Grant Recipients: $51,500 distributed in 2022
1) Manitoba Animal Alliance
2) Northwest Territories SPCA
3) Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team (in British Columbia)
4) Canadian Animal Taskforce (in Alberta)
5) Canine Action Project (in Saskatchewan)
6) Best for Kitty (in Ontario)
7) Cedar Row Farm Sanctuary (in Ontario)
8) SPCA Montérégie (in Quebec)
9) Aboriginal Community and Animal Advocacy Connection (in Ontario)
About Project Jessie
Project Jessie is a campaign of Animal Alliance of Canada that has been helping animals since 1991. We adopted the name “Jessie” to honour the first dog we tried to rescue from researchers. We failed. “Project Jessie” ensures that Jessie will never be forgotten.
We established Project Jessie to rescue pet dogs and cats at risk of being sold to researchers. Project Jessie’s mandate included fighting for legislation that would ban pounds selling lost and abandoned pet dogs and cats to researchers.
When pounds were unable to find new homes for lost and abandoned pets or when municipalities refused to change, Project Jessie stepped in. We took the pets the pounds thought no one would want and found them ‘forever’ homes. Because of Project Jessie’s municipal and provincial legislative successes, most pounds no longer sell pets to researchers. Instead, they find new homes for them.
The reformed Project Jessie
So, why did we reform Project Jessie in 2020? We think we can help many more animals by working with and supporting other rescue groups across Canada then doing the rescues ourselves. There are many more rescue groups today than there were in 1991.
What does the reformed Project Jessie do? Our goal is to work with partners in every province and territory keeping our friends safe by stopping researchers using lost and abandoned pets. We continue to make common cause and form alliances with other organizations, because we can do so much more for animals when we work together and help each other.
With the support of people like you, the reformed, updated, and expanded Project Jessie is taking our principles of cooperation and working together as far as possible for the animals’ sake.
Project Jessie uses a three-pronged strategy to keep our pet dogs and cats out of the labs, cages, and hands of researchers:
- Campaign for laws at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels that ban researchers using pets ‘random source animals’.
- Help municipal pounds and animal rescue groups find homes for lost and abandoned pets: first, to help the pets; second, to keep them safe from researchers. (Ontario, for example, still tries to force municipal pounds to sell pets to researchers.)
- Persuade foundations and governments to stop funding researchers who use ‘random source animals.’
How Can You Help?
Click here to learn more about our No Pets in Research campaign or donate today to give the Gift of Compassion.