News

Simon, a tuxedo cat, was found wandering the dockyards of Hong Kong in 1948 by Seaman George Hickinbottom, a crew member of the British frigate HMS Amethyst. Simon was very undernourished and unwell, so the young sailor smuggled the cat onto the ship. The crew and officers were happy to have Simon onboard, especially because he was excellent at catching rats on the ship. Eventually, Simon became a mascot for the crew.

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The Ottawa Humane Society Board of Directors has announced the successful candidate for the position of President & CEO. Sharon Miko, the current Director of Operations for the organization, begins the new role in mid-November. The news comes four months after the announcement of current CEO Bruce Roney’s retirement.

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On behalf of the OHS Board of Directors, I would like to inform you that the successful candidate for the position of President and CEO of the Ottawa Humane Society is Sharon Miko. She is expected to begin in her new role in mid-November. 

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We’ve all seen it. As Halloween approaches, pictures of pets dressed up in costumes flood social media — dachshunds dressed as hot dogs, cats with wings, the creativity is abundant. I’ll admit, sometimes I have chuckled at these images, but I squirm as well. There is a certain indignity to the images. As a human adult, if I dress in a funny costume, I know that people are laughing with me, but the animals aren’t in on the joke. I know they are being laughed at.

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The Ottawa Humane Society is advising pet owners to not dress up their pets for Halloween. The OHS says that at best your pet will not care they are dressed up, and at worst, the costume could stress out or injure your pet.

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Julie Laporte worked at the Ottawa Humane Society as a veterinary assistant beginning in 2004. She worked until she couldn’t any longer. You see, she became ill. Julie passed away from cancer on the 16^th of January, 2013. She was 38. She left a husband and a small daughter behind.

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On Sunday, Oct. 30, Howl-o-ween, a spook-tacular event for the whole family, returns to the OHS. From 1 – 3:30 p.m., all are welcome to come to the OHS for free Halloween fun, including:

• Creepy, crawly crafts;
• A phantasmagorical photo booth;
• A devilish craft sale; and,
• Reverse trick-or-treating where goblins and ghouls can deliver treats to Ottawa’s homeless animals.

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In 2004, leaders in animal welfare came together to find common ground in what was a divided sector. Their meeting place was California, just outside the Asilomar State Park.

The results of this meeting were nothing short of amazing. Groups that were deeply divided and often mistrustful of one another created the groundbreaking Asilomar Accords, an agreement to, among other things find a way to report consistently on outcomes for sheltered animals in a community.

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I was taking a walk around the shelter the other day and looking in at the animals in our care. It’s easy to feel badly for them, not having a home and family to call their own — a feeling that only grows stronger as the holiday season approaches.

While I wish these animals had never needed our help, I am truly thankful that they have somewhere to go when they need it most. 

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When I began working at the Ottawa Humane Society 22 years ago and for quite a few years after, the board, staff and volunteers were predominately white, with ancestry in the British Isles. To be honest, for many years, I had naively assumed this was a cultural phenomenon. That is, I had assumed that other cultures in Canada just weren’t that interested in dogs and cats, nor the welfare of wildlife and livestock.

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