'It takes a community to give an animal like Duke a second chance,' says Esther McCutcheon, manager of the Ontario SPCA Lennox and Addington Animal Centre.

The Peterborough Animal Care Centre is to be built on 20 acres of land on Technology Drive.

The new law, named the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, comes into effect on Jan. 1 and includes stiffer penalties for cruelty offences.

Ontario's top court has affirmed the policing powers of the province's animal welfare agency, striking down a lower court's ruling that called into question the constitutionality of private law enforcement.

Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act gets thumbs up from Kingston Humane Society's Executive Director

Sylvia Jones says the bill - dubbed the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act - will include a number of new criminal offences that prohibit animal cruelty.

The animal care centre is a $10-million project to be built on Technology Drive in Peterborough.

An Ontario judge has dismissed an advocacy group's bid to secure the right to speak on behalf of animals in legal settings.

In a lawsuit filed six years ago, Jeffrey Bogaerts of the Ontario Landowners Association challenged the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' powers to investigate offences and lay criminal charges.

The owner is outraged after an investigation by the Ministry of the Solicitor General resulted in a closed case.