We are asking all Ontario residents to support our efforts to amend the Animals for Research Act to ban the selling of dogs and cats from municipally-funded pounds for use in experimentation. These former family members deserve adoption, not exploitation as research subjects.
The most powerful action that any of us can take as individuals is to write, email, or phone the Premier of Ontario directly. We continue to ask everyone to take a few minutes to do this.
The online petitions provide us a great opportunity to spread news of this issue and our campaign to a wider audience. We are finding that countless caring Ontarians do not know that this betrayal of our homeless friends is taking place. We hope that the petitions help to get this subject out of the darkness and into the light.
A sample sign-on letter and the Premier’s contact information is provided at NoPetsinResearch.ca
Here is the text of the petitions posted at Change.org and Avaaz.org
Tell Ontario’s Premier to stop making pounds sell lost and abandoned companion animals for experimentation.
If you are a resident of Ontario (have an address in Ontario – you can be any age) and would like to sign our formal petition to the Premier, please print it out here
https://www.animalalliance.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Pound_Seizure_Petition_2017.pdf
Fill it in and ask your friends to sign – the petition needs to be full of signatures. Then return the completed petition by mail to:
Animal Alliance of Canada – No Pets in Research,
#101-221 Broadview Avenue
Toronto, ON M4M 2G3
Only petitions that are full of names from Ontario residents are accepted by the Ontario Legislature. Thank you for all your help!
The Issue:
We need your help to change a bad law in Ontario, a cruel law that most Ontarians don’t even know exists: the Animals for Research Act.
This bad law requires municipally-funded pounds to hand over dogs and cats, former family members, to research facilities for use as research subjects.
We need your help to convince Ontario’s Premier, the Honourable Kathleen Wynne, to amend this act and ban the practice of Pound Release, where unclaimed animal companions (pets) are sold for use in laboratories.
The dogs and cats who share our homes are family. And we protect family.
That’s why Animal Alliance of Canada has launched our “No Pets in Research” campaign.
What if our animal family members become lost? What will happen to them while we are frantically searching for them?
Once the brief holding period in the pound is over these animals can be sold for a pittance to be used as experimental research subjects!
In one heartbreaking story, a much-loved dog named Royal was not even held for the required holding period and was sold to the University of Guelph. He was immediately deemed too old for research and was killed. His family was searching frantically for him during this period. Because of the Animals for Research Act, Royal did not make it home but died alone and afraid at a university research facility.
Read Royal’s story: https://www.animalalliance.ca/campaigns/pets-research/pound-release/
Under the practice of Pound Release (sometimes referred to as Pound Seizure) dogs and cats are purchased from municipal pounds and used in research. Many will be subjected to a life of pain and suffering and eventually killed and discarded as unwanted trash. Some will be used as training subjects but we are not told what procedures or how many are performed on them, how long each animal is held, and what happens to them when the procedures are completed. We are working hard to get this information but keep coming up against walls of silence. There is no public accountability and transparency about how they are used, where they came from and what ultimately happens to them. Once they enter this dark world, there is little over-sight or protection for them. Some pound animals have been used as test subjects for as long 10 years – a long and miserable life of pain and fear.
Terrifying numbers:
In Ontario, 2045 dogs and 4813 cats were sold from municipal pounds to research laboratories between the years of 2012 and 2015 (4 years).
Across Canada, 7,661 cats and 5,891 dogs were sold from pounds to research laboratories in 2015 alone, according to the Canadian Council on Animal Care.
The Act stipulates that researchers can buy a cat from a pound for $2.00 and a dog for $6.00.
When the Ontario government places such little worth on these animals it is not surprising that the researchers follow suit, viewing former family members as cheap disposable research subjects.
Pound release is widespread across Canada. But, Ontario is the only province that actually mandates this practice under the Animals For Research Act.
Please, tell Ontario’s Premier to amend the Animals for Research Act to ban the use of lost pets from Ontario municipal pounds and shelters from animal experimentation, and to ban the import of lost, stray or abandoned pets for experimentation from other jurisdictions.
Petition Letter to Premier of Ontario, the Honourable Kathleen Wynne:
Dear Premier,
Across Ontario, people deeply value the companionship of dogs and cats as family members.
When dogs and cats become homeless due to becoming lost, stolen, or abandoned Ontarians want the best possible outcome for these animals.
We respectfully request that the outdated and inhumane Animals for Research Act be amended to ban the use of lost pets from Ontario municipal pounds and shelters from animal experimentation, and to ban the import of lost, stray or abandoned pets for experimentation from other jurisdictions.
When we inform Ontarians that the Animals for Research Act mandates that dogs and cats unclaimed after the legislated holding period must be sold to research facilities when requested, they are deeply disturbed, even angry.
They are shocked to learn that every year thousands of dogs and cats are taken from municipal pounds and used for experimental and training purposes.
Ontario is now the only province, in all of Canada, where pound release is mandated.
Your government must send a clear message that homeless animal companions (pets) need to be in homes, not laboratory cages.
We look forward to your action on this matter to restore the faith and trust of Ontarians in how their provincial government values and protects companion animals like dogs and cats.
[Your signature]
