Helping Animal Victims of the Haitian Disaster
Helping Animal Victims of the Haitian Disaster The world is responding to the disaster in Haiti, and people around the world are coming together to help in any way they can. The animal victims of this disaster will desperately need help too, and animal welfare groups are joining forces to come to their aid. Together, the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) will be working on the ground under the umbrella of the newly-created Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) to help the animals in Haiti. Teams will be working out of a mobile clinic which has been donated by the Antigua and Barbuda Humane Society. WSPA and IFAW have pledged funds to fully outfit this mobile clinic, and it will be shipped from Antigua to the Sociedad Dominicana Para la Protección de Animales (SODOPRECA) in the Dominican Republic for them to drive across the border into Haiti. When people join together, amazing things can happen. To donate to this joint international relief effort please click here: WSPA/IFAW Haitian Response Donations Cash donations will also be collected at the Windsor/Essex County Humane Society to be forwarded directly to this relief effort. |
____________________________________________________ Disaster Preparedness Although this disaster occurred in Haiti, an emergency can strike anywhere and any time. Planning ahead is the key to keeping yourself and your companion animals safe during a disaster. The Windsor/Essex County Humane Society has plans in place to help our community's animals in an emergency situation, but it's important that pet owners also are prepared. Here are a few tips to reduce the risk to your companion animals during disasters:
|
Melanie Coulter Windsor/Essex County Humane Society |
Tails-On-Trails Malden Park 2009
Congrats to everyone that came out to enjoy Tails-on-Trails 2009 and raising a total of $22,000!
Stelth, enjoying Tails-on-Trails with his new Family.......
Charged Laid Against Owner of Starving Dogs
 Charges were served today to the owner of Stealth and Hooch, two redbone coonhounds who were seized by Humane Society OSPCA agents on March 10 after being found in severe distress. These are the first charges in the province that have been laid under the newly-amended Ontario SPCA Act or Provincial Animal Welfare (PAW) Act. Orville Kevin Harris of the City of Windsor received a summons this morning that charges were filed with the Ontario Court of Justice on March 20, 2009. The accused has been charged with three counts under the Act. The charges include: causing distress, permitting distress (as an owner or guardian) and failing to comply with the standards of care for animals. The accused is scheduled to appear in court April 20, 2009. An order was also obtained allowing the Humane Society to retain custody of the dogs and continue to treat them until legal proceedings have con-cluded. Both dogs are responding well to medical treatment, although they have a long way to go before being restored to health. |
WECHS Bowl-A-Thon
The Bowl-A-Thon took place on March 1st and again this year was a huge success raising approximately $5000.00! for the Shelter Animals. Congats to Julie and the Gang for another great Bowl-A-Thon! Thanks for all the fun!
Windsor-Essex County Humane Society and Essex County Riders-Canada.
An Ear for an Ear for animal abuser
A.K.'s former owner has one chewed off in Windsor Jail altercation
Craig Pearson, Windsor Star
Published: Wednesday, November 19, 2008CHATHAM - Rony Salman, the Windsor man who earned media attention and jail time for cutting off the ears of A.K. the dog, has had some of his ear chewed off at Windsor Jail -- and has been transferred out of town.
"He was involved in an altercation at the jail and he had part of his ear bitten off by another inmate," said Windsor police Insp. Cliff Lovell, noting that the report does not list any further detail on the injury. "I can't give you the other inmate's name because there are no charges being laid. There's no complainant.
"But the jail is required to make a report because there was an altercation between a couple of inmates."
INJURED: A.K.'s ears were cut off by Rony Salman in the spring of 2007.
Windsor Star file photo
Stuart McGetrick, spokesman for the Ontario ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services, said Tuesday he cannot comment on individual cases but said serious assaults are uncommon. He said 4,300 inmate-on-inmate assaults were recorded in Ontario prisons the last fiscal year, but that the overwhelming majority are minor, such as pushing.McGetrick said when serious assaults occur, the correctional system will often move inmates to protect them from further injury.
"If we're talking about larger institutions then we may move an inmate to a different unit within the institution," he said. "Or we may decide that the best course of action is to move an inmate to another institution."
The ear-biting incident happened on Remembrance Day, according to the jail report. Salman has since been transferred to Chatham Jail -- an old, grey-stone structure topped with razor wire -- where he declined on Tuesday to meet with a Star reporter.
Salman is serving time for a burglary earlier this year in South Windsor.
Previously, Salman was sentenced May 26 to three months after pleading guilty to three counts of animal cruelty, wilfully causing pain to an animal, causing unnecessary pain to a dog by not seeking veterinary attention and failure to provide care for -- and wilful neglect of -- a domestic animal.
SEIZED PUPPY
The six-month-old mixed-breed puppy was seized from Salman's Sandwich Street apartment on May 11, 2007. The dog has since been adopted and has a new name.
Salman was also placed on probation and cannot own an animal for two years, the maximum prohibition under the law, and must pay $587.50 in restitution to the Windsor-Essex County Humane Society.
Scot Wortley, who teaches at the University of Toronto's Centre for Criminology, said while sex offenders and pedophiles are the most at risk of prison justice, other criminals could face violence, as well -- especially if their case received media coverage.
"I don't know the details of this case. Maybe this guy's just a Mike Tyson fan," Wortley said. "But it sounds eerily similar to what was done to the dog, so you would have to explore that possibility.
"There's a code of honour among criminals and they rank people who prey on children, who prey on women, who prey on the defenceless -- and maybe a dog, I don't know -- as worse."
Animal-cruelty law praised
Province makes it easier to prosecute abusers, humane society says
Donald McArthur, Windsor Star
Published: Wednesday, November 19, 2008The head of the local humane society is lauding the province for passing stringent new animal cruelty legislation and calling on the federal government to toughen its laws as well.
"Animals will be safer because it will provide the ability for us to get after and deal with the people who are creating problems for animals," said John Roushorne, executive director of the Windsor and Essex County Humane Society.
"We now have the ability to go after people who mistreat animals generally, dogs, cats, rabbits. Anybody that causes or permits distress to an animal -- whether they intend to or not -- is now subject to prosecution."
The province cited the case of AK, the Windsor puppy who had his ears lopped off, as a driving force behind this change, which Roushorne called the "most significant" plank in the legislation.
BURDEN OF PROOF
Officials were stymied in that case because, under the Criminal Code, they had to prove who harmed AK and that the harm was wilful. They could have been made to return AK to its owner while the legal process unfolded.
Under the new provincial law, proof of harm is sufficient to justify penalties ranging as high as a two-year prison sentence, a $60,000 fine and a lifetime ownership ban.
Officials no longer need a conviction to justify the seizure of an animal, just "reasonable grounds" to believe the animal will be harmed if it is returned to its owner.
The legislation also empowers animal welfare agencies to inspect without a search warrant places where animals are sold, boarded, exhibited or kept for entertainment purposes.
As well, the legislation requires veterinarians to report cases of suspected animal abuse and neglect, protecting them from liability if they do so.
"The only regret I have in this whole thing is that the federal government is still sitting on its hands with the Criminal Code and refusing to acknowledge that animal rights have moved beyond the 18th century," said Roushorne.
Roushorne and other critics have blasted Ottawa's efforts to protect animals, maintaining MPs opted to boost fines for animal cruelty offences without making it any easier to secure a conviction.
© The Windsor Star 2008
