PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release

 

Press release: SPA Canada reacts to the announcement with regards to Montreal’s New Animal Control Center:
Yet another Setback in the Project for a More Ethical Animal Control

 

Montreal, July 11th 2014 –

With Montreal’s announcement of the new location for the municipal animal control center also comes the new projected opening date: 2018. This would represent a whole seven years after the Berger Blanc scandal which prompted this project to begin with. The for-profit company Berger Blanc’s cruel practices were exposed in an undercover investigation in 2011 by SPA Canada and Radio Canada. To this day, city contracts are still being given to the Berger Blanc, an unacceptable situation. Every time the City of Montreal pushes back the opening date, the animals as well as the citizens of the City continue to suffer from the lack of humane services available.

 

“The City of Montreal says they would like to imitate the City of Calgary, an example to follow when it comes to animal control management, but their projected services do not reflect it,” critiques Gabriel Villeneuve, Director of Campaigns at SPA Canada. The citizens of Montreal’s and SPA Canada’s demands, many of which are offered in Calgary, include a free sterilization clinic, a Trap Neuter Release and Maintain (TNRM) program for feral cats, mandatory microchipping of pets, a ban on selling pets in pet stores unless they come from shelters and are sterilized as well as a city-run animal control center. “These are programs that, together, have been proven to reduce euthanasia and abandonment rates in cities that have implemented them. Calgary heard their citizens’ demands and implemented many of these programs, Montreal does not seem to hear their own citizens’ demands but their finances instead, to the detriment of the animals,” states Mr. Villeneuve. It has also been mentioned that instead of managing the new animal control center themselves, the city of Montreal will give the management contract to another organization. “Animal control is a public service that the city is legally obliged to provide. There are many reasons why public services are directly managed by the city, why should animal control be different? ” asks Mr. Villeneuve.

 

Finally, the new location in St-Michel is not easily accessible to anyone dependent on public transport. The advantage of the Angrignon Park site was its proximity to a metro station. While the economic advantage to the City might be evident, how will it make it more accessible to the general public? SPA Canada remains skeptical with regards to the sudden change of plans and disappointed in the delays associated with this project.

 

SPA Canada will be happy to grant media interviews.

 

For further information, please contact:
Katherine Mac Donald
Assistant Director of Operations and Campaigns
514-808-7330 or kmacdonald@spacanada.org
spacanada.org