Save the Sled Dog: Reform British Columbia's Anti-Cruelty to Animals Law

Sled Dogs of British Columbia

Please sign petition

Targeting: Steven L. Point (Lieutenant Governor), Steve Thomson (Ministry of Natural Resources), Ben Stewart (Ministry of Agriculture), see more...Steven L. Point (Lieutenant Governor), Steve Thomson (Ministry of Natural Resources), Ben Stewart (Ministry of Agriculture), Margaret MacDiarmid (Ministry of Tourism, Trade & Investment), Barry Penner (Attorney General), Stephanie Cadieux (Ministry of Community, Social & Cultural Development), Joan McIntyre (MLA), Terry Lake (Task Force Chairman), Craig Daniell (Chairman of BC SPCA), Barbara Steele (President, BC Union of Municipalities), Gordon Campbell (Premier), Iain Black (Ministry of Labour), Mike Farnworth (MLA), Christy Clark (Premier De Facto), and Pam Shatzko (Task Force, Project Manager)
Started by: IS Foundation
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture and is an alarmingly ambiguous piece of legislation. Some of the law dates back over 100 years. Dogs and cats are defined strictly as property and there is no regulation in the act addressing businesses that work with animals such as sled dog companies. Without this regulation, a place of business cannot be shut down for acts of cruelty against animals. This legislation is clearly in place only to protect the rights of owners with “animal property”, not the rights of animals.

A recent article by the Vancouver Sun revealed that the Howling Dog Tours manager who killed the dogs tried to contact the BC SPCA for help on two occasions. The BC SPCA didn’t investigate the business and turned down the request to shelter the dogs, claiming the dogs were not adoptable.

A task force has been assembled by BC Premier Gordon Campbell to do a thorough investigation of this case. The outcome of their findings is to be reforms to the BC Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

We must put a stop to animal cruelty by throwing our voices behind new legislation that regulates the roles of all animal welfare stakeholders and closes the loopholes that fail our animals. The BC SPCA and all animal shelters in British Columbia need to be regulated to follow a “rescue and save” plan, not a “seize and kill” plan.

Premier Campbell’s task force will be reporting to Agriculture Minister Ben Stewart with recommendations for reformed legislation by March 25th, 2011. Let’s raise our voices loud and clear for the Whistler 100 to ensure the task force's recommendiations are in favor of animal welfare. There's needs to be real change to the Act and we must pull together and demand that change.

“The question is not, Can they reason? Nor Can they talk, but Can they suffer? ~ English philosopher, Jeremy Bentham

Visit us at www.isfoundation.com

Signed.

Signed.

I just got this e-mail back. It seems that you have to be a constituent to be heard, but at least they ackowledged receipt of my petition e-mail!

Quote :

This is to confirm your email has been received by the Port Moody-Coquitlam constituency office of the Honourable Iain Black, MLA and Minister of Labour.To expedite responses, Minister Black's constituency staff will direct emails with specific questions to the appropriate government ministry or agency, and may follow up with you for additional information. All email messages from constituents are collected and forwarded to Minister Black. This includes constituent emails that don't have an obvious request for follow-up from Minister Black, personally (e.g., form letters, commentary or opinion, an email without a specific question or request for response, etc.). Please note: if you're a constituent and you'd like a follow up from Minister Black by telephone, email, or Canada Post, please don't hesitate to contact our office at 604-949-1226 to ensure we're aware of this. We don't want to risk losing your request in the large volumes of emails we receive each day! Please note our constituency "walk in" office hours are Monday - Thursday from 10am-4pm and Friday by appointment.Our address is: #203 - 130 Brew StreetPort Moody, B.C.V3H 0E3 Tel: 604-949-1226Fax: 604-949-1281. Thank you for your email! - The Port Moody-Coquitlam constituency staff.

Done.
I think there is another pepition going around because I signed one last week too.