Laval grants animal rescue contract to controversial for-profit pound

LAVAL – Some big changes are coming to animal rescue in Laval.

Le Berger Blanc won the bid for the city’s animal control services despite the private pound’s past controversies for maltreatment and its high rates of euthanizing animals.

READ MORE: Montreal to step up spot checks after animal cruelty footage at pound

Animal rights activists and citizens are concerned by the decision. Since the announcement of the contract, the city of Laval has been flooded with calls on its 3-1-1 line.

Le Berger Blanc has a reputation of euthanizing perfectly healthy animals and refusing to work with other rescue organisations.

“If there are no alternatives with the amount of animals that come in just in Laval, it will be impossible for it to be a no-kill,” said Sandie Ward of Auberge Zen Refuge.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "If there are no alternatives with the amount of animals that come in just in Laval, it will be impossible for it to be a no-kill," said Sandie Ward of Auberge Zen Refuge.

Auberge Zen is Laval’s current animal services provider, created as a non-profit organisation in order to save more animals.

Of the 4,000 animals per year that it receives, Auberge Zen was able to save 72 per cent of them.

READ MORE: SPA-Canada furious over possible management of new shelter

A press release from the city of Laval states that Le Berger Blanc will be held to strict guidelines, including refusing to euthanize healthy animals and being obliged to work with animal rescues.

Laurel Acheson Merriam works for K-9 Crusaders Rescue. Her organisation is skeptical about the contract.

“Our concerns are that Berger Blanc won’t work with us,” she said. “They have been approached several time to work with rescues and have not accepted that invitation.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Our concerns are that Berger Blanc won't work with us," she said. "They have been approached several time to work with rescues and have not accepted that invitation."

Merriam’s organisation acquires animals from refuges like Auberge Zen and works on getting them adopted.

READ MORE: Ban for-profit pounds, say animal welfare groups

She fears that the animals will not survive without rescues and that Berger Blanc will be reluctant to work with them.

An online petition has already gathered many signatures protesting the contract.

An issue presented in the petition is that Laval awarded the contract to Le Berger Blanc, despite its reputation, because the for-profit pound came in as the lowest bidder.