Group urges City to develop a policy on animals

Montreal Gazette :  May 12, 2011 2:04 PM

MONTREAL – A coalition of animal adoption agencies and shelters is calling on the city of Montreal to end its use of for-profit pounds and develop a single, coherent, island-wide policy to deal with abandoned pets.

Representatives of the Regroupement pour la protection des ainimaux du Quebec, an umbrella group that includes the SPCA, the Humane Society International and the Companion Animal Adoption Centres of Quebec, told reporters on Thursday that while the city of Toronto spends $3.15 per capita on animal services, the city of Montreal spends about 74 cents per capita.

About 50,000 pets a year are abandoned in the Montreal area.

The group’s attempt to create a municipally run animal services agency comes after televised images recorded with a hidden camera at Berger Blanc, a for-profit pound that provides animal control services for 10 of Montreal’s 19 boroughs, that depict animals being euthanized inhumanely.

Since the broadcast, two boroughs, Plateau Mont Royal and Côte des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce, have announced they will not renew their contracts with Berger Blanc.

The Regroupement says it met this week with city of Montreal officials in an effort to change existing policies on animal control. But last week, Mayor Gérald Tremblay made it clear he was cool to the idea, noting it would cost about $5 million for the city to take over from private pounds

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