A government striving for animal protection legislation

April 2008 edition: The government of Canada is striving to pass animal protection legislation (S-203) that meets the expectations of citizens who love animals. It’s not because Canadians are suddenly turning Buddhist (for Buddhists are people who revere all living creatures as divine, and of course they speak for the Buddhist creatures that may or may not think likewise, although looking into their eyes they may be saying, 'food') because in reality, Christians are pretty devoted to their pets and so forth.

Jewish rabbis instruct that animals for human food consumption must be treated with dignity and respect in their situation. Frankly, all cultures have elaborate relationships with the Animal Kingdom, perhaps none more elaborate than some of those found amongst the First Nations of North America.

People the world over and in Canada tend to love animals and this is an essential part of a balanced life. We consume some of them for dinner, yes, and we domesticate some for this purpose (yet one wonders, are the animals fooled, we do not know).

Sometimes people take harsh measures to train and live with animals, but by and large we love them, feed them, care deeply for their well-being, and that is why Canadians are watching closely as the federal government agonizes over appropriate legislation to protect animals.

The problem with legislation is not black and white or very simple at all, since the trick is to make laws equal to concerns of Canadians without infringing on concerns of researchers, scientists, or rodeo cowboys, pet store owners, and zoo operators. Will Canadian lawmakers expose the scientific community to the criminal code for conducting medical research on animals to benefit humanity?

When the winter of 2007-08 came to an end and while the government was in a major tussle to pass other crime legislation, universities in Canada announced they would back S-203, under the realization that some form of new animal cruelty legislation has been in the works for several years. The government's effort to toughen animal cruelty laws under S-203 is acceptable to academia, which decided to put its support behind S-203 because, "it does not pose a threat to legitimate animal research."

Animal protection legislation has actually been in the works for several years and several parliamentary sessions have met with failure to rewrite a century old law that makes a crime out of abuse to animals. In fact the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, an umbrella group for post-secondary institutions, said it, "no longer fears that an anti-cruelty bill would make potential criminals out of researchers who are trying to conduct ethical animal-based testing."

Dating back to 1999 universities and colleges have opposed legislative attempts under the Criminal Code to take animals out of the realm of 'chattel' or property, a scenario in which animals in Canada might emerge with stronger, specific protection "in their own right."

The academics said, in a written brief to the House of Commons justice committee, "Such changes could have led to unfounded allegations of misconduct against universities and university researchers, and frivolous and unwarranted private prosecutions under the Criminal Code by individuals and organizations for whom no use of animal research is acceptable."

The legislative proposal will increase penalties for those convicted of abuse of animals. Under the new law a maximum penalty is increased to five years imprisonment and $10,000 fine, which is a considerable increase from the current maximum punishment of six months imprisonment and $2,000 in fines.

Universities and colleges say the newest version is a "carefully tailored and reasoned solution" that avoids "serious damage to the reputations of universities and to individual faculty members who are conducting important animal-based testing and research in a highly ethical and responsible manner."

In reality there are presently two competing animal cruelty bills before the Commons, Bill S-203 is the government's and C-373 is Liberal MP Mark Holland’s. The legislative activity around animals is still a work in progress in the House of Commons, and controversy in fact continues, “Canada has laws that fall behind even nations like the Philippines because we have laws that haven’t been updated since 1892,” said Holland.

He has urged the present government to adopt his private member’s bill (C-373) to toughen penalties for people who abuse animals by taking the animals out of ‘property’ and making the animals 'sentient' and capable of feelings.

Diane Frank of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association agreed and went further. She noted, “In one particular study, when they looked at people who had been prosecuted in animal abuse cases and found animal abusers were involved 38 per cent of the time in violent crimes to people.”

She added, “Violence is part of the big picture, and sometimes the first indication of problems within a family is going to be violence to the animal,” as if, as it were, the animal kingdom is a testing ground for inhumane conduct. This is a peculiarity of human nature that has been observed for some time.

The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS) cites a recent, gruesome case of animal cruelty in Camrose, Alberta, where four male teens broke into the house of a female classmate and allegedly put the family cat in a microwave, and left behind graffiti-like instructions about the horrific deed. Investigators have stated the cat was tortured for an 'eternal' 45 minutes of suffering, probably put in the oven alive more than once.

This practically unbelievable (if not sociopathic and psychotic) behaviour resulted in three 15 year olds and one 13 year old entering the Alberta provincial court in March 2008; the timing of this case brings more attention to the need for new legislation.

At the same time was the frightful encounter at Ardrossan, 100 km east of Edmonton, Alberta, in late February. A group of over 100 neglected Arabian horses was discovered by the Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), which said, they had found 27 horses dead of neglect and they rescued 100 others. A campaign is underway to rejuvenate the animals at a stable elsewhere in Alberta.

Also late in February, a huge cockfighting ring was busted in the Lower Mainland, and police, after a long investigation by the RCMP’s Integrated Illegal Gaming Enforcement Team, executed a warrant that discovered 1,270 birds held on three separate Surrey, B.C., properties, and some of the birds were in pitiful condition. Police said a couple dozen people could face charges of animal cruelty as a result of the raid, and in mid March the police were disclosing international criminal connections to the Phillipines.

On some websites, the level of acrimony directed at the alleged Camrose cat killers has become worrisome. It is quite disturbing how upset people get about issues, and strange, that they would publish those feelings in public, even suggesting the boys be stuck in microwave ovens themselves before their day in court.

This extremist backlash is frankly weird. Various websites have been admonished by legal means to have portions of their contents removed for breaking publication bans prohibiting the published names of underage (alleged) perpetrators (Facebook and Myspace to name two).

It is amid the recent crush of stories arising about animal cruelty that legislative balance must be maintained. The CFHS’ long-standing efforts to update legislation can be followed closely for this group has been urging changes for twenty years now. "We encourage our member societies and their supporters to order postcards, free of charge, using this link on our website: http://www.cfhs.ca," and those postcards are for sending to M.P.s, not your mother.

Criminal Code of Canada that deals with cruelty to animals Sections 444 to 447 of the current code. These sections are contained in the part of the Code dealing with "Wilful and Forbidden Acts in Respect of Certain Property. Most convictions for cruelty are under section 446.”

Under the current Criminal Code, acts of animal cruelty are pursued as summary conviction offences (a.k.a. petty crimes, which are non-indictable with sentences of short prison duration), except for crimes against cattle. In Canada less than one quarter of one percent of animal abuse complaints result in convictions.