URBANANIMAL: Keep Toronto Animal Services a public facility

Readers, We've been hearing a lot lately about Toronto's Core Service Review brought about by the city's need to control spending. Consulting firm KPMG was hired to identify service areas that held possibilities of cost cutting and their final report included changes to Toronto Animal Services (TAS).

TAS is a city service that enforces animal bylaws, which include:

- Operating four animal shelters that accept surrendered or stray animals;

- Offering pets for adoption - vet checked, spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and licensed;

- Reuniting lost pets with owners;

- Responding to animal-related complaints from the public;

- Operating spay/neuter clinics for cats;

- Offering low-cost euthanasia to the public;

- Picking up of injured wildlife/pets, providing veterinary care or euthanasia;

- Picking up of dead wildlife/pets; and

- Providing dog bite prevention programs to elementary school students

Here are the main points of KPMG's recommendations:

- Shelters - outsource animal care and enforcement;

- Delivery - require people to deliver animals to shelter themselves;

- Licensing - consider eliminating licensing that doesn't serve the public interest.

Those recommendations weren't intended to be followed without further examination by city council and the public, but the simplistic way in which they were worded sent shockwaves throughout the community, especially the idea of outsourcing, which means handing over TAS services to a private company.

As a public service, the TAS operates on taxpayers' dollars and, as such, is open to public scrutiny and review. A private company, however, would provide those services for a profit, just like any other, and their methods of assuring that profit is kept away from public view.

The disastrous result of allowing a for-profit company to look after animal services has become evident in Montreal where a private pound, Berger-Blanc, was given the mandate.

Recently the CBC documented animal abuse and neglect at that company and an outraged public is demanding the city take over animal services in the hope that, as a public service, the treatment of animals will be more transparent as it is here in Toronto.

The documentary is graphic and disturbing but if you'd like to see it: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/04/20/montreal-animal-pound-euthanasia.html

Could the same thing happen in Toronto if animal services were placed in the hands of a for-profit company?

Absolutely. I've had both negative and positive experiences with TAS but, overall, considering their monumental task, they're doing the best job possible for the animals and the public.

Most importantly, as a public service, their actions are accountable to the public. In the hands of a for-profit private company, they're accountable to their bottom line, which may be at the expense of our animals.

What can we do? With the city currently looking at all the recommendations made by KPMG, and our local politicians looking for input from the public, it is important to make your view known as quickly as possible.

Contact your councillor. You can find his or her name at http://app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp or phone the city hotline at 311.

Sign a petition to keep TAS as a city service to prevent possible outsourcing: www.thepetitionsite.com/1/savetas/

Spread the word.

Email jacque-newman@rogers.com with a question, comment, or suggestion you'd like to submit to UrbanAnimal?