properly. The facility requires:

More highly skilled and trained animal care workers
A more robust volunteer and foster program and an active transport program to alleviate intake pressures
A veterinary partnership to improve medical care with a vet visiting weekly who is also available for emergencies and providing spay/neuter surgeries
Significant improvements in infrastructure2. Regulatory Inspection

A regulatory audit based on the Animal Protection Act (http://www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/legc/PDFs/annual%20statutes/2008%20Fall/c033.pdf) and the Society’s published standards of care (http://spcans.ca/documents/WP_standards-care_20100929.pdf) and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Associations’ A Code of Practice for Canadian Kennel Operations (http://canadianveterinarians.net/Documents/Resources/Files/93_Kennel%20Code%20(ENTIRE)%20July%202007.pdf) , was conducted by Neil Fraser on Thursday, January 19, 2012 (hard copy available upon request with accompanying photos). The APA does not have regulations. In the absence of regulations which would specifically identify requirements for the keeping and handling of animals, the Society is empowered to draft such standards. These standards are used to asses for animal protection issues, but are considered minimum in scope.
The following concerns were noted:
- Ventilation needs improvement (incorrect filters, required cleaning).
- Carpeted flooring requires replacing (can hold bacteria and disease and can be tracked to other areas of the facility)
- The hot water tank is leaking and area is extremely dirty (unacceptable).
- Cat cages provide newspaper only (needs improvement).
- Most animals not provided with toys (needs improvement).
- Many enclosures are too small with multiple cats residing (needs improvement).
- Walls and floors need cleaning (needs improvement).
- Cat play areas have untreated surfaces that need to be sealed/painted to protect against the spread of disease (needs improvement).
- Some floors and surfaces are porous and require sealing/painting (needs improvement).
- Dog enclosures: bent with sharp edges and openings on doors on kennels. Many kennels had feces present at the time of inspection. The exercise area is not used frequently and gates were frozen open in the snow. Large dogs were in small kennels and small dogs in large kennels. Resurfacing of kennels required and open trough areas need to be covered or sealed to prevent the spread of disease.
- Cat enclosures: multiple cats and large cats housed in small enclosures, with other kennels remaining empty. Kennel cards and identification missing for some cats. Considerable feces noted at times of inspection. Many cats not provided with sufficient space to move naturally.
Overall
The shelter is extremely dirty and requires major cleaning and painting to seal porous areas. There are no bleach mats in any areas of the building. The conditions provide for a breeding ground for bacteria and disease. There is no logical flow to the building for intake, examination, isolation and adoption. There is exposed electrical wiring, the HVAC system, furnace and hot water tank need repairs. The dryer is venting into a cat carrier inside the facility. There is a large fenced area for exercise of the animals but it is only divided into two spaces, which should be improved to facilitate greater turn out time for more dogs. Cats noted sneezing heavily in general population rooms. Certain areas of the shelter are very cold. Lack of documentation for many animals.

3. Occupational Health and Safety Audit
An Occupation Health and Safety Audit, based on provincial policies (hard copy available upon request) was conducted by Special Constable and OHS Supervisor, Steve Hector on January 19 and 20, 2012 (hard copy available upon request with accompanying photos).
The following concerns were noted:
- No bleach mats noted.
- Loose material and debris noted.
- Dirty, dusty surfaces and floors.
- Fire equipment - needs to be inspected and more installed.
- Emergency generator should be tested weekly.
- Walls and surfaces require repair.
- Stainless steel surfaces lacking.
- Vents and fans need to be cleaned (air exchanger).
- Some proper storage lacking.
- Light bulbs need to be replaced (some missing), entrance needs light.
- Clean laundry should be stored separately.
- Holes in walls and exposed electrical wires and switches with considerable dust and hair.
- Oil tank and hot water tank are leaking and room is extremely dirty.
- Many spaces need to be organized and cleaned.
- Dog feces around property that needs to be picked up.
- Unused oil tank is half full of oil.
Overall
OHS officer at the shelter has not shown physical hazards to employees or shared policies to read. Policies are not posted in an area accessible to all employees. Employees have been warned to wear proper footwear on several occasions. Employees are not knowledgeable of chemicals being used. Containers missing proper labels and safety equipment available, but not used consistently.
Conclusions
The Society is undertaking immediate recommended improvements. These improvements will take place over a 4 to 6 week period, though much is already underway. A budget estimate of at least $50,000 is anticipated, which presumes that some supplies and services can be donated.
1. Starting next week, weekly vet visits will begin at the shelter. A veterinary partnership is being established to provide ongoing support, training, emergency access, and spay/neuter services.
2. Animal care training will be offered to all animal care staff in addition to mentorship through the Provincial Animal Shelter and Dr. Lesley Steele. Basic requirements will include introduction to policy and procedures,administration of medications, vaccinations, subcutaneous fluids, drawing blood and force feedings.
3. All animals have been provided with a medical plan and a course of treatment.
4. The shelter has been depopulated to approximately half of its usual capacity by removing 35 cats and 12 dogs, with an additional 28 cats and 12 dogs leaving this week. The transports are comprised of requests for intake and a portion of the current shelter population.
5. Proper protocols are being implemented for intake to include vaccination, flea treatment, deworming, weight, vet check, surgery and adoption information.
6. A standard sick protocol is being established to address isolation, medication and health monitoring.
7. Standardized record keeping is being created using the Society’s contracted PetPoint system database.
8. The installation of 4 new runs (to increase to 6 turn out areas) is being completed to improve access to exercise areas and ease with cleaning.
9. Three new cat adoption rooms will be created in the former board room, which will be gutted. A minimum of three banks of 9 cat kennels require immediate purchasing. Common areas will be terminated because of therisk to spread disease.
10. Kittens will be fostered or transported until they can have surgery.
11. The furnace has been repaired and repairs for the HVAC system and hot water tank are scheduled.
12. Substantial painting is planned and being scheduled.
13. De-cluttering and cleaning efforts continue.
14. Installation of new shelving and cabinetry is planned along with the installation of stainless steel work stations.
15. A new dishwasher will be installed to assist with disinfecting toys and bowls.
16. The washer and dryer and laundry area will be moved and reinstalled in a more suitable and safe location.
17. Temporary intake and isolation have been created and a proper and logical animal flow is being investigated.
18. Electrical repairs have been made and repairs to walls are planned.
19. Safety hazards have been identified and are being addressed.
20. A temperament testing protocol for dogs has been introduced along with new protocols for intake and dailyhealth checks. Dogs are now receiving regular turn out time and walks and cats are being actively socialized.
21. The resurfacing of kennels and improvements to the draining system is being investigated.
22. All policies will be posted including OHS policies. All staff will sign off on policies and the Society’s code of conduct.
These comprise the most immediate plans and efforts, but this list is not exhaustive. The situation is dynamic and will be evaluated again in the coming weeks. Hiring for new staff and recruitment for a new board of directors has been in the works for several weeks. New staff have been hired and a new local board of directors is being appointed. The new board will be announced next week.
Prepared by:
Kristin Williams
Executive Director
Nova Scotia SPCA
kwilliams@spcans.ca
(902) 835-4798 x 228
http://www.spcans.ca/
Well then!   One can only wonder if this was why the supporters of the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board were so sure that the Sydney shelter would be closed to intake in the hands of the society?
Deep down, did they already know that everything actually was not 'hunky dory'? That perhaps the absence of proper shelter protocols might not be a source of 'local' pride?
Did they remember all the times that parvo proved to be a death sentence for every puppy in the shelter?
Did any of them ever have nightmares about the horrible home made gas chamber?
At the end of the day, this more comprehensive audit only amplified what sheltering professionals and psychologists have known all along ... that when hearts become hardened to working in a high kill environment it is difficult if damn near impossible to take pride in any aspect of the operation at all!
But I sincerely hope that now .... at long last ... I am done with nattering on about the horrific high kill Sydney Shelter!
Almost, that is!   It would be inappropriate to discuss the shelter being temporarily closed to intake without talking about the past.  At the end of the day, things would not be in this state if everything had been properly run in the past.
Straight sweet and simple ... supporters of the old guard should stand in front a mirror when they are pointing fingers.
It was not the new ED who neglected the animals and failed to keep up with the times.
It was not the provincial board (who were working to set the society on the New Path that its own membership demanded) who hoarded money in the shelter bank account instead of providing proper vet care!
Which of course begs another very interesting question.   Where is that bank account now?   If the required changes will need a minimum budget of $50,000 ... would that hundred thousand and some not come in very handy?
Where IS that money, now that it is needed? The one thing that noone is talking about is who has custody of that bank account!
Which leads of course to all sorts of incredibly interesting speculation! Is it still in the hands of the disbanded board? The dismissed shelter manager? Perhaps it was frittered away on legal bills?
Or has it simply not been surrendered because even the most partisan are aware that it would not stand up to a forensic audit?
But I am wandering afield as I often do in my meandering way.   Right here, right now let us talk about the other elephant in the room.   What other rescue options are there for the animals in Cape Breton while the Sydney shelter is being brought up to speed?
Four to six weeks might not sound like a long time.   What does it mean in realspeak? While the accuracy of last years stats has been called into question, before the branch was expected to be No Kill they were admitting to an average annual intake of nearly 4000 animals a year.
AC intake was not being tracked in publicly available online stats until 2010. Seeing as this was the same year that the Sydney shelter magically achieved the mind boggling live release rate of 76%, it may be questionable how accurate the 32% AC intake number is.
For the sake of argument, lets say the percentage is true.   If so, there were an average of 52 owner surrenders a week.   In realspeak, if one multiplies that number even just by four, one is looking at over two hundred animals.
What are the other adoption options on the island?
- Like every other TNR group, CBFSS is already working with the next generations .. the descendants of the unaltered abandoned stray and street cats. Even if they had the funding and the foster space, that's not part of the very valuable and life saving service that the hardworking TNR groups provide.
- Rocking Horse Ranch in Baddeck has their own mandate and are, by all reports, already full
- The newly formed Arms Wide Open street cat rescue has a relationship with the society and may be able to rescue stray cats if they can be transported to Metro... but they already look like they are dancing as fast as they can.
In other words ... for the time being the best option for the animals who would normally be surrendered to the shelter is going to be all the wonderful little rescues around the province.   Does this mean that they have just been waiting around for this lucky day when they can step up? That they will all have fosters free? Resources to rescue more?
Of course not!   As always ... practical support is the key to everything! It will take practical support for the society to set the Sydney shelter on the right path.   In the absence of the much touted well padded bank balance, it will take a LOT of practical support!
In realspeak, if rescues around the province are going to be able to help pick up the slack .. it will ALSO take practical support.   Fosters! Donations! Dog walkers! Transporters!
Most of the kind hearts who started as volunteer cat cuddlers after Celtic Pets carried on fostering afterwards. Many are actively engaged in some aspect of animal rescue to this day.
More importantly, their collective experience was instrumental in the community consciousness raising that ultimately fashioned a new future for the society.
What time is it?   It is always time to remember that it will be the relationships that are forged in times like these that will actually get us to No Kill Nova Scotia.
Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold - but so does a hard-boiled egg. Source Unknown

Its Feline February at the Yarmouth SPCA!

2012-01-24T10:48:00.000-04:00

The best way to set a fire ....

2012-01-23T12:37:00.001-04:00

I love my kitchen!   All those years of moving around did double duty ... 'seeing the world and meeting new people' also offered the opportunity to 'test drive' every imaginable kitchen under the sun.
That came in pretty darned handy when I was designing my retirement home!
Finally I have a place for everything! There is plenty of space for pickling and baking ... for candy making and chocolates ... and even a spot to cool cookies out of counter surfing reach :)
Best of all, it is so familiar and comfortable I could get up in the middle of the night for a glass of milk without turning on a light!
Sadly, it is there is nothing simple or straightforward for kind hearts trying to navigate the animal cruelty laws in this country.   At the federal level are the antiquated provisions in the Criminal Code that have resisted every effort to improve. Some bills have fallen by the wayside through a combination of poor luck and bad timing ... but at the end of the day there is a general indifference to animal welfare issues by our MP's.
Why?   Because of course animals cannot vote and until those who CAN vote put sustained pressure on their Members of Parliament that situation will continue.
The latest effort, Bill C-277 was introduced on Sept 19th, 2011 by Liberal MP Hedy Fry and has yet to get past the first reading :( Tough on crime bills have galloped through licketdy split since then, but the animals are still waiting.
To further muddy the waters, provincial animal cruelty laws create their own multiverse.   Lately I have noticed for instance that there have been many facebook comments on shared versions of the latest Puppy Mill bust in New Brunswick.   Kind hearts have been crying that there 'oughta be a law'... without recognizing that it is the new law in NB has has actually enabled the NB SPCA to charge the worst of their offenders.
Why the "new" law in NB and not here in our province?  Do New Brunswick's MLA's care more about the animals than our own? Of course not!   The 'new law' was introduced after a flurry of outraged campaigning by animal lovers horrified to discover that even killing little dogs with a hammer couldn't garner the defendant even a bit of jail time :(
As always, the way ahead for the animals will only ever be paved with strong voter feedback! Here in NS, our Agriculture Minister has no motivation to have his legal beagles draft better regulations for our Animal Protection Act.
More specific minimum housing standards and licensing requirements for all breeders would simplify the work that the society is mandated to do. Until such time as such regulations are written, we will continue to see people like Gail Benoit peddling puppies in the free online ad sites and in local facebook marketplace groups.
Inspectors will continue to be made foolish in the public eyes when they cannot remove chained and penned dogs even after repeated complaints. As long as there is food and water when the inspector shows up, they can only continue to "educate" instead of actually being able to "enforce".
The third level of course is the municipal level ... where the nuts and bolts bits of everyday animal legislation exists.   It is where municipalities define what is and is not acceptable behavior for pets in their jurisdiction.
Animal advocates are wisely trying to work at this level for anti tethering bylaws to create safer and healthier communities. The only constant in this province is that there is NO constant.
I buy a license for my dogs every year because I live in Kings County. If I lived two km away in Annapolis County, I would only need to buy one license per dog per lifetime. If I moved in Guysborough or Richmond Counties, I would not be allowed to bring Henry with me.
It is no wonder kind hearts get confused when they fall down this rabbit hole!
What time is it? It is always time to remember that animals cannot vote and they depend on those of us who can to speak on their behalf!
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.   Samuel Adams

In praise of some badly needed sanity

2012-01-20T12:56:00.001-04:00

I must confess that it was really rather lovely to watch the oil trucks running up and down the road while I was bringing wood in this morning!  This bitter weather makes for busy days for the drivers ... and worrisome ones for those who never imagined the cost of keeping warm could rival their mortgage payment!
At this time of year, my friends never tire of telling me how lucky I am to have wood heat.    They conveniently forget that all that lovely wood had to be stacked in the same summer heat that sent them over to the shore!
No question about it ... wood heat is work!   By the time I put a good dry piece of wood in the stove, it has already been in my hand at least six times. This does not even include all the other heavy lifting.   There were no leprechauns to lift the heavy tarps on rainy days.  There is no maid here to take care of the extra vacuuming and dusting!
So why go to all that bother? Besides the obvious bit that even though the price has crept up, it is still significantly more affordable that oil?   Setting aside the lovely secure feeling of knowing that we will be always be warm and snug when storms knock out the grid?
Why?   For the fringe benefits of course!  Without the comfort of wood heat, odds are that I would be on the same merry go round of meds that so many my age are on!   Without all that hard work, who knows how much harm my not so humble culinary skills could do to my health?
In other words ... as with anything else in life ... the best bits are always the ones we have to work for.
At the end of the day, there is no such thing as a happy ending.   Responsible pet owners understand that noone is going to train the cute puppy for them!   Couples celebrating milestone anniversaries could often give lessons in negotiating skills!
Here in the real world, the interim injunction represents the opportunity for effect long overdue change! To paraphrase Thomas Edison, folks often do not recognize opportunity because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work!
What time is it?  It is time to understand that the years of wishing and wanting to see change at the highest kill shelter in the province are over.   The time for complaining is over .... now it is time to provide practical support.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and looking for different results. Albert Einstein
from The Cape Breton SPCA Branch website
Update from Nova Scotia SPCA Executive Director

January 20, 2012
On January 19, 2012, the Nova Scotia SPCA was awarded an injunction to gain control of the shelter in Sydney. We are pleased to have the opportunity to access the shelter and implement improved standards of care. We also look forward to further assessing the facility and level of care to determine what needs to be addressed. Our focus is to create a positive, healthy and compassionate environment for animals and one in which the community at large wants to participate in.
We do have concerns that we have noted already regarding animal care and safety, but are reserving further comment until we can complete a more thorough review. We are in the midst of completing several audits which began immediately when we arrived at the shelter on Thursday. One is a regulatory inspection based on minimum kennel standards as set out by the Animal Protection Act and the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association. The second is a health and safety inspection which will review the shelter's infrastructure and highlight occupational hazards and related concerns. The third is an animal care audit based guidelines set put by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians, which we not only consider industry standards, but also serves as SPCA provincial policy. These reviews will help us plot a course of action and determine priorities.
The SPCA's chief provincial vet will be at the shelter on Sunday to examine the animals. She will also be assisting us with forming a long term veterinary partnership for the shelter and providing critical training for staff.
A full financial audit will also be conducted and a review of current assets. If necessary, the Provincial Society will support and facilitate infrastructure changes deemed necessary, but there is concern about available resources at the local level. A wish list will be posted on line shortly and we thank the community in advance for any assistance they may be able to offer.
The Society will also be speaking with CBRM and discussing the animal control contract and delivery of service and expectations. We would anticipate being able to continue to meet the demand for service in the interim.
The staff, save the former shelter manager, will have the opportunity to demonstrate that they can meet the new standards that we set. We will be evaluating skills and attitude. There are currently four animal care workers and three animal control workers. Provincial staff will continue to have a full time presence at the shelter until such time as we are certain the facility is functioning properly and can be managed by a new shelter manager and board of directors.
We are going to be starting interviews for board candidates and a new shelter manager shortly. We have several qualified applicants.
We understand that this has been an emotional issue for many. We appreciate the public's support, which has served to strengthen our resolve in the process.
The full application to the court is still ahead, which will confirm our legal authority as set out by the Act. We are also open to other remedies that may be achieved outside of the court providing the results are the same.Thank you

Thank you
Kristin Williams
Executive Director
Nova Scotia SPCA

It IS a red letter day!

2012-01-19T14:26:00.001-04:00

From today's Cape Breton Post
Judge grants injunction to provincial SPCA
Published on January 19, 2012

SYDNEY — Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Patrick Murray has ruled in favour of the provincial SPCA, granting an injunction against its former branch.In November, the Nova Scotia SPCA moved to dissolve the Cape Breton branch and fire the shelter manager. However, up until now, the local board has refused to vacate the shelter located at 401 East Broadway and renamed itself the Cape Breton Humane Society.

The provincial branch filed an injunction application and testimony was heard over several days at the Sydney Justice Centre, leading to today's decision.
The Nova Scotia SPCA will now have interim control of operations at the animal shelter.
Well then!   Even on this bitter cold day, this is news to warm the heart!   Like the rest of the animal loving community in this province, I have been at sixes and sevens all day waiting to hear news of the verdict!
Does these mean it is all happy days from here on in? Hardly!   There is still the strong possibility of a full blown trial waiting in the wings.   In the more immediate moment, there is a lions share of work to catch up on thirty four years of indifference and neglect.
But right here, right now ... it is sufficient unto the day to have such good news!
The old guard now knows that the legal battles will not automatically go their way!   Even better ... the publicity surrounding this issue has had exactly the opposite effect that that the entrenched status quo had envisioned. Best of all is that the society will now have an opportunity to demonstrate what can be achieved with enthusiasm and elbow grease!
What time is it?   While it is much too early to break out the champagne, it is time to celebrate that today we are ever so much closer to No Kill Nova Scotia than we were this time yesterday!
And this is how I see it on Thursday, January 18th ... the red letter day that the Supreme Court restored control of the Sydney shelter to the Nova Scotia SPCA.

Until the future is so bright that we won't need shades .....

2012-01-18T12:12:00.001-04:00

What a lovely mild morning in the woods! Last nights drizzle transformed the snow in my front yard into a lovely slick sheen of ice, so it was great to be able to stretch our legs in the soft snow still on the trails!
I couldn't go out and about this time of year without my tinted trifocals!  For anyone who does not need prescription shades, this morning I stumbled on a very sweet fundraiser for the animals.
Two very clever students at St Francis Xavier University have created custom St FX sunglasses for a project.   Even better, they will be going on sale soon and they are only asking the very modest sum of ten dollars for a pair.
Best of all .... all proceeds will be going to the Antigonish SPCA!   How cool is that?
A little birdie did tell me that supply is limited ... so anyone looking to help out the Antigonish SPCA and have a chance to sport such cool shades should act fast!
What time is it?   It is always time to salute clever new ideas to help the animals.   Until the future is so bright that we won't need shades ... every creative idea like this does double duty by advertising animal rescue while lending a helping hand!
And that is how I see it on Wednesday, January 18th .... the SIXTY - THIRD day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

Looking for treasure .....

2012-01-17T12:20:00.000-04:00

I love living in the Valley!   What's not to love?   After years of being posted to more northerly climes, the gardener in me is like a kid in a Zone 6B candy store.   Even better is being able to whine about bitter cold being minus thirteen and not minus thirty!   Best of all of course is that retirement means never have to leave good human friends behind anymore!
In this house, moving has never meant having to say I'm sorry to my pets.  When my posting message came in, I was appalled to have so many of my coworkers ask if they could have first dibs on Max when we moved.   As if I would leave him behind!    Funny how none of them were lining up to ask for my tripod senior kittizen, eh?
But I am wandering afield as I often do in my meandering way!   The point is that I did bring my pets along with me. Before I get too preachy about that, it is important to remember my Dad was earning the Queen's shilling back in the days before budget constraints limited the number of postings.
What does that mean in realspeak? Why of course that it wasn't unusual for us to be on the road every two or three years.   As a result, I found out first hand that how easy it actually was to bring along our family pets when we moved.
Admittedly, we were considered a bit of an oddity at the time.   Why were we the exception to the (then) rule?   Was it that my Dad, as a Military Policeman, saw how poorly things usually ended for abandoned pets? Perhaps it simply was Dad's firm belief that with children more was 'caught than taught'!
Whatever the reason, the son of a Cape Breton coal miner and the daughter of a PEI potato farmer always walked the walk about responsible pet ownership. They created a cycle that has carried on when their granddaughter brought her pet along when she moved!
So here is today's 'what if' .... would it not be money well spent for municipalities to host free seminars on moving with pets?  It might not stop every pet from being abandoned. It might not keep every pet from being passed around like an old sock on the free to a good home circuit.
But it WOULD help the kind hearts who simply do not know how easy it actually is to move with pets.
We live in an increasingly transient society.    Such seminars could prove to be penny and pound wise if they changed the outcome for even a percentage of those posted or in pursuit of a new job.
Let's face it ... every pet that stays with their original family represents one less of burden on both Animal Control and rescue groups and shelters. In that light, it is actually penny wise and pound foolish not to give it a shot, eh?
More importantly, pets cannot be expected to be their best selves when they lose the people they love. That is how pets wind up being caught on the free to a good home treadmill.   Until they can actually talk, pets are limited to such socially unacceptable ways of expressing their grief as chewing and marking and jumping up, eh?
The best bit of course would be that every time pet moves with their original owner, the kind hearts who would have 'adopted' them are now free to adopt a pet who is genuinely homeless.
What time is it? It is always time to look for proactive ways to prevent pets from becoming homeless in the first place!
Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. Chinese Proverb
And that is how I see it on Tuesday, January 17th ... the SIXTY - SECOND day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

When cost effective opportunity knocks ....

2012-01-16T13:34:00.002-04:00

My heart just goes out to anyone on a budget trying to feed their family a balanced nutritious diet. Lets face it, salaries simply have not kept pace with spiralling food costs ... making good nutrition more of a luxury than the essential that it should be.
We do not have a poverty line in Canada anymore. Does that mean we are all rolling in riches? Of course not! In bureaucratspeak it is now referred to as The Low Income Threshold, which here in NS is now $36,226. for a family of four! ( THe testy topic of how it now takes a gross household income of $71,154. to hit the (now) dizzy heights of Middle Class is a subject for a blog with a different focus than mine ...sigh )
What does this mean in realspeak? Why of course that there are many more children eating fish sticks and drinking no name pop and far fewer being fed vegetables and fresh milk!
There are small ways that parents can economize, but unless they grow a garden and have their own milk cow, most find even the basic ingredients out of their reach!
Opponents to No Kill are quick to argue that it simply is not affordable to implement in these days when politicians at all levels are feeling the budget crunch. The truth is that "We'd love to if we could only afford it" sounds ever so much better than saying" we just prefer to stick with the status quo"
The good news is that there are ever so steps that our politicians can take to save lives without spending a single cent:

Require all AC pounds and sheltering contractors to use the free service that is available on request to any AC from Petfinder for all impounded animals.
Amend local Animal Control Bylaws to require that all impounded animals be made available to rescue groups and shelters after the impound period is up. If the AC's were using the Petfinder service this would be relatively simple to do
Ban the use of the gas chamber for killing. It goes without saying that needs to include improvised arrangement such as jerry rigged piping on moving vehicles.
Ban the practice of shooting impounded animals. Not only does that place an unneccessary burden on staff and contractors, but it creates an unhealthy ethical environment where killing is perceived as easier and cheaper.
Implement anti tethering legislation around the province. Opponents argue it would create an unsupportable financial burden .... yet fail to recognize that in a complaint driven process, it would make it easier and cheaper for AC and society personnel to protect animals.
Invite pet food companies and pet stores to sponsor obedience training classes
Support local volunteer Spay Neuter projects and campaigns by advertising them on the municipal web sites
Support the valuable work being done by hardworking TNR groups by passing ByLaws to protect feral cat colonies instead of prohibiting them. These folks are providing a free community service that should be helped not hindered, eh?

The truth is that there already ARE enough homes for every homeless pet in this province.   According to Stats Canada, at last count there were slightly over 350,000 households in this province.
The truth is that if ONE PERCENT ... or 3,500 households ... woke up this morning and decided they wanted to adopt a homeless pet, there wouldn't be enough to go around!
The truth is our politicians do not need more money to help us get to No Kill Nova Scotia.   We already have all the tools we need ... a society with a No Kill Strategic plan, along with all the rescue groups, breed rescues, TNR groups, street cat rescues and a strong supportive animal loving community.
What time is it?   It is always time to remember that there are very few such cost effective opportunites for our elected officials to create better communities for the taxpayers who elect them .   So when opportunity knocks,  it would be helpful for us all to remember that the way ahead for the animals will only be paved by strong voter feed back.
Click here to find your Municipal Councillors
Click here to find your MLA
And that is how I see it on Monday, January 16th .... the SIXTY - FIRST day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

The problem with being comfortable .....

2012-01-14T16:43:00.003-04:00

I always loved going out on the water with my Grampy to check his trap lines.   At the time, my Dad was stationed in Summerside, so we were regular visitors at the old house on Pierce Street.
In those days, I felt like a princess riding in Grampy's wheelbarrow down to the ballast heap where his boat was tied up!  There was always a spare bit of rope to make what Daddy called a Cape Breton life jacket .... one end knotted around my waist and the other end tethered to the boat!
I loved my grandfather's stories! The best bit about Grampy was that he never, ever talked down to a child. Perhaps it was because he'd had to leave school at the age of nine to support his widowed mother and the family. Maybe he was just born that wise way.
Whatever the reason, every time we went out on the water I learned something worthwhile!
For instance, had it not been for Grampy I would never had heard the tale about Big Rod the Piper.   After all, I was still wearing my first baby walking shoes when the Canso Causeway celebrated its official opening!   How would I have possibly heard about the fact that one ...and only one .. of the one hundred pipers invited to the grand opening event marched, but refused to pipe?
Did Grampy think Big Rod was a hero for opposing the causeway?   Not in the least!   Of course, Grampy was never one to suffer fools gladly and had no patience for those who opposed progress for its own sake.
To this day, I can still hear him saying, "little girl, if everything stayed the same the companies would still be cutting miners' wages and be just as reckless as they were in the old days with the lives of the men that made them their money!"
Grampy was right!   There will always be those who resist change.   Who say 'why must we' instead 'why not'.   Who keep wrestling alligators instead of looking for a way to drain the swamp!
Happily, not everyone hesitates until the moment is lost.   Just think of all the wonderful things that HAVE changed in the short span of time since I turned twenty one:

In Canada, now employers are required to keep a women's job available for her to return to after her maternity leave is finished
Employers are now also obliged to pay women the same salaries as men for the same work
The property act has changed to protect women who 'kept the home fires burning' so that their husbands were free to pursue their careers
women are no longer required to bear the burden of being the ones to charge spouses and partners with abuse
thinking people are normally much less nonchalant about driving themselves home after an evening at the tavern, and of course last but definitely not least,
No Kill has enough history to have a proven formula for success with a successful track record.

Not all that glitters may be gold, but we are now surrounded by gadgets that make our lives easier or safer or just plain simpler!  Admittedly, some quarters would be happier if there were no opportunities for animal advocates to network online.   It IS harder to sweep all the dirty little secrets under the rug, especially in a small province like ours.
I was appalled when I read the defense lawyer's question in the article below - “How can shelter that operated for some 35 years without problems then suddenly fall apart in a few weeks?” he asked."
Without problems?   Really?   I expect that any of the folks who had their hearts broken by adopting sick or dying animals over the years would beg to differ with that.
Odds are that anyone in the animal loving community who repeatedly complained to the old provincial board about the horrible home made gas chamber would never be able to see the shelter as problem free. ( The testy topic of how the animal loving society membership now has a board and ED who actually support their No Kill wishes seems to only actually be a surprise to the folks at the renegade shelter, eh? )
I am betting that the veterinarian who gave the shelter a workshop in disease prevention was not well pleased to see that nothing had changed a few years later when she was asked to audit the shelter by the CBRM Mayor.
When compassionate animal rescues have openly refused to take animals from a high kill shelter because of the ongoing parvo risk, could that be a teeny little sign that there was a problem?
The only new problem we have actually seen was that the unprecedented step of making an unannounced visit from provincial proved to be a real problem for the shelter. No time to prepare. Even worse, no time to hide anything.
Worst of all, after hearing all the complaints that had previously fallen on deaf ears at the branch, no one on the provincial inspection team was particularly interested in believing the same old line of bullshit that had been shovelled out in the past.
What time is it? No matter what happens next week, it is time to admit that the steadily dwindling supply of supporters for the renegade shelter are the only ones who still believe there is no problem.
We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable.    Alexander Solzhenitsyn

And that is how I see it on Saturday, January 14th .... the FIFTY - NINTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

from The Cape Breton Post
Judge to rule next week on shelter future
Published on January 13, 2012
SYDNEY — Just who will be operating an animal shelter in Sydney will decided next week when Supreme Court Justice Patrick Murray is expected to rule on an injunction application
For six days, Murray heard testimony from seven witnesses and admitted some 16 pieces of material, comprising hundreds of pages of affidavit testimony, into evidence.

Murray said he expects to be able to deliver his decision Thursday.
The Nova Scotia SPCA filed the injunction application after the provincial board issued a notice of dissolution to the former Cape Breton branch of the SPCA in November 2011. In addition to dissolving the branch, the provincial body also voted to fire the shelter manager.
In response, the branch board voted to change its name to the Cape Breton Humane Society and maintain ownership of the shelter on East Broadway in Whitney Pier.
Murray’s ruling will allow one side in the dispute to continue operating the shelter while the case moves to the next stage, a full trial.
During Friday’s proceedings, lawyer Dennis James, representing the provincial body, and Robert Sampson, representing the local society, presented their final arguments.
James said members of the local board are in state of denial in telling the court they were unaware of the provincial body’s concerns and were caught off guard by the move to dissolution.
“They were well aware of the concerns of the provincial board and they should not come to this court claiming they didn’t know,” said James, referring to several emails from provincial officials to the local shelter manager and former board chairperson detailing the concerns.
At issue were concerns over animals receiving prompt medical care, customer service concerns and operating within the confines of the newly adopted bylaws.
James said the SPCA has a legislated mandate over animal cruelty matters and maintains control over local branches. When a local branch is dissolved, it loses it corporate status, he said.
He said there is no evidence indicating that the local board ever discussed the approved standards of care or implemented any of the recommendations contained.
James noted what he termed a territorial response by the local board to the issues raised by the provincial board in voting to remove two of its own board members, John MacPhail and Kerri Manuel, who had met with provincial officials to outline their concerns about operations in Cape Breton.
“When you look at their record (local board), they are not the right people to be operating a shelter,” he said, adding while their hearts may have been in the right place, their actions were not.
In response, Sampson accused provincial officials of breaching their own guidelines in failing to give the Cape Breton branch notice of dissolution or even the opportunity to officially address the provincial board.
He said the process employed to dissolve the local branch was flawed and now the provincial body appears in court seeking to have a favourable remedy from that flawed process.
“How can shelter that operated for some 35 years without problems then suddenly fall apart in a few weeks?” he asked.
In appearing to answer the question, Sampson pointed a finger at SPCA executive director Kristin Williams.
“There’s a new sheriff in town and things are going to change,” he said.
Sampson questioned the accuracy of inspection reports filed by provincial officials and the motives behind the two locally dismissed board members and why they never told their colleagues what was coming down the pipe in terms of the shelter’s future.
He said the local board and seven employees were not treated fairly and that the allegations contained in the provincial reports were based largely on hearsay.
“Their hands are not clean,” he said, in reference to provincial officials, adding there appears to be a bias against Cape Breton by the provincial board.

Looking for lightning

2012-01-13T01:22:00.002-04:00

from The Cape Breton Post
Provincial SPCA violated own bylaws in dissolving Cape Breton branch
Published on January 12, 2012
SYDNEY — The executive director of the Nova Scotia SPCA admitted Thursday that the provincial board of directors violated its own bylaws in moving to dissolve the Cape Breton branch in November 2011
Testifying during an injunction hearing, Kristin Williams told the court the board did violate its bylaws in failing to first provide notice to the branch, failing to provide a copy outlining reasons for the decision and failing to allow members of the Cape Breton branch an opportunity to offer comment prior to any vote.

“We take full responsibility for the errors we make,” said Williams, adding the provincial board’s intentions were appropriate.
The provincial board’s decision to dissolved the island branch came only two months after adopting a new set of bylaws. The board’s decision also included termination notices to the local board chair and vice chair along with the shelter manager.
Williams’ testimony came during day five of an injunction hearing being held in Sydney before Supreme Court Justice Patrick Murray.
The provincial body is seeking to regain access to the former SPCA shelter located on East Broadway in Whitney Pier.
In learning of its dissolution, the Cape Breton board voted to change its name to the Cape Breton Humane Society and refused to vacate the shelter.
The move to disband the island branch came after repeated public complaints over how the shelter was being operated along with concerns that animal care was not being provided in accordance with provincial standards.
The hearing has now heard from seven witnesses. Lawyers in the case are expected to present their closing arguments today.
Williams also testified that the deed to the shelter property is in the name of the Cape Breton SPCA and there is nothing in the new provincial bylaws governing the transfer of property.
She said despite numerous conversations and exchanges of emails with island staff and former board chair Mel Neville, little was being done to correct the deficiencies noted in the Cape Breton operation.
“There was a very defensive response from Cape Breton,” she said, adding the island group rejected the provincial body’s authority.
Such a position was confirmed in testimony Thursday by former island board member and new chair of the humane society Mike Mombourquette.

Mombourquette said in learning of the dissolution and that shelter staff, including its manager, had previously been issued disciplinary notices from the provincial body, it was decided to protect their own interests.
“We felt it wasn’t their job to discipline staff. We felt the provincial board was running the Cape Breton shelter,” he testified.
In addition to voting to the name change, the local board also turfed two of its own board members, John MacPhail and Kerri Manuel, who had previously met with provincial officials to outline their concerns over how the shelter was being run.
His testimony also confirmed other evidence that suggests the local board was not fully apprised of what was happening both within its own shelter and at the provincial level.
Mombourquette said he only learned of the new bylaws in November and while he said he was on the board for four or five years, he never saw a document outlining provincial standards of care.
This spring, the homeless pet site will be celebrating its fourth birthday! How is that relevant to this situation? In realspeak, it means that I have been doing my homework so that I can decide if the way forward will include obtaining non profit status.
Like any Canadian investigating the subject, I have found the Non Profit Library at Imagine Canada to be incredibly helpful. I am a middle aged grandmother not a Chartered Accountant, so there has been a whole new glossary and set of definitions to learn.
In the course of my research, I learned a few interesting bits that ARE relevant to this tale. Directors in a Non Profit organization are not simply figureheads. They are the public face of a non profit organization and have certain duties and responsibilities:

First and foremost is the duty to act in the best interest of the organization they serve at all times, even at the expense of their self interest This is referred to as fiduciary duty.
Fiduciary duties are divided into two categories, Duty of Care and Duty of Loyalty
Duty of Care includes duty of competence and the duty to be informed.
Duty of Loyalty requires a director to act in the best interest of the organization. They are not allowed to profit from their office and are expected to avoid situations where this conflicts with their duties to others.
It was interesting to discover that fiduciary duties extended past a Directors term of service so that .. for example .. they cannot use confidential information acquired in their position to compete with their former organization for contracts.
In light of what is happening right now, I was surprised to learn that Duty of Care actually includes four important areas - duty of honesty, duty of diligence, duty to exercise power and duty of obedience. In realspeak, this means that directors must not act for an improper purpose, are supposed to be familiar with the organization, are responsible for maintaining standards and are obliged to ensure that corporate decisions for the organization are being implemented. Who knew?

In other words, as a Director for a Non Profit board governing an SPCA Branch, it actually was Mr Mombourquette's responsibility to be aware of the standards of Animal Care in a shelter ... to keep current on any and all decisions made by the governing provincial parent board ... and more importantly, to ensure said decisions were being properly implemented.
In other words, while it may have been possible for the dismissed shelter manager and her staff to prepare in advance to pull the wool over provincial eyes, local Directors who were part of the community should have been better able to keep their finger on the pulse of the shelter.
In other words, turfing the two board members who actually did read the manual and were trying to fulfill their duties created a direct conflict with every single duty a director holds under common law.
What time is it? It is time to remember that if the remaining directors on the disbanded board had been actually fulfilling their fiduciary duties, that the first surprise inspection ever would never have resulted in the 2011 Shelter Audit.
Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is the lightning that does the work. Mark Twain
And that is how I see it, in the early hours of Friday, January 13th .... the FIFTY -EIGHTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

The hundred and fifty dollar fence ....

2012-01-12T11:59:00.000-04:00

I love being able to step out the front door into our play yard!   On a day like this, when cold winter chill is the mother of brief brisk gallops instead of long leisurely hikes, it is a real boon indeed!
For the longest time, I didn't fence the yard ... imagining it to be the type of impossible dream that would take a good lottery win to achieve! On days like this, it was always 'wrestlemania' in the house when the big dogs couldn't burn off enough steam outside!
Then one day, I had an Ah Ha moment and realized I really did not need to fence the whole yard.   Indeed, it actually worked out much better to have most of the gardens well outside the wear and tear of the play yard!
It was a lot of work to dig the thirty four fence posts when it was ever so much warmer than today.   With the quaint local flare for understatement that categorizes a day like this as "fresh", my yard is considered to be "a bit ledgey"!
I am a middleaged grandmother, not a twenty-nine year old farm hand, so it really did take me the best part of late summer and early fall to finish the project.
Mind you, it is a bit misleading for me to call it the 'hundred and fifty dollar fence'!   That sum is based on the amount I actually spent on it the year it was built and did not take into account the cost of the recycled stash of material I had squirrelled away. Nor would it pass muster in more elegant suburbs with careful covenants.
This is the kind of weather when we are all planning our outdoor project to do lists!    If a play yard is on your wish list, here are a few things that I found helpful:

here in Kings County, at this time, one does not need a permit to build a fence as long as it is not over six feet tall. They do recommend that fences be set back from the property line far enough to allow for painting and maintenance.
When I retired, I bought a Fiskars post hole digger to transplant small trees. Over the years of moving around, I have borrowed a wide variety of post hole diggers and have found this one to really live up to Fiskars well earned reputation for ergonomic tools. Who knew I would actually build a fence with it one day
Even if you live in suburbia, four by four landscaping ties are much cheaper than fence posts of the same size. They generally go on sale every spring :)
Kijiji is a great place for things .... if you are patient odds are you could find good buys on fencing wire and perhaps even boards. If you live near a base, you might even find fences for sale in the spring when people who rent are transferred.
Funny thing, but feed stores are often the most economical place to get fencing wire and staples
Pay attention to what is going on in your community. I bought a nice chunk of used 6 foot galvanized wire when one of our local kennels was renovating.

As it happens, not being able to fence the whole yard has really had all sorts of unanticipated side effects. It is wonderful to still see so much wildlife in the yard on the other side of the fence. It is great never to have to worry about children being able to tease my good dogs. Best of all, it allows me to have the best of both worlds when my garden is ever so much more than a 'pretty face'.

And that is how I see it on Thursday, January 12th .... the FIFTY - SEVENTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

Congratulations to NSLDN!!!

2012-01-11T12:32:00.000-04:00

Today is the first anniversary of The Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network! How are they celebrating? By launching their lovely new website of course!
They have also issued a press release to celebrate the day:Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 11, 2012 - “More than a dog a day!”
The Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network is celebrating its FIRST anniversary. The Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network, which uses social media (Facebook, Twitter and it's website ns.lostdognetwork.com) to help bring missing dogs home has resolved 470 cases to date. That is well over a dog a day! Nothing the three founders, Ann and Heather Morrison and Janet Chernin ever anticipated last January when they started the network after the successful search for a Bernese Mountain Dog called Annie using Facebook.
Website redesign was necessary for the Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network due to its’ huge success and rapid growth in it’s first year. Implementing new ways to report lost or found dog information more efficiently. This allows for an almost self-service approach. The new Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network website will include a blog discussing important issues surrounding lost dogs such as prevention, animal behaviour, and community issues. The site will continue to provide a comprehensive list of resources for people to use in helping “bringing missing dogs home”.

With the Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network now reaching more than 4000 members the plight of lost dogs is changing in this province. Dogs once considered “strays” are now being considered a “lost dog needing help”. This change makes reuniting dogs with their owners much more likely. Keeping dogs out of shelters and rescues frees up space and resources for the dogs who truly need it. Co-operation from and with animal services, shelters and rescues has been a win-win situation for everyone - especially the dogs. Its’ easy for these services to match up dogs in their system with dogs on our site, making for possible faster reunions with happy owners.

High profile cases and extraordinary success stories have helped heighten the exposure of the Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network which relies on its over 4000 members to share the information they receive to bring missing dogs home. Cases such as that of Luna, the visiting dog from Austria who bolted at fireworks, and was flown home a week later, Buster, gone 9 months and returned home, safe and sound, and Bandit, despite several sightings is still missing. His owner and the network have never given up hope and the search continues.With the new website, Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network begins a new era in helping lost dogs in Nova Scotia. Our hopes for the future are to expand LostDogNetwork.com to include other communities in Canada and the US.

The Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network owes it’s success to, and would like to thank, all its volunteer members and all those who take the time to read and/or share a post of a lost or found dog - Helping “bringing missing dogs home”.
Yes indeed ... I really love these folks! Inspired by the original social networking success story of Annie .... these volunteer kind hearts have really made miracles on a shoestring.
Four hundred and seventy dogs were reunited with the people who already love them. Even better, those reunions kept hundreds of rescue slots open for genuinely homeless animals.
Best of all of course is that The Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network has been educating folks along the way to "think lost, not stray"!
What time is it? It is always time to congratulate those who conceive a great idea and have the commitment to carry it through to completion!
And that is how I see it on Wednesday, January 11th .... the FIFTY - SIXTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

In praise of paying rent .....

2012-01-10T21:00:00.000-04:00

I love Atlantic Small Dog Rescue! Not because they rescued my Rascal and started him on a better path that wound up at my door. Nor is it because size never matters no matter what their masthead says!

It isn't even that their kind hearts continue to find new and innovative ways to help the animals. From facebook auctions to rescue dog shows and everything in between, these folks are long on imagination and short on settling for second best!

While these are all ( in Marthaspeak) Very Good Things, the real reason lies in their respect for life. Once a dog comes into their care, treatable and savable are never defined by a dollar sign.

When The Mighty Quinn needed extraordinary measures to undo the effect of such extreme neglect, the kind hearts at ASDR rolled up their fundraising sleeves and pulled out all the stops.

When The Group of Seven needed a safe berth, they were brought under the loving ASDR umbrella in spite of their obvious need for immediate dental work.

When Jamie was knocking on heaven's door at the (then) Cape Breton SPCA, nobody got out a calculator to tally up the training costs needed to offset such a rough start!

Just before New Years, a six year old little Shih Tzu was surrendered to ASDR because his humans were getting divorced. Life hadn't been kind to Buddy and noone at ASDR believed he had ever been to a vet. Years of untreated dry eye had ruined his vision and the poor little fellow was looking old before his time :(

This morning, Buddy was taken into the vet by his foster Mum. After years of neglect, they had to put together an action plan to give Buddy a chance to become his best self.

Besides being neutered, badly overdue dental work will be needed to alleviate the pain in Buddy's poor little mouth. Even worse, the vet believes the eyes to be perforated and that they are at real risk of rupturing if they are not removed.

Worst of all, the little man now has 'black goo' in his stools and so fecal tests and blood work will be followed by heaven knows what else.

The way I see it, being dumped by his divorcing humans is already the best thing that ever happened to Buddy. Somehow I suspect Buddy would have met the short end of the long needle if those people had been faced with the possibility of a thousand dollar vet bill, eh?

If you and your kind heart are able to help ASDR meet this utterly unanticipated vet bill, please click here.

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth. Mohammed Ali

And that is how I see it on Tuesday, January 10th .... the FIFTY - FIFTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter

Closer to home .....

2012-01-10T12:29:00.002-04:00

When the truth comes without ribbons

2012-01-09T12:16:00.003-04:00

I love hanging laundry out on the line on really chilly days like this!   It is well worth wearing mittens for that amazing fresh fragrance that trumps even the best fabric softeners money can buy.
Even better .... it does double duty by brightening and sanitizing at the same time!   Best of all of course is that it transforms a simple domestic chore into an opportunity to catch a bit of well needed winter sunshine :)
It is just frosting on the cake that all this is also easier on the pocketbook and better for the environment!
Like the rest of the animal loving community in this province, I have been following the court case in Cape Breton quite closely. Originally, I wasn't going to talk about it here until it was finished.   Yet along the way, something very interesting has been happening as the dirty laundry is being aired in daily media reports!
Before the court case started, there were two 'camps'.   On one side were those darned whistleblowing volunteers. On the other end of the stick were those who were moved .. by a variety of reasons ... to support the renegade shelter.
Before the court case, every media report and letter to the editor on the subject was soon swamped with comments from both camps.
Before the court case, supporters of the renegade shelter were long on support for the old status quo and short on any suggestion that the situation might involve more than the home team defending itself against unfounded accusations from away.
Before the court case, those darned whistleblowing volunteers who had been shut out of the shelter still were still finding ways to help the animals.   Their volunteer facebook group was repurposed into a small scale rescue that sprouted a new stray cat street project along the way.
Before the court case, one of the most telling differences lay in the non profit status of the volunteer group as opposed to the renamed renegade shelter being listed as a business.
Then the court case began.   Media articles (scroll down for a sampling) started airing the dirty laundry for all the world to see.   It became increasingly difficult to dismiss stories from the shelter as "propaganda" from away.
By the time the last article in the list below was published, supporters of the renegade shelter seem to have run out steam.    After the last article in the list was published in the Post, all the old arguments about accusations from away seem to have dwindled away.
One of our favourite family holiday traditions has always been to read Dr Seuss' classic "How the Grinch stole Christmas".   As a mother and a grandmother, I can attest to the fact that there are some valuable life lessons tucked into the rhymes he wrote for children
" Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,

Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling:
How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes, or bags!
And he puzzled and puzzed, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more." Dr Seuss
I am a middle aged grandmother, not a psychologist, but I believe that it probably was possible for folks to get the wrong end of the stick when it was all word of mouth.   When tales were being told by folks they knew and trusted.
It would have been easier to generate support for something that has been there so long than to admit there might be something hinky about the status quo.
At the end of the day, it is clear that the folks who created the renegade shelter really underestimated the good people of Cape Breton.   Did they imagine that there would be support for cruelty and neglect? That anyone not directly benefiting in a material way would continue to be comfortable championing their cause?
Tomorrow the case resumes in court with the anticipation of a ruling on Friday.
What time is it?   While it is a shame that this situation deteriorated to the point where justice had to be formally served, it is a powerful thing to watch the truth setting kind hearts free.
from The Cape Breton Post
Witness testifies to seeing negligent care of animals
Published on January 4, 2012
SYDNEY — A former board member with the now disbanded Cape Breton SPCA testified Wednesday he witnessed numerous examples of what he termed inappropriate and negligent care of animals at the Sydney shelter.

Steve Wadden - Cape Breton Post Mike Mombourquette, from left, board chair of the Cape Breton Humane Society — formerly known as the Cape Breton SPCA — speaks with the society’s lawyers, James Snow and Robert Sampson, outside court in Sydney on Wednesday.

John MacPhail, who first joined the board in April 2011, said he saw injured animals sitting in kennels for days without being properly attended.

He said there were instances where some animals were covered with a white powder which he later learned was a cleaning agent which the animals somehow were allowed to roll in. He said some of the cleaner ended up in the food resulting in the animals developing diarrhea.
MacPhail, who formed the group Friends of the SPCA while on the board, said there were also instances of animals coming into the shelter not being properly checked for disease or other concerns before being place in kennels with others animals.
“I brought up numerous issues that bothered me,” said MacPhail, adding he addressed his concerns to then shelter manager Patsy Rose, whom he said was not a good manager.
MacPhail was the first witness to testify in an injunction application sought by the Nova Scotia SPCA which in November moved to disband its Cape Breton affiliate citing a failure to adhere to provincial standards regarding animal care.
In response, the local group has now formed its own body — the Cape Breton Humane Society — and has refused to vacate the shelter property at 401 East Broadway.
The provincial body is seeking an order to have access to the Sydney shelter and have humane society board members removed.
MacPhail also testified Wednesday that he and another former board member were not included in the provincial body’s original motion to disband the Cape Breton board. The motion noted the removal of eight members of the 10-member board.
Both sides in the dispute spent the majority of the day presenting arguments on the numerous affidavits now before the court.
Justice Patrick Murray issued a ruling striking out some claims contained in the affidavits while allowing others in contention to remain.
Lawyers Dennis Janes and Sandra McCulloch, representing the provincial SPCA, and Robert Sampson and James Snow, representing the local group, both argued that certain affidavits, or at least portions of some affidavits, filed in support of their positions should be excluded from the hearing.
The hearing is scheduled to continue today and could extend into Friday.

from The Herald
Ex-board member testifies SPCA rife with negligent and inappropriate animal care.
January 5, 2012 by Canadian Press
SYDNEY — A former board member with the disbanded Cape Breton SPCA testified Wednesday that he saw numerous examples of what he described as inappropriate and negligent care of animals at the Sydney shelter.
John MacPhail was the first witness to testify in an injunction application sought by the Nova Scotia SPCA to gain access to the shelter and enforce the Animal Protection Act.
The SPCA disbanded its Sydney branch in November, but officials at the shelter responded by refusing to leave and renamed the facility the Cape Breton Humane Society.
MacPhail, who joined the board last April, said he saw injured animals sitting in kennels for days without being properly attended.
He also said there were instances of animals coming into the shelter not being properly checked for disease or other concerns before being placed in kennels with others animals.
MacPhail said he brought up his concerns with former shelter manager Patsy Rose, but added that he did not believe she was a good manager.
The SPCA cited a failure to adhere to provincial standards regarding animal care when it disbanded the shelter.
The hearing is scheduled to continue today.
"The purpose of this hearing is to see if we can gain control of the facility in the interim until our legal authority is clarified though the courts," Kristin Williams, the provincial society’s executive director, said in an email Wednesday.
"The (legal) proceeding is necessarily limited in nature. By no means are any final determinations going to be made."
With Davene Jeffrey, staff reporter

from the CBC News website
Animals ignored at Sydney shelter: witness
posted Jan 5, 2012 8:51 AM
A Nova Scotia Supreme Court hearing to decide who will run the animal shelter in Sydney heard from its first witness Wednesday who said animals were not well cared for.
John MacPhail, who was on the board of directors and volunteered at the shelter in Sydney for several months last year, testified that he saw injured animals sitting in kennels for days on end.
He was also critical of cleaning procedures. Dogs were covered in Comet, MacPhail said, and their food would be rolling in it. After they ate, he said, they would get diarrhea.
He took his concerns to the provincial SPCA.
MacPhail admitted he could not remember specific dates or times for the incidents.
He will be back on the witness stand Thursday.
The court will also hear from several employees of the provincial SPCA, as well as the chair of the local board, and an official with the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
Hearsay evidence
The provincial SPCA is asking for an injunction allowing it to take over the building. It claims the facility has been badly run.
Much of the first day of the hearing was taken up with arguments over hearsay evidence.
A number of the witness affidavits rely on photos or statements about the shelter submitted by third parties who aren't part of this court proceeding.
Lawyers argued it would not be possible to verify much of that evidence.
Justice Patrick Murray painstakingly went through a number of affidavits, striking out parts that would not be admissible.
Nova Scotia SPCA disbanded its Sydney branch in November, but shelter officials refused to leave and renamed the facility the Cape Breton Humane Society.
Two veterinarians who inspected the shelter for the municipality noted bad smells, overcrowding, a lack of protocols for cleaning and a haphazard system for examining sick animals.
Mayor John Morgan demanded immediate improvements at the shelter after reading their report.

From The Cape Breton Post
Former board member of animal shelter says list raised 40 concerns
Published on January 5, 2012
SYDNEY — For a second day, a former board member with the now disbanded Cape Breton SPCA testified about his frustrations in attempting to resolve ongoing problems with animal care and management at the Sydney shelter.

Steve Wadden - Cape Breton Post

John MacPhail, a former board member of the now disbanded Cape Breton SPCA, leaves a Sydney courtroom on Thursday after he testified during an injunction hearing that was filed by the Nova Scotia SPCA against the local shelter.
John MacPhail told a Supreme Court hearing Thursday that volunteers were being discouraged from lending their services on a long-term basis while some animals in care were not receiving prompt medical attention and were housed in feces-laced cages

“I visited five other shelters across the country which were being run completely different than the one in Sydney,” testified MacPhail, who joined the local board in April 2011.
MacPhail said he repeatedly brought up concerns about disease control, complaints about unfriendly staff members and issues surrounding the general care of animals, such as frequent access to the outdoors.
“I was disappointed with the whole situation right up to this moment,” said MacPhail, who spent two days on the witness stand.
His testimony is part of an injunction application initiated by the Nova Scotia SPCA which in November moved to disband its Cape Breton affiliate citing a failure to adhere to provincial standards regarding animal care.In response, the local group has formed its own body — the Cape Breton Humane Society — and has refused to vacate the shelter property at 401 East Broadway.
Justice Patrick Murray will decide whether the provincial body has a right to return to the Sydney shelter. The hearing will continue today in Sydney.
The provincial group is being represented by lawyers Dennis Janes and Sandra McCulloch while Robert Sampson and James Snow represent the local group.
During questioning Thursday by Sampson, MacPhail admitted that some of the shelter’s shortcomings stem from the age of the facility, which is over 30 years old.
However, he said, staff in general were not performing their duties properly and could be seen routinely sitting around drinking tea while volunteers did the work. He said the three animal control officers did, for the most part, appear to be doing their jobs
“Volunteers were being pushed away accused of having spying eyes,” said MacPhail.
He said he submitted a list of some 40 concerns to the local and provincial boards. Of particular concern, he said, was the failure to routinely test dogs for canine parvovirus which is a highly contagious and sometimes fatal virus spread from contact with dog feces.
MacPhail said in one instance, the group Friends of the SPCA to which he belongs paid to have a dog treated by a local vet because the shelter wasn’t planning to have the dog examined.
As for the board, MacPhail said he didn’t think it was very productive.There were some testy exchanges Thursday between MacPhail and Sampson over whether MacPhail actually witnessed incidents he described and whether he had sufficient experience in animal care to criticize someone else’s work.
“In general, when you walk into that shelter, people are having negative experiences,” he said
.MacPhail will be back on the stand today, although the remainder of his testimony is expected to be brief.
Also expected to testify today is Kristin Williams, executive director of the provincial SPCA.

from The Cape Breton Post
Staff at Sydney shelter unconcerned with problems, says provincial director
Published on January 6, 2012
SYDNEY — The director of animal care for the Nova Scotia SPCA testified Friday that staff at the former Sydney branch seemed unconcerned with problems at the animal shelter and, for the most part, blamed the problems on the public.Sandra Flemming said after a meeting in October 2011 with volunteers from the branch she and provincial executive director Kristin Williams met with paid staff the following day to discuss the concerns raised.
“There was lots of finger pointing by staff and negative comments from them about the volunteers,” said Flemming, adding Williams issued written notices to staff in a bid to correct their behaviour.
“Staff said it was up to pet owners to vaccinate their animals so they wouldn’t be dying in the shelter. There was no acceptance of their own responsibility,” said Flemming, adding she couldn’t believe what staff were telling her.
Among the concerns from the volunteers was that a household cleaner was being used to clean cages rather than a proper bleach mixture. Flemming said the cleaner being used is toxic to animals.
There was also an incident in which a cat with two kittens was not segregated from the adult population and both her kittens were killed by the other cats.
Flemming said the shelter was operating with no proper intake procedures listing whether the animal had been properly checked for disease and other concerns prior to being placed in cages with other animals.
“There were a lot of underweight dogs and we were told that staff feed all of the dogs the same amount of food,” she said.
Flemming, who is also director of the Metro SPCA shelter in Halifax, testified that for two years her shelter has been taking dogs from Cape Breton in a bid to find homes faster.
“Over the past two years, we’ve taken 262 dogs from the Sydney shelter and some 88 per cent of those have come with litany of health issues,” said Flemming, adding the staff vet at her shelter urged the practice cease.
Instead, said Flemming, the Halifax shelter uses different protocol in accepting Cape Breton animals to ensure they are healthy before being placed with other animals.
Her testimony came during an injunction hearing before Supreme Court Justice Patrick Murray. The provincial SPCA has filed the application in a bid to access the Sydney shelter located at 401 East Broadway.
The provincial body voted last November to disband the Cape Breton group over concerns it was failing to adhere to provincial standards regarding animal care. In response, the local group changed its name to the Cape Breton Humane Society and refuses to relocate from the East Broadway facility.
Flemming said the concerns from Cape Breton were long standing and there was always a strained relationship between Cape Breton and the provincial board.
Another former board member of the Cape Breton group, Kerri Manuel, testified Friday concerning an incident in which two dogs were brought to the shelter by staff on a Saturday night after being hit by cars. Manuel said when she came to the shelter Sunday afternoon, neither animal was seen by a vet and the injuries were significant including one dog whose paw pads were scraped off and pieces of bone were exposed.
Manuel said a staff member administered a narcotic to the dog, left behind from a previous visit by a vet, which resulted in the dog losing control of its bowels. The dog was put down the following day.
Flemming said shelter staff are not permitted to administer drugs to animals noting that is the job for a vet.
Manuel said there were numerous incidents where animals were not receiving proper medical care and that she would end up taking them home and nursing them back to health.
The provincial group is being represented by lawyers Dennis Janes and Sandra McCulloch while Robert Sampson and James Snow represent the local group.
The hearing was scheduled for two days this week but has now gone on for three days with two more days of evidence to be presented on Tuesday and Friday.

And that is how I see it on Monday, January 9th ... the FIFTY -FOURTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

In praise of pullng out all the stops .....

2012-01-05T13:12:00.000-04:00

My Mother would never play Scrabble with me!    Bless her heart, she insisted that Scrabble was not meant to be a tactical game and that it really wasn't very "nice" of me to position words that blocked the possibilities for her :)
There are parts of the No Kill Equation that some in the rescue community do not think are very "nice". I am of course referring to the more aggressive adoption strategies that are necessary in order to adopt the way to No Kill
The debate has heated up now that PJ's Pets and Pets Unlimited are hosting satellite adoption centers instead of peddling puppy and kitten mill 'products'.   Well intentioned hearts are worried that same day adoptions do not properly protect the pets.   That pets will suffer by being kept overnight in a satellite adoption center instead of snugly in a foster home.
Well meaning hearts truly believe that all committed pet owners will cheerfully wait for days while applications are considered and checked and approved. That offsite adoptions can even be equated with promoting irresponsible pet ownership.
Unfortunately for the animals, not every good pet owner is interested in going to a shelter.   Potential first time adopters are like any rookies ... full of concerns and misconceptions about the whole process.   Some simply want the opportunity to meet the adoptables in a pressure free environment that does not involve filling out an application.
Here in the real world, animal rescue still has to compete with the pet stores that still sell pets and the free online ad sites for good pet homes. Why do people continue to shop in these venues when the risks are so well advertised? Because it is easy and simple of course.
Here in the real world, it does the animals a disservice to make pet adoption adoption difficult. And before the keyboards catch on fire that certainly does not mean that adopters should not be screened.
It simply means that if references can be checked, there is no reason that same day approval should be a bad thing.   Perhaps .. if there were rescue slots for everyone ... if there were no Unnecessary Unhappy Tails waiting for all those who cannot 'find room at the inn' .... then there would be no need for offsite adoptions.
Not every animal is lucky enough to wait for their 'lucky day' in a comfy foster home.   Well cared for pets in properly run shelters, do not have volunteers and staff on deck 24 / 7, eh?
When I called about adopting Morgan from SHAID, I was fully prepared to jump through all the same hoops as I had when I adopted Miss Ruby.   Instead I was told that their policy was to keep the cat adoption process simple. Apparently, they had discovered that folks kind enough to choose cat adoption over the ever so easier 'free to a good home' option were not in the habit of returning adoptables.
It was easy and simple and quick.   I brought a carrier. I signed a contract. I paid the adoption fee.   I brought Morgan home!    As a matter of fact, I drove all the way to Bridgewater for my mighty mini Morgan!
Since starting on their New Path, the society has worked hard to make cat adoption simpler .. and at least at the Provincial Shelter it is so!   They understand that in a world where there are at least eight cats for every dog in rescue ... in a world where there are well over a dozen waiting for every available cat rescue slot .... that it is simply not humane to go with too rigid an adoption procedure for cats.
As a result, their cat adoption rate has skyrocketed!
What time is it? While it is never, ever time to throw out the baby with the bathwater, it is always time to remember that the ultimate end game is to help every homeless pet have their own 'lucky day'.    At the end of the day, that is not limited to those already safely in care ... but includes all the ones who are dying for a chance to be rescued!
And that is how I see it on Thursday, January 5th ... the FIFTIETH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

Until every ear can hear the right pitch .....

2012-01-04T12:26:00.003-04:00

What a good day to make herbed roasted vegetables for lunch!   This is one of those rare days when the dogs are quite content to snooze by the fire instead of heading out for a hike.
Even Rascal ... who has been unleashing his inner sheltie since this summer ... has not been further than five feet from the front step!
Sadly, not every dog in this province is lucky enough to be safe and snug inside today.   Little Suzy, pictured above, spent her entire life living outside until the kind hearts at PET Projects found her in a Kijiji ad and ponied up for the purchase price :(    Lucky for Suzy she wasn't a success as a hunter so that her owner was willing to part with her!
Truth be told, PET Projects have been leading the way in the province with respect to anti tethering advocacy.   Shelly Hipson's kind heart will not let her look the other way and refuses to wait for "someday" !
Did PET Projects succeed in their efforts to embed anti tethering clauses in the new Dog Bylaw in Shelbourne? Sadly no ... or I should say ... not yet. Still, their efforts have opened the dialogue so that the subject will be revisited by their Council.
This is not new ground for them ... the sad picture at the top of my sidebar is of Noah .. who was one of the first chained dogs rescued by PET Projects.   Noah had lived his whole life outside and was so frightened of the world that it took hours and hours to coax him out of that horrible little house when Noah's elderly owner passed away.
Why do people chain and pen dogs? For some, dogs are viewed as property with a pulse ... and they see no problem in treating animals in the same way their Daddy did!
Others believe that ... after the puppy was not trained or socialized properly ... that it is actually more humane to sentence these unruly youngsters to life on the end of a chain than to explore other options!
How can such embedded ideas be changed?   The same way every single other socially unacceptable practice has been changed ... with the law!
When I first moved out here, a two four was the most common armrest in pickup trucks!   Why did that change?   Did these fellas wake up one morning and realize they were on the wrong path?
Of course not!   If penalties and checkpoints had not increased LaBatts would still be making their armrests!
But I am wandering afield, as I often do in my meandering way.   Right here, right now, if you think that Anti tethering legislation does NOT need to be a priority, then I challenge you to go sit outside in your car for a few hours.
You can even wear your mittens and coat.   Bring a cup of water out with you and watch how quickly it freezes. Take a cold snack out with you and see how well that warms you up!   Oh ... and turn your cell phone off so that you can get the full benefit of the utterly antisocial experience!
Not your cup of tea?   Well, if we could only understand them, all chained and penned dogs would say exactly the same thing!
What time is it? It is always time to remind the politicians whom we have elected that support for anti tethering legislation will win them more votes than they would lose. It is always time to remember that the way ahead for the animals who cannot speak for themselves will only ever be paved with strong voter feedback!
I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end.   Albert Schweitzer
And that is how I see it on Wednesday, January 4th .... the FORTY - NINTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

A little sourcery .....

2012-01-03T12:37:00.000-04:00

What a wonderful morning we had in the woods! There was just enough snow to be pretty but not so much that we couldn't climb up to the ridge! For my money, it is always well worth the extra work for the wide open view! We never know what new treat awaits. From eagles fishing down in the river ... to deer startled while drinking into graceful flight ... to teenagers smoking heaven knows what in the woods behind the subdivision!
I am a middle aged grandmother, not a professional researcher. Even so, in the course of building and maintaining the homeless pet sites, I have been blessed with a bit of a birds eye view.
Even better, along the way I often keep stumbling upon some very useful bits when I am doing my research.
Best of all, of course, I am like a little squirrel... tucking these tidbits away for a time when they might prove useful :)
These are interesting days for the animal loving community in Nova Scotia. Between social networking and plain old fashioned word of mouth, many more kind hearts are awakening to the possibility of No Kill Nova Scotia.
While it would be early days to break out the champagne, here a few little tidbits that might be of interest to anyone long on enthusiasm and short on cash:

How to build a Drop Cat Trap
Solar Feral Cat Shelter
here in NS, Pierre's Alley Cat Society has built some incredible cat shelters and Pierre was kind enough to send me pictures to use on the homeless pet site. Lots of great ideas there .. especially for anyone who might need to 'disguise' a feral cat shelter as a baby barn or a shed.
PS ..... As a sidebar note, if you are really new to the street cat 'game', it would be time well spent to visit the mothership ... Alley Cat Allies
Sometimes love is not all we need for our pets ... and so we are lucky in NS to have K-9 Orthotics, which is one of the few companies in North America offering these services :) If one is on a budget, I have heard they maintain an inventory of used dog carts :)
how to make an elevated dog bed
how to make a recycled dog sweater
the coolest outdoor cattery I've found to date ... with good instructions!
free knitting projects for pets

In other words ... if you need it there is a way to find it or make it :) Have fun!
And this is how it is ... on Tuesday, January 3rd .... the FORTY EIGHTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

A great way to make a life!

2012-01-02T12:35:00.000-04:00

I love making turkey pot pie!    Old school ... bubbling in the oven with a beautiful biscuit topping!
Unlike some professionals, I have never turned my nose up at the homegrown classics that top the charts for comfort foods.   Does that mean that I do not find new and funky ways to fiddle with food anymore?   Of course not!
In the bigger scheme of things, it takes a bit of balance to achieve any goal.   Without the sustained campaigns of animal advocates, pet stores chains would never have decided to stop selling and puppies and kittens, eh?   It took years of protesting to educate the public about puppy mills before there was enough economic impact to for pet store chains to consider changing their corporate policy.
Happily, sometimes solutions can be simpler than that!   Last year, a few kind hearts in the Nova Scotia animal loving community had an Ah Ha moment.   A beautiful lost Bernese Dog named Annie had been successfully reunited with her owners after a snowballing series of 'shares' on Facebook helped get her tale out in the public eye.
This success inspired them to form The Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network!    What a wonderful simple idea!   Someone loses or finds a dog ... and a couple of hardworking volunteer hearts post the listing so that it can be shared with the over four thousand folks who have 'liked' their facebook page!
Yesterday, I actually lost count of how many lost dogs I was 'sharing' after the New Years Eve fireworks frightened them into flight! Already, most of them have been successfully reunited with their owners .... 'safe n sound' in NSLDNspeak :)
The more successful that NSLDN becomes, the busier it gets!    In plain english, this means that if anyone was looking for a meaningful way to help the animals, this could just be the perfect fit.
In this past year, NSLDN has been directly responsible for reuniting hundreds of lost dogs with the people who already know and love them.   Every one of those dogs could easily have been mislabelled a stray, were it not for the hard work of NSLDN.
What does this mean in realspeak? Why of course that the Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network has kept hundreds of rescue slots open for dogs that actually were homeless!   That hundreds of dogs who may have met with Unhappy Tails when their 'time was up' with AC are instead happily 'saf n sound', back home with their families!
And .... that all the kind hearts who might have kept that "stray" who wandered in the yard are still available to adopt a dog who actually is homeless!
NSLDN is currently trying to recruit a couple of admins to help with their work.   You don't have to get dressed up.   You don't need to go out in the winter weather. Sheesh ... one could easily do this work in flannel pj's and bunny slippers!
All you need is your own computer and the commitment to carry out the work!
What time is it? It is time for everyone to put on their thinking caps to find out if this would a good fit for any of their friends!
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill
And that is how I see it on Monday, January 2nd .... the FORTY - SEVENTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

A little year end wrap up and (Year of the) catch up

2012-01-01T00:43:00.002-04:00

I love getting a great hair cut! It is one of the most economical beauty fixes around.   Even better, my wash and wear 'do' is well suited to a writer who does her best thinking outdoors.   Best of all of course is that it is quick and simple and chemical free!
Wouldn't it be lovely if everything in life was so easy to fix?   When the Year of the Cat was first announced, even the most optimistic advocates admitted that it was going to take a lot longer than one year to fix something so long in the making.
How did we do here in Nova Scotia? Is it a better world today than it was last New Years?   I would say yes.
How can I say that when the carefully crafted presentation for a Low Cost High Volume Spay Neuter Clinic fell on deaf ears?   Why of course because some progress has been made in spite of our politicians!
This time last year, who would have imagined that one woman would start a Spay Day weekend project which as a whole would become more than the sum of its 122 altered cats? By every possible standard it has been a wildly successful venture! It has inspired other communities to start fundraising for their own efforts!   Even better, it has refocused public attention on the desperate need for Low Cost High Volume Spay Neuter Clinics.   Best of all of course is this pioneer project has done double duty by helping to educate about the importance of Spay Neuter.
Throughout this past year, more TNR groups have popped up around the province ... which of course is always a good thing. These hardworking little groups of volunteers have been quietly saving lives and creating healthier communities in spite of the lack of enthusiasm from our municipal and provincial politicians.   Just imagine what they could accomplish if our elected officials decided cats could be as big a priority as concerts and convention centers, eh?
By default, cats have benefited from the change of corporate heart on the part of PJ's Pets and Pets Unlimited ... at least in the outlets now offering satellite adoption centers.   Not to be mean ... but it really is just pure dumb luck that this plum should fall on Year of the Cat after years of animal advocates campaigning against the sale of puppies and kittens in pet stores ;)
Fringe benefits can be a good thing though.   While the curious and unprecedented case of the shelter board that wouldn't go home is creeping through the courts, local Friends of the Sydney SPCA volunteers have created Arms Wide Open to help their local street kitties :)
Help can come in all shapes and sizes.   Inspired by the success of the Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network .. which has prevented hundreds of dogs from being mislabelled as stray when they were only really lost ..... a sister face book group was born. Lost and Found Cats of HRM and Nova Scotia has a dedicated membership looking out for lost and stray cats in their areas!
Have you noticed a common thread?   That some of the most successful ventures this year have been initiated by volunteer kind hearts? That it has been done in spite of our politicians .. not because of them?   It just boggles the mind to think of the possibilities should our politicians ever decide to work with the animal loving community that actually elected them!
It was the collective kind heart of the animal loving community that enabled a little private rescue to turn life around for The Mighty Quinn.   Thanks to that support and his foster Mum's love and hard work, Quinn is now available for adoption!
If I did not make arrangements to get my hair cut, in no time at all it would be back down to my waist.    The longer I waited ... the bigger the job would be and the longer it would take to fix it!
What time is it?    It is ... once again .. time to hope that this year will be the year our politicians recognize that a stitch in time to save nine is so very, very overdue!    If they cannot find the funds in 2012 ... it will not become any cheaper in the years to follow!
And that is how I see it in the early hours of Saturday, January 1st .... the FORTY - SIXTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

The world can be a very dangerous place to be a beagle ....

2011-12-30T12:16:00.002-04:00

Mmmm ... what could be better than baked beans on a bitter day like this? Simmering in a slow oven .... waiting like a warm hug to greet us coming home cold from our hike!
It is almost frosting on the cake to be able to build up the coals and have the comfort of our cozy fire!
This is not the kind of morning when we lollygagged along the trails ... poking noses into every scented nook and cranny!    On a 'fresh' ( valleyspeak for pfc ... or pretty darned cold if you prefer :) morning like this we gallop along the main trail quicker than the dratted dog teasing sqwirrels can scamper up a tree!
Do dogs need the comfort of a cozy fire to considered well cared for?   Of course not!   Separate and apart from the emotional and mental needs of a species that puts the Capitol C in Companion Animal .... it is even possible for dogs to live physically comfortable lives in properly insulated and heated outdoor kennels, built and maintained according to the standards provided in The Code of Practice for Canadian Kennel Operations
Does the poor dog in the picture below appear to be living in a structure that comes anywhere close to meeting the standards suggested by the Canadian Veterinary Association?
These pictures came from a current ad posted on Kijiji.   "8 year old female beagle. Good hunting dog just don`t have the time as I have started her pups. $100.00 or best offer"
Even worse ... this is not tucked away in some remote spot back up the mountain.   Nope!   According to the map on the ad, this is smack dab in the middle of Aylesford ... surrounded by homes and within spitting distance of at least one church.
At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, little beagles with their thin coats were never meant to live in such inadequate housing!    It is simply rendered all the sadder that this particular doggie is a senior who has outlived her usefulness in punching out puppies :(
What time is it?   It is way, way past time for more specific housing regulations in our Animal Protection Act. At the end of the day, that would be the most effective way to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing Albert Einstein

And that is how I see it on Friday, December 30th ... the FORTY -FOURTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

Much ado about everything but the facts

2011-12-27T16:35:00.000-04:00

It is no wonder that everyone loves a snowy holiday season!  Fresh snowfalls are one of the best bits of Mother Nature's palette .... transforming the plainest of yards into postcard pretty pictures!
Mind you, when one is out and about in the woods it can make for trickier footing.   That beautiful blanket of crisp clean snow buries all the tree roots and fallen limbs ... making it much easier to be tripped up along the trail.
To be perfectly honest, I will welcome Wednesday's rain when it will make for safer walking in the woods!
My dear Dad used to say that one cannot argue with the facts.   Is that why supporters of the renegade shelter are attempting a snow job that is long on innuendo and very, very short on plausible facts?
Of course it is!    It is much easier to suggest that the 2011 Shelter Audit was penned by 'power mad' provincial board members from away than to admit that it was the direct result of shoddy sheltering protocols.
When THAT audit was discredited, much ado was made of having local veterinarians in to assess the shelter 'properly'
When THE LOCAL AUDIT mirrored the one from 'away', much ado was then made about the renegade shelter being able to do 'some' of the items on the action list! No explanation was offered as to why such easy fixes were not done in the past. Nor did anyone discuss that the 27 items were only a partial list in a shelter that had days to prepare for the inspection!
When whining about having their free IAMS food cut off by the big bad ED from away backfired, silence was briefly very golden before getting back to making much ado about those darned whistle blowing volunteers.
In other words, much ado has been made about everything except the facts. To date the only facts that the renegade shelter have been able to offer up are that:

they were willing to sit down and talk. About what? The shelter manager being dismissed? The board being disbanded? The results of the 2011 Audit? The refusal to leave SPCA property? Ignoring all directives from provincial? By their own admission they have falsified records. Maybe they only wanted to explain that, eh?
Ms Rose is no longer employed as the Shelter Manager. She is, however, still employed at the shelter in an administrative position. Children call this game musical chairs.
Mel Neville is no longer the president of the disbanded board. The "new" renegade shelter board is composed of the rest of the disbanded board.
there is still have enough IAMS food to last until March. No one is discussing what happened to the rest of the five year supply that had been received.
Mr Mombourquette is very happy that Metro is willing to take animals. No facts are being offered about any other outcomes for the animals ... outside of the suggestive quote from Dr Richardson's report stating that things would be ok for the "short term" at the renegade shelter. Sadly, no actual spokeseperson for the renegade shelter is talking about No Kill anymore.
any visitor to Petfinder can see that the renegade shelter is still holding the Cape Breton SPCA petfinder account hostage
the annual meeting for the 'new' renegade shelter was by invitation only of names cherry picked from the Cape Breton SPCA membership. It was a closed meeting and those who were mistakenly invited were turned away at the door.
Directors liability insurance will cover the legal fees to come for the disbanded board. It is a shame there is nothing to cover the pain and distress of all the broken hearts who adopted sick and dying animals. And it is a tragedy that there can never be any payback for the very conservative guestimate of at least 100,000 dead animals in 30 years. In snowjobspeak that is referred to as a blessing that the money won't be taken from the animals anymore :(
Last but not least, the renegade shelter was able to assume control of the CBRM AC contract with the Cape Breton SPCA. (The testy topic of how this was done without a bid for tender is a sticky subject for tax paying CBRM residents to discuss with their own Mayor and Council, eh?)

What time is it? It is time to hope that justice will not be delayed so that this story can be focused back on the facts instead of speculation and sly innuendo.
And that is how I see it on Tuesday, December 27th .... the FORTY - FIRST day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

To drive the cold winter away

2011-12-24T12:51:00.001-04:00

Even though I am not a church going girl, this is one of my favourite days of the year.    It is such a traditional day for for good food, good company and good cheer that it really does drive the cold winter away.
As a single mother, necessity has always the frugal mother of invention .... and so visitors on this day have come to expect handmade hors d'oeuvres and canapes ... handcrafted chocolates and fudge ... and of course homemade eggnog:)
One of the joys of being a middle aged grandmother is that all my little holiday traditions have enough history to drive the holiday stress away.   What could be simpler or better or easier than a well choreographed routine one is already well practiced in, eh?
Unless of course one is, like The Mighty Quinn, experiencing one's first holiday season on the inside looking out.  Quinn must be wondering what the tree is doing in the house !   Clearly he is curious about the presents gathering under the tree.
Does Quinn know that it is Christmastime? Maybe not ... but he can clearly tell that there is good cheer in the air!   If it is good enough for the Foster Mum that he loves and trusts ... why then it is good enough for him!
Quinn's journey has touched the hearts of so many here in Nova Scotia and beyond.   We were horrified at his original condition when he was first rescued from his horrible old life. We cheered for him along every bit of the way!   We have celebrated every successful new step!
Yet is even more than all of that! Quinn's journey has been possible because of the collective kindness of the animal loving community. The kind hearts who rescue, donate and help spread the word about No Kill.
To paraphrase Nathan Winograd, there is enough love in any community to create better outcomes for all the animals ... and Quinn has come to represent that in our hearts.
With so much love ... I know we will be able to find our way to No Kill Nova Scotia!
What time is it?   It is not time to break out the champagne ... but it is time to celebrate that!

PS ... this winter, "outside" is a place where Quinn goes to play ...wearing a comfy warm coat ... before coming back into the lovely warm house!

This time of the year is spent in good cheer,
And neighbours together do meet,
To sit by the fire, with friendly desire,
Each other in love to greet.
Old grudges forgot are put in the pot
All sorrows aside as they lay;
The old and the young doth carol this song
To drive the cold winter away
fr. the traditional English eighteenth century song, "In Praise of Christmas"

And that is how I see it on Saturday, December 24th ... the THIRTY - EIGHTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter

The Ghost of Christmas Past ....

2011-12-22T09:04:00.000-04:00

From The Cape Breton Post
Humane society shelter ‘OK,’ vet tells council
Published on December 19, 2011 Chris Shannon
SYDNEY — Cape Breton regional council heard from veterinarian Frank Richardson on the state of the Cape Breton Humane Society shelter but delayed debate until after the case is heard in Supreme Court in early January.Richardson said Monday according to his inspection on Dec. 13, the animals appeared to be in good health.
“You have reasonable comfort knowing the facility is OK — not forever, but over the short-term,” he said.
“Is it perfect? Absolutely not. There are lots of improvements there that are going to have to happen.”
Walking through the facility located on East Broadway Street in Whitney Pier, Richardson told council he didn’t hear a kitten sneeze or a dog cough once.
And although he didn’t examine animals individually, there didn’t appear to be any animal in distress and many seemed “happy,” he said.
“I didn’t hear any dogs coughing, which would be indicative maybe of possible kennel cough, and I didn’t hear any cats sneezing, which could be indicative of an upper respiratory infection,” said Richardson, the registrar of the Nova Scotia Veterinarian Medical Association.
“The animals all had fresh food in front of them, the litter boxes were clean and their bedding was there. I didn’t see any obvious stress on the animals from a psychological perspective either.
“They weren’t cowering in the corners. They seemed interested in getting a pat when you walked by their cages. They seemed as content as you can be in an enclosed container.”
Overcrowding, an ongoing problem at the shelter, will need to be addressed, he said.
With every animal that enters the shelter, another one should leave through adoption or another means such as a transfer to another facility, Richardson said.
He said the staff are “kind and caring” but need to be aware of the building’s physical limitations.
The Cape Breton Regional Municipality paid for Richardson’s inspection, and that left some councillors asking why the municipality was getting involved with animal welfare when its primary concern should be the $249,000 a year contract it holds with the shelter.
“(Nova Scotia SPCA) as the body responsible for animal welfare, to stay clear until after the court case, they’re the ones who should have people in here inspecting the facility, not the Cape Breton Regional Municipality,” deputy mayor Darren Bruckschwaiger said.
The Nova Scotia SPCA dissolved the local board of directors on Nov. 21 — five days after it attempted to take control of the shelter due to accusations of poor animal care, abnormally high rates of disease transmission and bad bookkeeping.
The SPCA will ask a Supreme Court justice to grant an interim injunction giving the provincial body access to the humane society’s property to enforce the Animal Protection Act. The hearing is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 4-5 in Sydney.
Prior to Richardson presenting his report, council debated for an hour on the merits of holding the session when the decisions concerning animal care are in the hands of the humane society and the Nova Scotia SPCA.
CBRM Mayor John Morgan, who called the meeting, said it was necessary to meet with Richardson for an update on corrective measures being taken at the shelter, and to have assurances the animals are not in danger.
Following a report presented to council by two local veterinarians last month, the humane society received 27 recommendations it needed to carry out to meet minimum standards.
Humane society board chair Mike Mombourquette said he was pleased to hear Richardson’s report.
The board of directors has completed 16 of the recommendations to date, he said, adding that the staff is working to resolve overcrowding at the shelter.
Mombourquette said the shelter struck an agreement with the Nova Scotia SPCA on Friday to move six animals to the SPCA shelter in metro Halifax.
“We have agreed to the possibility of transferring more animals in the new year,” he said. “That’s huge news to me, that we’re able to transfer animals again.”
Council approved a motion to table Richardson’s report and discuss it at council following the court hearing next month. Councillors complained they didn’t receive the lengthy report before Monday’s meeting and couldn’t ask informed questions as a result.
Part of the motion also stipulated the CBRM would only discuss issues involving its contract with the shelter to enforce the dog bylaw, and stay away from animal welfare issues. The CBRM contract with the shelter expires March 31.
The motion also precluded council from carrying forward with its agenda, which included a presentation from the Friends of the SPCA group.
cshannon@cbpost.com
Well then!    This is like an unhappy bit of Deja Vu!   Four years ago, Dr Jamie Campbell did a walk through inspection of Celtic Pets at the request of the town of Port Hawkesbury. Why was he hired?   Disturbing complaints had been received by local residents that required some sort of response from Mayor MacLean and his Council!
Advance notice was given. No animals were examined.   "They all had food and water". Sound familiar?
Without access to the actual report, it would be churlish to nitpick .. but there is much to be read between the lines in this story.   The very fact that the society is willing to take in animals before any legal issues are resolved is very telling indeed.
I rather expect that the society still remembers the disappointing results of the first unannounced visit to the (then) Cape Breton Branch from provincial.   Nor are they likely to forget how well presented the previous and well prepared for visits were.
At one time, the actual numerical ratings for annual military performance evaluations were classed as secret.   Superiors writing difficult PER's were able to carefully couch them diplomatic language to avoid workplace conflict .... such as "Pte So and So does wonderful work under maximum supervision"!
Clearly, Mr Mombourquette needs lessons on reading between the lines. Is it not very telling that the society is willing to take lifesaving steps before the legalities are settled?
What time is it?   It is time for Mayor Gordon and his Council to stop avoiding issues of animal welfare when they are enabling the renegade shelter with an untendered Animal Control contract ... one that is actually worth more than $250,000 a year when the full bill is tallied!
And that is how I see it on Thursday, December 22nd .... the THIRTY - SIXTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

May Your Days be Merry and Bright!

2011-12-21T09:04:00.000-04:00

Bright Yuletide Blessings!

May the Peace of the Season stay with you all year long!

The Nova Scotia Homeless Pet Project would like to thank every kind heart who adopted a homeless pet this year. It has been a record year for adoptions in Nova Scotia!

Happiness is always a warm and snuggly beagle ....

2011-12-20T12:47:00.000-04:00

Hi there .... my name is Patches and I love my new life with my foster Mum, even if she did put this goofy hat on me! Sheesh .. she could put me a pink frilly dress for all I would care! Until I was rescued by the kind folks at ARC, I had no idea how wonderful it was to be safe and warm!

For the first time ever, I do not have to worry where my next meal is coming from!

Please don't get me wrong ... I am not just working hard to learn the ropes for food! No sir! I had no idea that people could be so kind ... and that the touch of a human hand could be so gentle and full of love!

We beagles are famous for being smart ... but sometimes we really are like second class dogs. Sheesh ... it is only in the comic strips that beagles actually like to sleep outside in the winter on top of their dog houses. Good grief ... you would think folks would understand that because we beagles do not really run around pretending to be WWII fighter pilots either, eh?

The truth is that we little beagles are not really built to live outside. Have you ever seen a beagle with a big shaggy coat? Nope! We have such thin little coats that we really do suffer when we are left to live outside.

My foster Mum says that really good hunters actually bring their beagles in the house ! Gosh I am not sure that I am actually old enough to hear the way foster Mum describes the hunters who think that bringing a beagle in the house ruins their hunting instinct!

Even worse ... when we beagles are so famous for following our little noses, you would think that when we go missing someone would start looking for us. Last night my foster Mum was telling me about a few little beagles that had lost their way. Snif' .. they were a Group of Seven ... (except perhaps not quite as artistic) ... but one little one was hit by a car before they were rescued :( Now they are are a Group of Six and just pretty darned lucky that Atlantic Small Dog Rescue has tucked them under their loving umbrella.

I can guarantee that I am definitely not old enough to hear the way foster Mum was grumbling about what terrible shape these little wanderers were in! They have probably never seen a vet in their lives ... and today everyone has their paws crossed especially for little Raine :(

So why would anyone want to adopt a Beagle when we cannot resist following our noses? Because Charles Schultz was right ... Happiness really is a warm and snuggly beagle! We put the capitol L in Lovable! Even better, we are friendly enough and sturdy enough that we make great family pets!

Best of all of course is that we are small enough to snuggle in your lap but big enough to go for a good long hike everyday!

What time is it? It is always time to have a look at all the lovely beagles available for adoption here in Nova Scotia!

This picture of the "Group of Six" was taken by the kind hearts who found them and were working with the Nova Scotia Lost Dog Network to try to find the owners. Although local Animal Control and animal hospitals were all contacted, noone was able to identify who owned these little dogs :(

Bobbie ... gee whiz everybody loves Beagles ... Pssst ... don't tell anyone that Bobbie and Blue really aren't German Shepherds because they are available from East Coast German Shepherd Rescue

Blue

Shylo

Hey did you know that Beagle Paws has a Nova Scotia Chapter now?

Maggie

Buddy

Find Vincent at the LA Shelter

Miles is at PET Projects

Sweety Belle
sigh .. the Yarmouth SPCA usually has at least one beagle for adoption

This is the ONLY beagle that can live outside without suffering !

And that is how I see it on Tuesday, December 20th ... the THIRTY - FOURTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

A sign of the times.

2011-12-19T02:19:00.000-04:00

from The Cape Breton Post
CBRM will get animal shelter update today
Chris Shannon

Published on December 18, 2011
SYDNEY — The registrar of the Nova Scotia Veterinarian Medical Association will deliver a report to Cape Breton regional council this morning on whether the Cape Breton Humane Society has been properly addressing deficiencies at its animal shelter in Whitney Pier.The Cape Breton Regional Municipality sought out the assistance of Frank Richardson following the report presented to council on Nov. 23 by two Sydney veterinarians.

Veterinarians Leanna White and Rebecca Korven found problems ranging from the way the health of animals is assessed when they are admitted, to the potential spread of diseases among cats and dogs, and overcrowding in some areas of the shelter.
Some of the problems, having to do with the building’s size, indicate that construction of a new shelter may be required.
With 27 recommendations in all, council will want to see if immediate improvements were made to a number of the more urgent problems, while addressing issues such as ventilation within the building over a period of time, CBRM Mayor John Morgan said.
“We’re hoping many of the (deficiencies) will already have been corrected or at least steps are being taken to address the ones that are long-term in nature,” he said Sunday.
Unlike the first meeting with the veterinarians, which was held in-camera, the session at 10 a.m. in council chambers is open to the public. Representatives from the humane society will also be present so they can respond to Richardson’s report.
On Sunday, Cape Breton Humane Society chair Mike Mombourquette said the board has completed 16 of the report’s recommendations and the remainder are currently being addressed by the board.
“The ones that are not completed are all ongoing. (We’re) trying to complete them as quickly and as safely as we can,” he said.
Mombourquette said some of the recommendations such as removing carpet from the cat room, the addition of more litter boxes, and testing dogs that show signs of the parvo virus, were implemented immediately.
Nova Scotia SPCA used its authority under the Animal Protection Act to dissolve the local board on Nov. 21 — five days after it attempted to take control of the shelter due to accusations of poor animal care, abnormally high rates of disease transmission and bad bookkeeping.
At the request of the SPCA, the shelter took down all signs and logos indicating it was a branch of the organization before it renamed itself the Cape Breton Humane Society.
The SPCA will ask a Supreme Court justice to grant an interim injunction giving the provincial body access to the humane society’s property as it has the authority in Nova Scotia to enforce the Animal Protection Act. The hearing is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 4-5 in Sydney.
The shelter’s three-year contract to enforce the CBRM’s dog bylaw, worth $249,000 a year, is set to expire in March. With only one shelter in Sydney, Morgan said it’s “highly likely” the group that controls the shelter will be most able to deliver the service for the CBRM.
But there are several variables at play, he added.
“We don’t have certainty right now that if SPCA Nova Scotia gains control of the facility that they will necessarily continue with the contract. That’s something that is an unknown right now.”
Council will also hear from the group, the Friends of the SPCA, which hasn’t been permitted inside the shelter since the dispute erupted, and hasn’t been able to publicly present its concerns to the CBRM until today.
cshannon@cbpost.com
I have always loved studying history!    Perhaps it stems from being a schoolmarm's daughter.   Maybe it is an acquired taste picked up during postings across Canada and Europe.
Deep down, I suspect it is simply that curiosity always gets the better of me.   Even allowing for the fact that history is written by the winners, it is just so darned interesting to find out how people lived!
I am always amazed at how often politicians seem to ignore the lessons lurking in the history books and public records.
In 2010, when Homeward Bound City Pound won the contract for animal sheltering services for HRM, nobody was more surprised than the society!   It was beyond their imagining that anyone outside of The Metro Shelter would be able to offer the expertise or the facility to successfully bid on the contract.
There is a lesson here to be learned, if only the good Mayor and Council of CBRM would choose to put the tender out for their Animal Control Services ... that being of course that they just might be surprised at the options that wind up on the table!
Did Homeward Bound City Pound have a facility when they placed their bid?   Of course not!   The bid included their proposed plan to renovate existing available space to create a short term sheltering facility.
On the other hand, NOT putting the contract out for tender does more than limit the Council's choices.   Whether intentional or not, the absence of a tender only reinforces the public perception that the Mayor and Council are protecting their pals!
On the other hand ....  if the existing arrangement is a permanent affair , why go through the charade of even calling it a contracted service?   Is it because CBRM does not want the obligation of more full time staff? The responsibility of building maintenance and repair?
Or is it simply to avoid public airing of any dirty laundry with that darned freedom to access public information?   Until the society started publicly posting its statistics, the taxpayers of CBRM had no idea what was happening at the shelter.
The testy topic of how inaccurate those statistics actually were at the (then) Cape Breton SPCA shelter is sadly only one of the action items in the 2011 Shelter Audit, eh?
Five years ago, who would have dared to dream that the society would have changed its tack?   That Pets Unlimited and PJ's Pets would stop selling puppies and kittens?
That the (then) Cape Breton SPCA would have been ordered by the Provincial Board to stop using the horrible home made gas chamber?
What time is it?    When the CBRM Mayor and Council could not find one single practicing veterinarian in the province willing to inspect the renegade shelter, that it might just be a sign of the times!
And that is how I see it on Monday, December 19th, the THIRTY - THIRD day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

Assumption is the mother of all ......

2011-12-17T11:52:00.003-04:00

From today's Herald
C.B. council to deal with shelter issue
December 17, 2011 - 4:37am
By AARON BESWICK Staff Reporter
On Tuesday Cape Breton regional council will hear whether a Sydney animal shelter has complied with recommendations to better its care for the municipality’s stray pets.

After the former Cape Breton SPCA’s board of directors locked horns with its provincial masters in November, council hired two veterinarians to inspect the premises. Tuesday’s report will detail which of the 27 recommendations made by those veterinarians have been instituted.
"We have assumed the role that the province would usually be responsible for," said Mayor John Morgan.
"The province has regulations for these facilities, but they are very minimum standards and they provide no funding for meeting them. The veterinarian will report on whether the first concerns have been met and update us on what needs to be done to make this the most modern facility, irrespective of who ends up owning it."
Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s three-year contract, worth about $250,000 annually, to meet its pet bylaws expires in March.
Ownership of the facility is at the heart of a legal battle between the provincial SPCA and the shelter’s board of directors, which have removed it from under the SPCA’s umbrella and renamed themselves the Cape Breton Humane Society.
In November the SPCA was locked out of the shelter after it attempted to fire its shelter manager and board of directors.
"The former Cape Breton branch failed to address significant concerns related to animal care, particularly in the area of disease control and provision of vet care," said Kristin Williams, executive director of the Nova Scotia SPCA in an email on Friday.
"Because the former branch failed to address these concerns at the time that they were raised and then ultimately failed to stay engaged with the provincial body, the provincial board of directors for the society dismissed the board, and ultimately dissolved the branch.
"The former board instead rejected the society’s polices and authority and are now occupying a facility that does not belong to them."
The SPCA is seeking an injunction, scheduled for Sydney provincial court on Jan. 4 and 5, to be granted access and ownership of the shelter. The Cape Breton Humane Society is fighting the injunction.
While no one from the humane society could be reached for comment on Friday, board members presented their plans to regional council in late November.
"Ten or 12 of the recommendations can be cleared up in an hour, but others can’t be done right away," board chairman Mel Neville was quoted as telling council by the Cape Breton Post
( abeswick@herald.ca )
Thirty odd years ago, when I was still wet behind the ears, workplace wisdom was served straight up by senior NCO's who did not have to worry about being politically correct.
No question about it ... there were a lot of home truths in those earthy expressions!   To this day, my favourite is still "assumption is the mother of all screw ups".
Most situations that snowball out of control start with a shaky premise of some sort.   Brian Mulroney radically underestimated the opposition to the GST.    The Royal Family truly misjudged the groundswell of grief for Princess Diana at the grassroots level.
And our former fiddling Premier is now gracing the Gaelic College with his management skills since suggesting that we could all just "take the bus"!
But I am wandering afield ... as I often do in my meandering way!   When one looks at it carefully, the assumptions just keep piling up here:

First of course was the bald assumption that the 2011 Shelter Audit could not possibly be true! It was beyond anyone's imagining on the Council that folks they knew everyday could be responsible for such things!
Followed of course by the inference that this was the first instance of any trouble .... instead of simply being the first unannounced visit where there was no time to hide anything
Hand in hand of course with the notion that the provincial folks from the city just wanted to scoop up assets belonging to the good people of Cape Breton... when in fact it was repeated and sustained complaints at the local level that prompted the surprise inspection
When the Council commissioned their own "inspection" ... and the results mirrored the 2011 Shelter Audit, the renegade shelter was allowed to take over the animal control contract. Why? Because of course the Mayor and Council assumed there were no other options!
This of course begs the bigger question as to why the Mayor and Council have assumed that it is acceptable to pass out an untendered contract like candy without due legal process. Of course this also raises the even more interesting question .... if the tender for the animal control contract is due for renewal at the end of March, where is the new call for tender?

Now, I love going to the health food store down in the village.   Not the bulk food barn in the mall, but the little store across the street that has been in business for decades.
To be perfectly honest, I do quite a bit of my shopping there!   One would be hard pressed to find better prices for baking supplies and spices!   Even better, it is the only place around where I can get the alternate types of flours for healthy wheat free dog cookies.
Best of all of course is that I can buy dry goods in bulk. Not only is that more economical, but it is more environmentally friendly to be able to purchase without the extra packaging.
It is really frosting on the cake that this little store is a local business that is now owned and managed by the daughter of the folks who founded it.
Do I sound biased? You bet!  Cindy and I have been friends for years and I have a great deal of respect for her knowledge and expertise!
Is that a problem? Of course not! As a private individual, I can choose where I want to spend my money!
It is a different kettle of fish for our elected representatives!   There are checks and balances in our legal system to prevent our politicians from using their position to line the pockets of their family and pals.
In Nova Scotia, government spending is categorized in one of two ways:

Low Value Purchases - which are goods and / or services valued under $10,000. These are usually handled directly by departments and agencies by either going to a business that has a Standing Offer, by getting three quotes or by going directly to a supplier that will give good value.
High Value Purchases - which are goods and / or services valued over $10,000. There is a formal tendering process that includes advertising publicly, evaluating all bids received, awarding the bid and publishing the results.

In Nova Scotia, tenders are advertised in one of two places:

Locally on municipal or county websites and in the the local newspaper.
In the Procurement Services Department of the Government of Nova Scotia Website

How does this work in realspeak? A good example would be the tendering process for the Animal Services Contract in HRM a couple of years ago:

the contract was due for renewal at the end of March, 2010
the call for tender was published on the HRM website by November 8th, 2009
the deadline for submissions was December 1st, 2009
the results were decided on at the end of January, 2010.

What time is it? In the midst of all the hoopla about the renegade shelter, it is time to wonder just where the darned call for tender for the new CBRM Animal Control contract is? It would be poor logic ... and indeed would suggest of favouritism ... to suggest that the council was waiting for the legalities to be sorted out.
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. John Kenneth Galbraith
And that is how I see it on Saturday, December 17th .... the THIRTY - FIRST day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

The twelve days of Christmas at the homeless pet project :)

2011-12-17T01:23:00.000-04:00

On the twelfth day of Christmas,

My inbox gave to me:

Twelve Baby Newts,

Eleven German Shepherds,

Ten Labs a-leaping,

Nine tabby cats,

Eight Ador A Bulls,

Seven found beagles,

Six rescued strays,

Five Pittie Pups!

Four feral friends,

Three dozen kittens,

Two senior cats,

and a sweet little girl named Toupie

If there was a People Park :)

2011-12-16T11:57:00.000-04:00

From the Shelter Pet Project Ad Campaign :)

HART is having an Adoption event on Saturday!

2011-12-15T12:00:00.001-04:00

Beautiful Nelly is waiting at HART

Sybil and Hagrid are still available at HART

Gidget is available at HART

Xanthus is available at HART

It is no secret that I am a big fan of offsite adoption events!    They do double duty by promoting the individual animals AND getting animal rescue out in the public eye!
It is just frosting on the cake that every altered pet adopted from a reputable rescue also becomes part of the solution instead of adding to the cat overpopulation problem!
And .. it is just sugar on the top that each one of the adorable adoptables is also an ambassador sharing the good word about pet adoption to all the adopter's family, friends, neighbours and coworkers!
One of the nicest things that has happened during this Year of the Cat is that there have been more opportunities for offsite cat adoption events at the pet stores that have stopped selling puppies and kittens!
This Saturday, December 17th,  HART will be holding a Kitten Adoption Event! What great timing to be in the the public eye this time of year!
I have it on good authority that it may even be possible for prepared kind hearts to bring home their adorable new adoptable the same day! I would expect that anyone hoping to adopt that day would be best served by bringing their references and, if applicable, a letter from their landlord.
What time is it? It is always time to applaud those who are willing to go the extra mile for their adoptables by 'taking it to the street'
PS ... not interested in adopting at this time?   Why not see if tickets are still available for the 25 pounds of live lobster to be drawn on Saturday evening? Tickets are $2 each or three for $5 !   What a great gift that would be!

And this is how I see it on Thursday, December 15th ... the TWENTY - NINTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

Three wishes for the season.

2011-12-14T13:04:00.003-04:00

I love having the woodstove on a day like this!   What's not to love?   It is comfy and cozy and cheerful in a way that no other heat source can compete with!   Even better, by being the best medicine around for my arthritis, it also keeps my middleaged self off that merry go round of meds that so many my age are stuck on!
Best of all of course is that it was well worth the investment!    Setting aside the fact that it has paid for itself many times over, it was money well spent to go the extra mile for an energy efficient model!
Wood heat becomes even cheaper when one uses less wood, eh? It is just frosting on the cake that is also indirectly saves me money because it IS more work!   After all, all that darned piling and stacking and putting away is pretty good exercise, eh?
But I am wandering afield .. as I often do in my meandering way!   Not every dog and cat will be able to curl up by a comfy fire on a cold day like this. In fact ... this is the kind of weather that has stray cats coming to doorsteps hoping for a kind heart.
The lucky ones will gain entree and have a fresh start. They will have more loyalty than anyone can imagine for that second chance .... and will happily trade their testicles for domestic bliss.
Not every cat will land on its feet quite so well.   Others will find food and shelter with kind hearts who are unable to afford the spay or neuter.   Not every kind heart will live in an area where low cost spay neuter is available.   Until this is available to every resident in our province, the cat over population issue will continue to be a self perpetuating problem.
I have occasionally found the unluckiest ones when we have been out in the woods ... sad proof that domestic pets were never meant to manage on their own in the wild.
So that is wish one ... that a provincial government that can see its way clear to spend a couple million to save an art school for the short term would wake up to the long term savings of assisting with a good provincial SNAP.
One of the best bits about being retired is being able to go out to the woods with my good dogs.    Weather seldom slows us down ... because of course we can look forward to coming back into a comfy warm house.
The dog on my sidebar was a senior before he had a shot at domestic bliss. It was not until Noah's elderly owner passed away that PET Projects was able to rescue him and offer him a better life!
Nova Scotia will not truly be a good place to live until our provincial and municipal governments are willing to acknowledge that sentencing companion animals to life on the end of a chain is more than inhumane ... it is a dangerous practice that creates dangerous communities for our children.
So that is Wish Two ... that anti tethering legislation comes sooner rather than later.
If there is one constant in beautiful Nova Scotia, it is that each and every municipality is unique and different. Because of this, there are as many different arrangements for Animal Control as their are towns and counties!
In these days of budget cutbacks, it is not realistic to expect this to change.
Yet we will never get to No Kill Nova Scotia until there is a measure of legislated protection for those who come into the care of any AC ... or its contractors ... in this province
So that is Wish Three .... that provincial legislation be passed to protect all AC intake by requiring that pictures of all impounded animals be posted publicly ... and to prohibit the killing of any animal that has not been offered to rescue.
I know that's a pretty tall order ... but everything on my wish list is "an achievable objective".
A few years ago, I bought another woodstove .. this time for my workshop. Well .. imagine my surprise to find out how much more expensive stoves had become!     I expect if I was to go pricing them now, they would be pricier still.
Kind of like my three wishes! They are not going to get any cheaper a few years from now, eh? They probably won't cost as much as the fifty million spent on the south shore, but odds are they will yield more return in the long run.
What time is it?   It is always time to remember that one of the virtues of living in a democracy is being able to let the politicians we elect on all levels know how we would like them to spend our tax dollars.
And that is how I see it on Wednesday, December 14th .... the TWENTY -EIGHTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

How SHAID is helping its senior kittizens go Home for the Holidays

2011-12-13T12:48:00.000-04:00

I love my little 'undercat' .... my mighty little Miss Morgan!   Now that Dora has grown into her three year old self, it is clear that Morgan is still going to be the most petite pussycat here!
Does that mean Morgan is a little wallflower? That the other cats can boss her around?   Not in the slightest!   My dainty little miss is the unquestioned Queen Bee and even the big boys hop when she demands.
She will always have a little hitch to her gait after having been hurt in her youth ... but that has never slowed her down yet!    In my books, it is just one of those unique endearing little bits that only adds to her charm!
At the time she was rescued, Morgan was very lucky to have come under the loving umbrella of SHAID.   ( Before the keyboards catch on fire ... no I am not going to go on like a stuck record about the Story of Morgan :) Suffice it to say that she is one of a long line of good cats who have had a paw up from the kind hearts at SHAID.
Once again, SHAID is having it's annual Holiday Adoption Special.  What a great holiday tradition!   Every year, SHAID underwrites part of the adoption fee for the senior and long term resident cats in their care!   The adoption fee for senior kittizens is reduced to $75.00!   Kind hearts who adopt a long term resident kitty only have a very modest fee of $99.00!
There is no downside to this!   So far, eight good cats have already gone "home for the holidays"!     Even better, SHAID has shifted its hours around a bit to make it easier for kind hearts to visit the shelter!
Best of all of course is that every adoption really saves two lives.   For every cat that gets to blossom into his or her best self in a real home, another good cat in need will be able to find safe sanctuary at the shelter
PS ... for those who have their heart set on a kitten, SHAID still has their special $99.00 adoption fee for kittens until December 18th!    What a wonderful way to help get these youngsters into loving homes instead of growing up in the shelter!

Maybe today will be our lucky day!

A home without a cat is just a house

And that is how I see it, on Tuesday, December 13th .... the TWENTY - SEVENTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter

On trying to squeeze thirty years back in the box .....

2011-12-12T12:22:00.000-04:00

from The Cape Breton Post
Humane society wants to delay court hearing
Published on December 11, 2011

Chris Shannon
SYDNEY — Lawyers representing the Cape Breton Humane Society will be seeking a delay in a court hearing scheduled for later this week in order to study the injunction filed against the group by the Nova Scotia SPCA.A motion for an interim injunction is tentatively scheduled for Friday at the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Sydney. The purpose of the application is to confirm the provincial SPCA’s legal interests and to permit them access to the humane society’s property on East Broadway Street as its the authority of the Animal Protection Act.

The Cape Breton Humane Society said it’s seeking a delay based on the fact the injunction was officially filed with the court on Friday.
“We don’t have enough time to react to what they filed,” humane society board member Danny Ellis said Sunday.
“They didn’t get the information that they were hoping they were going to get, so they revamped their motion making it a more streamlined version that we don’t have time to react to.”
Legal representatives on both sides will meet with the judge today to discuss the case and the potential rescheduling of Friday’s hearing.
A meeting at the humane society’s shelter on Sunday was the first opportunity for the society to update its membership on everything that’s happend over the last three weeks.
On Nov. 16, Nova Scotia SPCA executive director Kristin Williams arrived in Sydney to take over the shelter under the auspices of the provincial body. The local board was dissolved and manager Patsy Rose was fired due to alleged concerns of disease transmission, lack of communication and filing erroneous statistics on intake and adoption rates.
Only members who had fully paid their dues were permitted to attend Sunday’s meeting, said the board’s chair Mike Mombourquette.
Letters were sent out notifying 59 society members of the special meeting.
One woman who contacted the Cape Breton Post on Friday said a friend of hers recently received a handwritten letter in the mail informing her about the membership meeting.
She told the Post her friend had no special connection to the animal shelter, so she thought the meeting was open to the public.
“If somebody received the letter in error, we certainly apologize for that. We were just going by the membership list we had,” Mombourquette said.
“We had a lady come into the meeting, and we just very politely said to her that this was a special membership meeting. She was coming on behalf of a friend of hers, and we said, ‘We certainly apologize. Your friend shouldn’t have received it.’”
During the special meeting, the society’s membership formally appointed Mombourquette interim chair of the board of directors. It also struck a committee to begin the process of selecting a new manager for the shelter.
Rose quit her position two weeks ago. The society cited a “greater level of expertise” would be needed in order to ensure all 27 recommendations to improve the facility would be implemented.
Rose remains employed with the shelter, however.
cshannon@cbpost.com
Well then!   One of the nicest bits about my neighbourhood is that even though we are country ... we are still only a quick drive to the village.   What does that mean in realspeak? Why of course that anyone having car trouble or simply being sensible about holiday celebrating can easily afford a cab ride home.
What do taxi cab drivers and solicitors have in common?   Why of course that both have a meter that keeps ticking along for the whole trip.
To be perfectly honest, it is no surprise that these folks have no desire to see justice served speedily. It is not in their best interests to have to go to court!   To have to explain to a judge why they ignored every legal step and directive taken by the only body with the legislated authority to do so!
Mind you, it rather unravels the public professions about not wanting to squander donor dollars on legal fees.   When Mr Mombourqette was explaining to the CTV news cameras that he did not want to have spend donor on legal fees, perhaps he should have qualified that with the caveat "unless things are not going our way".
After all, it took thirty years to dig themselves into this pit! Thirty years of merrily whitewashing all the dirty little secrets.   Thirty years of putting on a good face while they kept killing animals in such quantity that they wanted to get a crematorium to make disposing of the bodies more affordable.
Thirty years of ignoring complaints.   Thirty years of bullying volunteers. Thirty years of redecorating the manager's office instead of addressing the animal housing shortcomings!
Now I am a middle aged grandmother, not an elected politician, so there are a few things about this story that DO still surprise me.
I am at an utter lost to understand how the Mayor and Council were able to blithely ignore the results of the 2011 Shelter Audit.   When they didn't care for the results reported by the only body legislated to do so, what did they do? Why they commissioned their own independent audit!
When those results painted just as poor a picture, what did the Mayor and Council do? Why they passed along the half million dollar contract to the renegade shelter anyway.   ( the very interesting subject of later explanations that there actually wasn't a vote could actually make concert scandals in the city positively pale by comparison .... and has very rightfully outraged CBRM residents )
Would the renegade shelter have been able to continue without the Animal Control contract? Of course not!
According to last year's society statistics, the (then) Cape Breton SPCA took in a total of 811 dogs and 60 cats for the year through their animal control contract.    That averages out to fifteen dogs and barely more than one cat a week.
Wednesday will mark the four week point since the society has been shut out of the renegade shelter.   What does that mean in realspeak?   Why of course that there possibly have been sixty dogs taken in through animal control in the interim.
In a shelter without the capacity for sixty, what has happened to those dogs?   Indeed ... what will happen to the animals if further delays are allowed? To date there is only public evidence of two adoptions ... one on CTV and one on facebook.
Nor are they likely to find other rescue options waiting in the wings to help until confidence has been restored that the parvo issue has been successfully addressed.
(Indeed, all the CB petfinder listings have been temporarily removed from my site until there are assurances that those listed are still ...to put it politely ... still available for adoption!   But that is a testy topic deserving of its own post on another day, eh?)
But I am wandering afield as I often do in my meandering way. The point I am making is that the renegade shelter is no longer part of the society's lifesaving animal transfer system.   Sadly although the supporters commenting on news articles are still nattering on about No Kill, not one single representative of the renegade shelter is making such sweeping statements anymore :(
Even worse, a bigger chunk of that contract will be needed to pay a new shelter manager while continuing to pay the dismissed shelter manager.
The worst bit of course is the CBRM Mayor and Council cannot find a local veterinarian willing to come in and inspect the shelter.    Can one honestly blame them?   Who would want to waste their time to create another report that the Council could ignore?   Who would want to get caught up in the court battle?
Consequently ... neither the CBRM Mayor, Council and of course the taxpaying voters have any idea what is happening at the shelter.
If I really worked at it, I might be able to squeeze my middle aged self into my prom dress.   But ... I can guarantee you that as soon as I took the first step, seams would start unravelling and I wouldnt' be fit to be seen in public! Nor is there even a remote chance that I would be able to diet my way into that dress for New Years!   It simply wouldn't be sensible to expect to fit thirty years of good eating back into the original package!
What time is it?   It is way past time ... for the sake of the animals ... to acknowledge that it simply is not possible to squeeze the last thirty years back in the box after seeing the light of day!
And this is how I see it on Monday, December 12th ... the TWENTY - SIXTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

When honesty doesn't pay ...

2011-12-11T11:03:00.001-04:00

I love using toddler beds for the big dogs!   They are warm and comfy!   The dogs can sleep beside me without elbowing me off my own bed! Best of all of course is that I was able to find them on Kijiji for the remarkably reasonable sum of twenty five dollars each!
For a brief and shining moment, I almost bought into the practicality of the partnership between Kijiji and Petfinder.   Gee whiz, if the ad site sees such heavy traffic, maybe rescues and shelters SHOULD be advertising there eh? Letting potential pet owners know that there are adoption options out there should be a Good Thing, eh?
Of course it would ... if we lived in a perfect universe where everyone was honest and above board!   Sadly that is not so ... and now we are beginning to see a new breed of wolves in sheep's clothing skulking around the midst of the legitimate rescue listings.
I am of course referring to the folks who are playing fast and loose with rescue terminology ... the backyard breeders who are presenting themselves as animal rescues.
In a world where potential pet owners are either unwilling or unable to acknowledge the risks of finding a lifelong friend on free online ad sites with little to no screening, what can be done about this sort of thing?
At the present, very little.   There is no central listing of reputable rescues ... although in this province every effort is made by this middle aged grandmother to ONLY list the reputable rescues on the homeless pet site!
As a matter of fact, I do have a little bit on the site about that too.
In light of the latest ad that I saw yesterday, where a person purporting to be a rescue is trying to sell three small dogs ... one of whom "Cannot be bred as she has had enough litters for a lifetime" .... I do believe I need to add a few bits to my website.
Why did the ad concern the rescue community?   NONE of the so called adoptable dogs will be spayed or neutered... there is no evidence that any temperament testing has been done .... nor is there any indication that they have even been properly vetted.
Even worse, the original ad called for $200 for the three and once concerned reputable rescuers started showing interest, she ramped up the price to $200 each :(
Worst of all of course is that she told one respondent to the original ad that if the dogs weren't gone by the 23rd, they would have to be killed :(
Yes indeedy, I do need to ramp up my little bit on the site!
What can you expect when you apply to adopt a pet from a reputable Nova Scotia Rescue Group or Shelter?

You will need to fill out an adoption application
Personal references will be required
They will want the name of your vet and contact information for their animal clinic
You'll be asked about the pets you have now, as well as the ones you have had in the past
Yes ... they will ask about your living accommodations and whether you own or rent m
Most will probably ask what you feed your pets and where your pets sleep

So why would anyone want to go to all that trouble?

your new best friend will be vet checked and vaccinated and spayed or neutered,
known health issues are not swept under the rug,
any behavior issues will be fully disclosed
follow up advice and support is available, and
if things aren't a success for any reason, you will not have to wonder what to do .... the pet must be returned to the rescue.

In other words .... reputable rescues make every effort to match the right pet to the right human so that the relationship can last a lifetime. The free online ad sites, pet stores and backyard breeders can only offer a curbside guarantee and often offer unnecessary heartache and expense to pet owners.
Webmaster Note: If you adopt a pet from a rescue listed on this website, and your experience does not meet the above mentioned criteria, please let us know.
Well then, clearly I am going to have to add in a few little bits and mention that:

any reputable rescue should be able to provide references from the animal rescue community.
all their pets are altered before adoption unless there is a genuine medical reason for not doing so.
There should be a follow up process to protect pets too young to be altered
Adoptables are not killed when the "rescuer' goes on vacation.
Reputable rescues do not advertise exclusively on Kijiji. There will either be a facebook group, a website , or a criteria based listing such a Petfinder or Adopt a Pet.
Rescue websites should offer specifics. Adoptable pets. Downloadable applications and contracts. Be very wary of websites that are long on fundraising and short on proof of any specific animals that have been, or will be, helped.

What time is it? Clearly it is time for a little consumer protection legislation to protect kind hearts (and their wallets) from shady sorts who do not scruple at skirting the truth.
Honesty pays, but it don't seem to pay enough to suit some people. Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard
And that is how I see it on Sunday, December 11th .... the TWENTY - FIFTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

How to catch your breath and help the animals!

2011-12-09T12:53:00.001-04:00

To be perfectly honest, the real miracle of the holiday season is that so many women find it their favourite time of year.   If one is not careful, holiday preparations can become a runaway train that can leave even the most organized gasping for breath!
At this time of year, I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have pets ! My dogs can't read a calendar. My cats aren't counting down the days till the kids arrive home for the holidays!
In a home where treats and toys are not limited to special occasions, would presents even register on their radar?   Probably not, although of course that has never stopped me before :)
Why would I give them gifts when they have no grasp of the occasion?   For the very simple reason that they keep my feet on the ground, especially at this busiest time.
The cats still expect to be cuddled.   My good dogs would not understand a day without walks!   All of these lovely little bits that are so dear to me all year do double duty by helping me stay sane in the silly season! At the end of the day, is there any better gift that our pets can give us than that?
East Coast German Shepherd Rescue has one of the cleverest fundraisers that I have ever seen - their Monthly Dog Walks!  ( December's Dog Walk will be this Sunday, December 11th) For the very modest donation of five dollars per human, folks can join the fun of having a lovely hike on the Salt Marsh Trail. Even better, there is always an opportunity for interested kind hearts to get a 'sneak preview' of some of ECGSR's lovely adoptables.
Best of all .. especially this time of year ... it is a wonderful way to way to help the animals while taking a break from all the holiday busy bits!   Gosh, what could be better than that?
And that is how I see it, on Friday, December 9th ... the TWENTY - THIRD day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

Gosh .... Granny was right!

2011-12-08T15:54:00.000-04:00

from The Cape Breton SPCA website
The Nova Scotia SPCA & Iams
December 8, 2011
The Nova Scotia SPCA has a long standing sponsorship with Iams. The partnership provides free food to all animals in the care of the SPCA and its network of Branches throughout the province. It was asserted in media reports this week that the SPCA has cut off the former Cape Breton Branch from this food program. The sponsorship agreement with the SPCA is exclusive to SPCA Branches only and individual organizations must apply to the program. When the Cape Breton Branch was dissolved, they were no longer eligible and the SPCA advised Iams of that.
The SPCA has also learned from Iams, that the former Cape Breton Branch ordered in excess of 18,000lbs of free food between July and November of this year. This is more than any single shelter in Canada has ordered through the program and more than all shelters in Ontario ordered combined. The largest shelter in Canada helps 14,000 animals per year, whereas the former Cape Breton Branch (based on information provided) is estimated to help between 1,500 and 2,700 per year. At a recent visit to the facility, several months’ worth of food was noted to be on hand. Iams has advised the Nova Scotia SPCA that they will implementing new auditing procedures to their program due to this discovery.
This information clearly outlines that the former Branch is not at risk of running out of food and in fact based on the food that was ordered, they have put the other branches of the Nova Scotia SPCA at risk because they have ordered more than half of the food available to the SPCA for the entire year.
The Iams program is vital to the Nova Scotia SPCA and their generosity and support has been incredible. For the last two years, they have fed every single animal that has come into the care of the Nova Scotia SPCA and they have helped millions of animals in Canada through their shelter program. It is clear that the former Cape Breton Branch took advantage of this valuable partnership. Thankfully, Iams is still committed to partnering with the Nova Scotia SPCA and for that we are grateful.
Well then!     My dear Dad ... who was born and raised in North Sydney .... always told me that there was never, ever any need to make anyone look bad.   "Never worry kid ... they will generally do a splendid job of it all on their own, without any help from anyone else"!
Where did he get such wisdom?   Was it from his experience as an investigator and policeman in the RCAF?    From his large family roots where Grampy had to go down in the mines AND run a lobster trapline to keep twelve kids fed and clothed?
Or perhaps it was simply the proof of what my Granny always said ... 'that the secret is just good genes ... and that some people simply do not have the sense God gave a donut!"
Clearly , when someone started issuing press releases that were snapped up on yesterday's CBC news website and in today's Herald bemoaning the bullying tactic of taking food out of the innocent animals mouths, it did not occur to them that it might open (yet another) Pandora's box about the quantity of food being ordered.
Did they imagine that IAM's shared the same shoddy style of record keeping that was mentioned in the 2011 Shelter Audit?    That a company successful enough to support international adoption programs and provide hundreds of thousands of meals for shelter animals a year would just pass out the food without keeping track?
Gosh, Dad was right!   Without access to the probably very interesting files in the dismissed shelter manager's office, neither IAM's nor the society would have realized that the CB shelter had been ordering more the largest shelter in Canada ... which feeds more than five times the volume that the (then) CB SPCA shelter does!
Which of course begs all sorts of interesting questions ... not the least of which is where was the food going if the animals were not being properly fed?  If five years supply was being ordered each year, why was there only a couple of months supply on hand when the audit was done?
What time is it?   With such interesting fare being offered up freely, all I can say is that clearly Granny was right!
And that is how I still see it today on Thursday, December 8th .... the TWENTY - SECOND day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

A Purrfect Holiday Special

2011-12-08T12:45:00.001-04:00

I love blueberry tea on a blustery day like this! With a good cozy fire and all five of my good cats sprawled on my desk ... would there be any better way to drive off this morning's damp chill?

Cats really are such social creatures that I really do feel sorry for any only cat that misses out on the pleasures of having the company of his or her own kind.

Toys never lose their play value! Someone is always available to wash hard to reach spots ! Even better ... for a writer at least ... one cat can be a distraction while five can amuse themselves when I am busy. Best of all of course is that one always feels welcome when the room starts purring everytime one walks in :)

If you have been thinking of adopting a kitty, you might be very interested to know that TAPA is having a Holiday Adoption Special. (Scroll down for pics and links to their bios ) Their adoption fees for individual cats and kittens have been reduced to $125. Even better, if you are looking for two pals to keep each other company, the adoption fees are only $100 for each kitty.

TAPA's kitties are all vetted and spayed or neutered! Even better, the adoption fee includes a free vet exam within 24 hours. Best of all, every new pal comes with six weeks of free pet insurance!

What time is it? At this time of year, when it is getting cold enough that the strays are desperate for safe harbour, it is time to remember that every cat and kitten that is adopted frees up a rescue slot to save someone else!

One cat just leads to another. Ernest HemingwayAnd that is how I see it on Thursday, December 8th ..... the TWENTY - SECOND day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

Midnight and Patches (a special pair with a very special adoption fee)

The trouble with pep talks .....

2011-12-07T12:06:00.000-04:00

From The Cape Breton Post
SPCA dispute headed to court
Published on December 6, 2011

Ken MacLeod
SYDNEY — The fight between the Nova Scotia SPCA and its former Cape Breton branch is about the enter the legal arena.
Kristin Williams, executive director of the Nova Scotia SPCA, said Tuesday the provincial body is seeking an injunction against the newly formed Cape Breton Humane Society to hand over the former Cape Breton SPCA building. Depending on court availability and if the date is also suitable for the humane society, she said, the tentative date to go before a judge in Sydney is Dec. 16.

The Nova Scotia SPCA had been planning to enter the local shelter last week to serve former staff and board members with notice under the Protection of Property Act, but a stalemate ensued when Williams was also served with a Protection of Property Act notice and told she would not be allowed to enter the shelter.
“Our legal authority is clear, so we resent being put in this position,” said Williams. “In the Animal Control Act, we are given direct control of our branches and the bylaws of branches. If a board is dissolved, the branch is turned over to the provincial SPCA. We gave them a deadline to vacate and they didn’t comply.”
Sydney lawyer Robert Sampson is representing the Cape Breton Humane Society in the dispute.
“I think there are two issues here,” he said. “One is whether (the Nova Scotia SPCA) has any authority or right of ownership even to advance a court action. Two, the judge is going to be asked to interpret the statutes — did (the Animal Protection Act) have the reach to allow a provincial organization to do what it did?”
Mike Mombourquette, acting chair of the Cape Breton Humane Society, would like to see a quick resolution to the dispute.
“We’ve said all along that we would like to have a meeting, even if it takes a mediator to head it up. We would like to sit down and resolve this instead of spending money that should be going to the animals.”
kamcleod@cbpost.com
Well then.   Is that the pitter patter of cold feet?    There is some very interesting language being used.
In stating the obvious, their lawyer is attempting to shift any blame for the situation squarely onto judicial shoulders.
I am a middle aged grandmother ... not a legal expert ... but when I hired a lawyer to close my first house, I would not have been pleased to find that any deeded right of ways or other contractual obligations had been overlooked in the search process.
Indeed, had such an unhappy situation occurred, I would have been well within my rights to complain to the Nova Scotia Barristers Society.   Happily I was not disappointed and so have stayed with the same solicitor for the last twenty four years.
Mind in all fairness, my Dad used to say that that lawyers and policemen had one thing in common ... they could usually tell that people were lying to them because their lips were moving.
When I first read The Shopoholic, I was in stitches at the witty way it described the heroine's efforts to ignore all communications from her creditors.    As a work of fiction it was utterly hilarious!
Was it a good game plan for the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board to follow?   It is poor logic now for Mr Mombourquette to claim a desire for a speedy resolution, when at every single step of the way this entire situation could have been avoided, if:

the shelter had been properly run in the first place, the surprise visit would not have yielded the horrific results of the 2011 Shelter Audit. This was a direct result of the now dissolved branch having ignored every single directive from the provincial branch.
failing that, had action been taken to remedy the shortcomings, there would have been no need to take the drastic step of dismissing the shelter manager and disbanding the board. Instead, the audit was ignored and not one single recommendation was implemented
When the shelter manager was dismissed, it begs the incredibly interesting question about what was so damaging in her office that she was obliged ignore the provincial ED and lock herself in there until the police and lawyers showed up.
The Letter of Demand issued by the society's lawyer was utterly ignored .. which led to the formal dissolution of the branch by the provincial Board of Directors.
The original Memorandum of Association which clearly outlined the legalities of the situation was published by the society and .. you guessed it .. utterly ignored
Admittedly, the subsequent legal Exclusion of Property Notices were not utterly ignored ... they were countered by a notice being issued to the society ED (the testy topic of how certain parties keep trying to make this personal instead of recognizing that the ED is simply fulfilling the mandate given her by the elected provincial board is a separate subject for another day, hmmm? )

So now ... when there is something that the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded cannot ignore ... now Mr Mombourquette is hoping for a quick resolution?
Are the good people of Cape Breton complaining about their donor dollars going towards legal fees?   Or are the good people of Cape Breton perhaps appalled to realize that the (then) shelter actually had money in the bank when it was not providing the proper care for the animals?
The disbanded board has made every effort to portray the provincial society in a poor light ... claiming they are seeking to commandeer assets from the good people of Cape Breton.
One has to wonder which good people they are referring to?   Is it the good people whose complaints fell on deaf ears for years until a surprise visit unravelled the glib tales that the shelter manager had been spinning?
Perhaps it might be the veterinarian who, in 2007, donated her time to put on a workshop on "Understanding and Preventing Infectious Diseases in an Animal Shelter" for the shelter workers and the (then) board of directors.
Might it be any of the heartbroken good people of Cape Breton who adopted dogs that were already ill? Who were ignored and rebuffed at best and vilified at worst when they complained to the shelter?
Perhaps it might be some of the good people of Cape Breton who wound up risking their own dearly beloved dogs when they were utterly unaware that the dogs they were transporting from the (then) CB branch had parvo?
Or perhaps it might be the good people of Cape Breton who are currently locked out of volunteering at the shelter for fear of what they might find?
Or perhaps it is the good taxpaying people of Cape Breton who woke up one morning to find that their Mayor and Council had awarded a half million dollar contact to the renegade shelter without due process of tender?
What time is it?   It is time to hope for a speedy resolution ... so that the good people of Cape Breton can finally have the opportunity regain control of the renegade shelter.
"The trouble with giving yourself a pep talk is that deep down you know it's all bullshit - Sophie Kinsella, Remember Me
And that is how I see it, on Wednesday, December 7th .... the TWENTY-FIRST day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

A sweet holiday tradition

2011-12-06T11:55:00.000-04:00

I love holiday traditions!   Long after the presents have been unwrapped and 'buyers remorse' has set in about the feasting, these are the lovely little bits will linger to light up the longest days of winter.
They are the sentimental apron strings that not even time or distance can completely sever.
Today is Saint Nicolas Day .... and there is still a teeny part of me that expected to see a pair of wooden shoes filled with chocolates outside my bedroom door this morning :)
It does not matter that here in my three dog adult life it simply would not be sensible.   I still have the wooden shoes that my mother used to fill as part of a family tradition to respect our Netherlander roots ... although admittedly they are hanging by the back door as a gathering place for dog boots.
Even if my parents are no longer here to fill the wooden shoes, the sixth of December has become the day that I start my holiday decorating.     Will I do it all in one day? Of course not!   I am a middle aged grandmother, not a television celebrity with her own crew of elves ... so it will take a few days for all the little bits to fall into place.
One of the sweetest holiday traditions I have seen is the lovely tree that the kind hearts have at the Westwood Hills Veterinary Hospital!     All autumn long, the Animal Rescue Coalitions collect donations of lovely ornaments.   Then ... in December the tree is set up by the desk in the clinic lobby so that visitors can support ARC by purchasing an ornament!
What could be sweeter than that?   Why of course that all proceeds go straight 'to the dogs' because ARC is powered purely by volunteer love for the animals.
What time is it?   It is always time to support the pawsitive rescue work that is helping to create better communities in this province!
And that is how I see it on Tuesday, December 6th ... the TWENTIETH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

On unchaining kind hearts .....

2011-12-05T12:41:00.002-04:00

from the CBC news website
SPCA wants new chain rules

CBC News Posted: Dec 5, 2011 7:44 AM AT Last Updated: Dec 5, 2011 7:43 AM The Nova Scotia SPCA is calling on municipalities to protect pets from being tied up outside too long.

The SPCA says chains should be at least five metres long. (AP/Laramie Boomerang)

The animal-protection group says of the nearly 1,500 complaints it received this year, 238 relate to tethered dogs having no access to food, water or shelter.
Kristin Williams, the group's executive director, said current municipal bylaws don't go far enough to protect pets.
"Section 21 of the provincial Animal Protection Act states, 'No person shall cause an animal to be in distress,'" she said. "An act tells you what is wrong, but regulations tell you how to avoid it."
The SPCA says chains should be at least five metres long and far enough away from trees and bushes so they don't get tangled.
The group says owners should also keep a close eye on pets when they're outside.
Williams said the amount of time outside depends on the breed of the dog, its age and health.
"For instance, you might have a husky who is absolutely content to be out all day long in the winter time. But if you put a little terrier outside with a very short coat, that's not going to be very reasonable for the winter," she said.
Williams said dogs left outside for prolonged periods of time are more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviour, such as biting.
Well then ... as with any online story ... the comments are almost as telling as the tale!   One comment really highlights the biggest obstacle to anti tethering legislation :
Aunt Kate "Um a law requiring 5 meters ?   Noone is more distressed than I at dogs being left out for their whole lives or even hours at a time in all conditions.   However, my small terrier puppy, who sleeps with me and gets regular walks and has her own wardrobe of coats also gets put out for 10 or 15 minutes several times a day in the yard on a 3 meter line   She can dig under fences in seconds and we live on a busy road. Please dont tell me that is abuse!"
In other words ... until the confusion is cleared up, public opposition to anti tethering will continue unchecked.    Well meaning kind hearts will worry that this will put paid to their little yard leashes at the back step for safe pee breaks.
Others will encourage this for their own reasons ... others who view animals purely as property perceive anti tethering as an infringement on their personal gawd given right to treat a living breathing sentient being in any way that they see fit!
I rather suspect that if "Aunt Kate" had been living next door to The Mighty Quinn in his horrible old life, she would have instantly understood that there was no conceivable comparison.    Indeed, her kind heart would very likely have prompted her to call the cruelty line herself.
What would she have been told? After all, it took years of neglect to reduce Quinn to the state he was in when he was rescued.   'Aunt Kate' would have been informed that there was nothing that could be done if there was food, water and some sort of cobbled up shelter when the inspector popped by.
In other words, 'Aunt Kate' would have been subjected to years of 'distress' until Quinn finally was in dire enough straights to be seized for cruelty.
Why?   Would nobody understand that it is cruel and inhumane to leave a dog, who is principally a social pack animal ... chained or penned away from the social interaction he or she needs to be a safe member of the community?
Why are anti tethering specifics needed in the Animal Protection Act? For the very same reason that more specific housing standards are needed!
Would anti tethering clauses initiate an inspection of every back yard in the province?   Of course not!    Police do not visit every household to determine if any women or children under the roof are being abused!   But the laws do allow them to respond more effectively when complaints are issued!
In this province, where cruelty investigators are working to fulfil a mandate without any funding, the process has to be complaint driven.   Anti tethering clauses would be of great benefit because:

chained dogs are out there for all the world to see. When the society investigators cannot remove a dog after complaints from the neighbours, it undermines the credibility of the society
straight, sweet and simple it is as much a public safety measure that would protect the children in our communities
and of course, last but definitely not least, it would provide a better outcome for all the dogs who are not lucky enough to be loved by an 'Aunt Kate'

What time is it? It is never, ever too soon to create safer communities for our children!
And that is how I see it on Monday, December 5th .... the NINETEENTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

In praise of walking the walk ....

2011-12-02T12:30:00.001-04:00

I love going to the base library! What's not to love? My Friday afternoon visits are a lovely way to wrap up the rhythm of my week. Even better, even with the controversial (if you can imagine :) new five dollar annual membership ... I still think of libraries as one of the best free bits around. Not even Netflix offers movies for free, eh? Best of all of course is the ability to broaden one's horizons by testing the waters with new authors and subject material!

Does that mean I am going to read everything in there? Of course not! I have a special fondness for nail biting suspense and an enduring affection for tales of redemption that easily overrides the dubious charms of bodice rippers and anything by L Ron Hubley.

For all of this autumn, I have been following a new blog that has been journalling the story of one dog's redemption. Right from the start it was a nail biter.

The tale began at the (then) Cape Breton SPCA, where a purebred wheaton had been surrendered by his owners for behavior issues. The breeder ... for one reason or another ... was either unwilling or unable to take back the dog.

He had captured the heart of the volunteers there, who were pulling out all the stops to save this dog's life. (Sheesh ... there go those darned volunteers helping the animals again, eh? )

He almost did not get out the door ... even though there was a rescue waiting in the wings. Almost.

He was deemed to be untreatable. He had been prepped to be killed ... but for one reason or another was never given the final injection.

So he did make it out the door and into the safe shelter with his foster Mum at Atlantic Small Dog Rescue. Since then she has been sharing his story on Jamie's Journey ... complete with all the challenges along the way!

Why is she doing this? Are people not lining up to adopt adorable purebreds? Well ... Jamie is not, in her words, a push button dog. It is going to take time to undo all the results of having been raised in inexperienced hands.

But ... as I am always saying, Jamie's foster Mum knows that there really is somebody for everyone. As hard as it is for her and I to imagine, there is actually a whole world of great pet owners who only ever have ONE pet at a time!

So she blogs about Jamie's Journey because she knows that the whole world doesn't have to read the blog .... all she needs to do is connect with that one kindred (dog experienced) spirit:)

Jamie is a very special dog He has assumed 'big brother' duties for his foster Mum's elderly half deaf and half blind poodle! He stands watch whenever Benny goes out and will stay out to shepherd him as long as needs be:)

Jamie is a very lucky dog! In a shelter that was only paying lip service to No Kill .... without those darned compassionate volunteers who stepped up when Jamie was knocking on heavens door ... Jamie would not have lived to have his foster Mum tell the tale.

What time is it? It is always time to salute the simple fact that there is enough local volunteer heart to create better outcomes for the animals in Cape Breton. That there is enough rescue heart willing to step up and redefine healthy and treatable.

There is enough love .... waiting the wings to walk the walk instead of the 'old guard' who were simply talking the talk

And that is how I see it, on Friday, December 2nd ... the SIXTEENTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.

A little rant about giving pets as presents .....

2011-12-01T12:34:00.000-04:00

I love shopping for tools at this time of year! Forty ... fifty .. sixty percent off can convert pipe dreams to affordable options in an instant.
That's all well and fine when one is buying for oneself!   After all, I know how much room I have in my workshop!   Even better, I already understand my amateur skills are not suited for everything. Best of of all, of course, is that the odds are pretty slim I will wind up with tools that I already have!
Kind of like the whole giving a pet for a present idea, eh? And before the keyboards catch on fire, there is a world of difference between pet adoption and pet purchase.
Kind hearts who are moved to adopt a pet through promotions like Home for the Holidays still have to apply ... provide references .. and pass the screening process. They cannot just reply to an ad, slap their money down and head out with a new pal, eh?
It saddens me to see the numerous free to a good home puppies on Kijiji right now.    Admittedly, some of them WILL hit the jackpot and live their whole lives with the folks who fell in love with all that puppy cuteness.   ( the subject of how even those lucky ones may not be fortunate enough to be spayed and / or neutered is a separate story for a post of its own on another day)
If someone stuffed a toolbelt in my stocking, I could simply tuck it away in the cupboard. I already have at least three kicking around .... but the belt would not come to harm even f it was set aside for several years!
When I give someone a tool as a gift .. I always save the receipt so that they can exchange it for one that they DON'T have, if need be.
If worst came to worst, and in my enthusiasm for holiday sales I bought something I already had ( ask any guy .. it happens!) ... I could either take it back or pass it on to someone else.
The point I am making in my meandering way is that living breathing sentient beings do not make good gifts at any time of year.    Proof of that pudding is the abundance of beautiful young dogs available for adoption. This time last year they were likely sitting under the tree, utterly unaware that it was only infatuation instead of committed true love in store :(
What happens when the novelty wears off?   The lucky ones find their way to a reputable rescue where they are given the training that less experienced and / or committed hands should have offered.
Sadly, the less fortunate ones wind up being recycled like old socks on Kijiji. Even worse, some of them ... like my sweet O Henry ... simply are abandoned to fend for themselves.   Saddest of all of course are the ones that were never taught that it was not appropriate to nip/ jump up / mouth / etc ... and wound up with the Ultimate Unhappy Tail :(
Does that mean that kind hearts should not be able to enrich their lives with the love of a new best friend at this time of year?   Of course not!
Really reputable breeders will carefully screen potential pet owners to ensure that the love and time they have invested will not wind up in the freezer of a vets office or old school shelter.
Reputable rescues have a careful application process that will hopefully provide a good future for their adoptables. Even better, if adopters have overestimated their available time or tolerance levels ... or if the pet behaves differently outside of the shelter environment .. then their contracts insist that the pet be returned.
Best of all, is that potential pet owners are not working without a net.    Unlike the 'free to a good homes', adopters are able to ask the rescue or group for advice.
What time is it? It is always time to remember that the kind act of pet adoption also protects the adopter :)
And this is how I see it today, Thursday, Dec 1st ... the FIFTEENTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded board created the renegade shelter.