Hannah is now in a new, loving home.

Following months of OHS investigation and effort, the OHS is celebrating a precedent-setting decision in an animal abuse case involving two young dogs. In mid-September, an Ottawa judge ruled that an Ottawa police officer acted legally when he entered a residence after hearing an animal screaming in the background of a 911 call. Normally, an officer would require a warrant before entering a dwelling, but in this case the officer believed the animal's life was in imminent danger so he proceeded.

Van Tien Nguyen was charged with cruelty to animals in February, 2010 and at that time surrendered one of his dogs to the OHS. Mr. Nguyen received an additional abuse charge in May, after the OHS received further complaints on his remaining dog, which was removed by an OHS agent and not claimed. During the court case, an OHS veterinarian provided testimony about the condition of the animals, who both suffered physical and mental abuse in Mr. Nguyen's home. The dogs, both year old lab retriever mixes (including Hannah, pictured above), have since been adopted into new and loving homes.

On Sept. 28, Mr. Nguyen was found guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to a lifetime ban on owning animals, ordered to pay $608 in restitution to the OHS and fined a further $300. The OHS was also given the authority to check for compliance on the lifetime ban and may remove any animals found in Mr. Nguyen's care.

A high incidence of kennel cough is keeping OHS workers busy as they treat sick animals, and clean and sanitize thoroughly in order to avoid disease transmission to healthy animals. The rise of the disease coincides with cooler, moist fall weather and higher rates of dogs coming into our shelter at this time of year, which creates significant space constraints and makes it difficult to isolate dogs from illness.

In addition, three cats have succumbed to panleukopenia, a deadly cat virus, in the past few weeks, triggering protocols for isolation and disease prevention, and many more cats are sick with URI (upper respiratory infection). OHS veterinary staff have also been proactively testing for strep-equi, a highly-contagious bacterial virus that affected shelter animals last year. So far the tests have all turned up negative.

While we vaccinate animals when they are admitted, vaccines take a couple of days to become fully effective and can't protect animals against all illnesses. Disease prevention and control is an ongoing battle in our current building, where cramped conditions and poor ventilation make for a highly contagious environment. This situation will improve dramatically in our planned new building, where more space and cleaner air will improve animal health.

Gypsy is currently available for adoption at the OHS.

On Sept. 9, an Ottawa woman charged with animal cruelty after her dog was found covered in cockroaches and flies, was found guilty of two out of the five charges against her.

Louise Hupe was originally charged in May after an OHS agent found a four-year-old shepherd mix inside an apartment which was covered in garbage, dog feces and urine, mouldy food, and was overrun with cockroaches. There was no working toilet in the unit, and the smell emanating from the home was nauseating.

Ms. Hupe was charged after she failed to provide a clean and safe environment for her dog. She was sentenced to a one-year prohibition from owning animals and will be subject to OHS inspections.

The dog in the case, while dirty and unkempt at the time the charges were laid, was otherwise in good health and friendly. She is currently available for adoption.

The OHS has begun a new initiative to follow up with adopters to measure customer service and to reinforce responsible animal ownership.

Surveys are being sent to new adopters within 48 hours after they take their new companion animals home, then again in two weeks, and finally at three months. Adopters are asked to comment on service and information received from OHS staff. They're reminded of the complimentary six weeks of pet insurance and to take their new pet to a veterinarian. They are asked to provide feedback on how the animal is settling into the home, so that we can make sure our adoption program fits our adopters' — and the animals' — needs.

The surveys will allow us to improve and refine our customer service, as well as assess the health and well being of animals after they leave our shelter.

Thank you to everyone who walked, pledged or participated in our recent IAMS Wiggle Waggle Walkathon. This year's walk, at our new location on Riverside Drive, was our most successful to date, raising $240,000 for the animals!

View photos from the walk online. See you at next year's walk!

Thank you to our friends at TELUS who just donated over $6,000 to the animals at the Ottawa Humane Society! The gift was a combination of monies from individual TELUS employees and matched by the company. TELUS employees also volunteered at our shelter doing spring cleaning and TELUS has financially supported our humane education school program. Thank you TELUS for helping Ottawa's animals in so many ways!

Learn how you can double your gift to the animals in our care via employee matching gifts.

Last year, the OHS performed over 460 life-saving surgeries. This treatment allowed a chance at a happy ending for some of the over 11,000 animals that come through our doors each year. Equally important, we also performed 3,011 spay and neuter surgeries on animals last year to prepare them for adoption. All of these in-house clinic procedures require special medical equipment, of which suture supplies are some of the most critical.

Help us purchase three months' worth of suture supplies to ensure we are able to help hundreds of animals, like Manx, have a second chance at finding their forever home!

Thank you to all the United Way donors who have directed their gifts to the animals at the OHS. If you haven't already decided how to direct your campaign gifts, it's not too late to do so.

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