Saskatoon police taking more animal welfare calls since SPCA halted animal protection enforcement
CBC
A new city council report raises concerns about responding to animal cruelty complaints in Saskatoon.
The Ministry of Agriculture appointed a non-profit agency called Animal Protection Services of Saskatchewan (APSS) to enforce animal cruelty violations starting July 1 because the Saskatoon SPCA withdrew from animal protection services after the provincial government denied a funding request.
However, APSS only operates Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST, according to a city council report.
That means no one is available to respond to animal cruelty complaints after hours or on weekends, while people used to be able to call SPCA 24/7 to report animal abuse.
"This change in service level has resulted in an increased in number of calls to the Saskatoon Police Service to respond to some of the animal cruelty and welfare complaints," City of Saskatoon general manager of community services Lynne Lacroix told city council on Monday.
Other cities, including Regina, Edmonton and Calgary, provide cruelty investigations and animal protection services seven days a week. The APSS website has a form for people to report animal abuse.
There are no current plans to offer after-hours or weekend service similar to what was previously provided by the SPCA, according to the report.
Saskatoon Police have received 62 calls for services related to animals or animal protection from April 1 to May 31 of this year, according to the report.
"A number of these calls involved bylaw related issues and were properly referred to Saskatoon Animal Control Agency (SACA)," the report said.
"But several other calls involved animal neglect or animals in distress like a dog locked in a car, a problem that will become exacerbated as the summer weather continues and not matters within the current jurisdiction of enforcement for SACA."
Only one of the calls was related to animal cruelty, the report added.
Saskatoon SPCA said it investigated 865 reports of alleged animal abuse or neglect in 2021.
Ministry staff have told the city that concerns about animal cruelty or animal protection outside weekday hours should be referred to the Saskatoon police, the report said.
In a statement to CBC, police said they will always investigate animal cruelty cases but they do not have the equipment, training or shelter agreements in place to respond and enforce the Animal Protection Act.
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