I am sad to write that last weekend, we made the painful decision to put down our sweet little Siamese cat, Gracie. She was almost seventeen. She had kidney problems that we knew about from when we adopted her from the OHS seven years ago, but in the end, it was a relatively rare condition in her salivary glands that made the decision to put her out of her pain clear to us. It was time. But that didn’t make it easy.
Though the OHS is always here for animals in need, we would rather that the vast majority stay in their homes with families that love them. That is why our focus for canines over the last five years has been on behaviour — both for dogs with issues in our care and for dogs in homes in our community. I think this issue has become more important than ever.
Know what you are getting. Puppies and kittens change as they grow up. They get bigger and their personalities can become completely different. With an older pet, you know they aren’t growing and you will already have a good idea of what their personality is like. Adopting a senior takes away the guesswork, and helps ensure a good adoption match.
Recently, I came across an article about a role dogs held in the First World War that I had not heard of before: mercy dogs. Also known as ambulance dogs, or casualty dogs, these canines were trained by Red Cross Societies to find wounded soldiers on the battlefields of trench warfare.
I have written many times that my twin preoccupations throughout the pandemic have been protecting our staff and protecting our ability to care for the animals that truly need us. I have been troubled by the thought that a COVID outbreak on site could mean the unthinkable: that Ottawa’s animals might have nowhere to go.
Over the 133 years since its founding, the Ottawa Humane Society has accumulated a large archive to remember our history. Our most precious artifact is the stunningly beautiful memorial book. The book contains the names of those who remembered the animals in their wills, all written in calligraphy by hand, surrounded by hand-painted drawings of all sorts of animals. The book sits in a glass box in the reception area in the shelter. When I remember, I turn a page daily.
In June of this year, I wrote about serious failures in the system that let down a Rottweiler-mix puppy named Bane. Bane was tortured and killed at the hands of his owner, Jake Garvin, after authorities repeatedly failed to respond appropriately to the information given to them by neighbours.
Several years ago, I received an email from a former OHS board member who I hadn’t heard from in years. The subject line was: “My soul is breaking.” You see, she had moved to Italy with her military husband and she was volunteering at a shelter. In Italy, there were thousands of homeless dogs with no prospect of a home, essentially warehoused for life because the government declared the country “no-kill.” She asked if the OHS might import some of the dogs to Canada.
Every couple of weeks or so, I receive a call from a reporter or producer. Invariably, it’s because they want to do a story about pandemic puppies: the thousands of dogs supposedly surrendered to shelters by owners returning to work who no longer want their pets. I calmly explain that this story isn’t real, not at the Ottawa Humane Society, and not at any shelter in the country that I am aware of.
For those following this blog, it will come as no surprise Marineland disturbs me. The OHS, of course, stands against the exploitation of animals for profit. Marineland instinctively thrashes against efforts to improve the wellbeing of the captive animals at their amusement park. It is Ontario’s petulant poster child of exploiting animals for entertainment.
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