There is continued outrage stemming from a disturbing case of suspected animal abuse near Taber. RCMP are investigating after a dog was found tied to a post, beaten and shot to death.
The Alberta Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty to Animals saw it’s second highest number of reported cases last year. 2, 285 calls were received. The most were for suspected dog abuse with a total of 828 cases reported. Horse, cattle, cats and llama made up the remaining portion of abuse calls.
Over the last year the Lethbridge and District Humane Society saw 20 cases of abuse, mostly neglect.
Alberta SPCA peace officers laid charges under the Animal Protection Act in 11 cases last year.
The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS) wants to see that number higher but, first changes need to be made at a federal level. “The Criminal Code hasn’t had a significant update since 1892, in regards to animal cruelty. The language is outdated, the offences are outdated, and it uses terminology that is nearly impossible to prove in court,” says Barbara Cartwright, CEO of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies.
CFHS is working towards a program to train crown prosecutors, giving them every tool possible to ensure the sentence matches the crime.
“In order to do that we want to provide resources to prosecutors so they can easily and readily apply the criminal code and put those charges to an animal cruelty case,” Cartwright adds.
Rescue groups say animals who survive abuse face a very long road to recovery that often lasts longer than the sentence handed down to the abuser.
Barb Grodzicki works with animals in need every day at the Lethbridge and District Humane Society. She says when it comes to animal abuse, it seems to only get worse, “You think you’ve seen the worst, and then the next time it is actually even worse than you could imagine.”
With more and more cases coming to light the continued fight against animal cruelty isn’t ending anytime soon according to animal abuse experts. The harshest punishment handed down in Canada was in Quebec where a man served four months for beating his puppies. Federally, the maximum sentence for animal cruelty is five years imprisonment, with unlimited fines and a possible ban on owning animals in the future.
If you would like to donate to the prosecutor training program at the Canadian Federation For Humane Societies you can visit: http://www.cfhs.ca
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