Saskatoon SPCA to end abuse and neglect investigations

The Saskatoon SPCA will stop investigating animal abuse, neglect and hoarding complaints on April 1.

Executive Director Graham Dickson said the organization has been providing animal protection services in the city for more than 40 years without funding from the provincial government, and they simply can’t do it anymore.

“Given our financial hardship we’ve found ourselves in this year, we’ve been looking at our operations and trying to find changes we can make to right the ship,” he said.

Dickson said the SPCA put in a request to the Ministry of Agriculture to fund the work, but it was denied. Without that additional money, the work can’t carry on.

“We sort of found ourselves in a difficult position where we’re forced to make a decision to stop providing the service in Saskatoon,” said Dickson. “It’s a decision our board made… it was not an easy decision I’ll say that. It was quite painful, actually.”

Every other jurisdiction in the province is already funded for abuse and neglect cases, with the exception of Regina and Saskatoon.

“According to the Animal Protection Act, our (two) animal protection officers are considered peace officers. So, we’re a law enforcement body and we get zero funding from the province. To me, it’s unacceptable,” he added.

Late last year, during Saskatoon city budget deliberations, Dickson asked for “bridge funding” of $50,000 per month for several months, during which he hoped that a new agreement could be negotiated with the City of Saskatoon. He said the organization had enough money to operate for only one more year.

The funding was denied by council, and instead, administration said it would work with the SPCA to try and find efficiencies within its organization. If that didn’t work, potential funding avenues could be discussed later in 2022.

Dickson explained that while they provide pound services on behalf of the City of Saskatoon, funding for animal abuse investigations falls squarely on the provincial government.

“We’re grateful for the city’s support; they’ve gone above and beyond on this front, in funding us for this work. But really, it’s a provincial issue. It’s an issue with the Ministry of Agriculture, not the City of Saskatoon.”

In 2021, more than 800 calls for animal investigations were made to the Saskatoon SPCA. On a typical day, he said they’ll get several calls for animals in distress in the cold, or locked in a hot vehicle. Those are the minor issues.

“We get more serious calls on a regular basis about animals that have been essentially tortured, mutilated… really ugly, ugly stuff.”

Pound services and adoption services will continue. If there are animals found in distress after April 1, those calls will be forwarded to whichever organization the province selects to continue that work.

The province’s chief veterinary officer, Stephanie Smith, says the Ministry of Agriculture is now working with the City of Saskatoon to try and come up with a solution on who would take over animal abuse and neglect investigations.

“We really are at the beginning of this. We just received our official notice from Saskatoon SPCA, but we are working with the City to look at all available options. Once we have some of that work completed, we can provide more detail,” she said.

She explained that the province does administer the Animal Protection Act, but there’s no consistent model for animal welfare enforcement in Canada.

“We have been looking at the models that have been in place across the other provinces, and they really do run the gamut. Some have provincial governments that cover costs and services… there are cities that rely on their own resources to provide animal welfare enforcement services, and there are also cities where humane societies provide those services with a mixture of funding sources,” she explained.

There’s no timeline at this point, and she said there’s no extra funding or money on the table either.