Emergency Animal Protection Services

How to Report Animal Cruelty or Neglect

To report a suspected situation involving an animal that may be abused or neglected, and in distress, please contact us at 613-725-3166 ext. 224 or email us and provide the following information:

  • Your name, address and telephone number for our records.
  • The date, time and place (address) of the offence.
  • The registration number and description of any vehicle involved.
  • The investigator will need to ask you questions about the animal(s) involved to establish the full situation (i.e. the basic who, what, where, when, and why if possible). These will relate to what you have seen in relation to the animal's environment and its body condition.

It is OHS policy to treat all complaints in the strictest confidence. Your name will not be disclosed without your permission, but the OSPCA investigator will need to contact you if they need additional information.

The Ottawa Humane Society always aims to prevent cruelty through education and opts for court proceedings only as a last resort.

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Animal Cruelty and Neglect

Emergency Animal Protection Services (EAPS) has trained OSPCA agents and inspectors who investigate suspected cruelty and/or neglect of an animal. In extreme cases of neglect or cruelty, the animal(s) concerned may be removed from the owner's premises if they are in distress. Agents or inspectors "remove" animal(s) with strict adherence to regulations under the Ontario Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (Ontario SPCA) Act. They may also lay charges where wilful neglect or abuse can be proven. Charges are laid under the Criminal Code of Canada, primarily sections 444 through 447.

Distress as defined in the OSPCA Act:
"Distress" means the state of being in need of proper care, water, food or shelter; or being injured, sick or in pain, or suffering; or being abused or subject to undue or unnecessary hardship, privation or neglect.

Bill 50, the Provincial Animal Welfare Act, is an act to amend the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

Bill 50 will transform Ontario's weak animal protection laws into some of the toughest animal protection laws in the country. Key changes include:

  • Establishing new provincial offences against animal cruelty, including: causing or permitting distress, training or allowing animals to fight, and obstructing an Ontario SPCA Inspector or Agent.
  • Giving judges greater flexibility to impose stiffer penalties, including jail time, fines up to $60,000 and a potential lifetime ban on owning an animal of any kind.
  • Providing for inspection powers; allowing investigators to inspect premises where animals are kept for the purpose of exhibit, entertainment, boarding, sale or hire.
  • Allowing the Society to apply for custody of an animal victim while the case is still in the courts; preventing the Society from having to return an animal to the owner during a trial if cause for concern is shown.

Bill 50 was introduced in the Ontario Legislature at the beginning of April. It has since passed second reading and was referred to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy in early June. Learn more about Bill 50 and its significance to animals in Ontario.