OSPCA retains reins to humane society
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OSPCA retains reins to humane society
Tim Trow resigns
By KEVIN CONNOR, Toronto Sun
Last Updated: 26th January 2010, 6:24pm
A judge ruled the OSPCA will remain in control of the care of animals at the Toronto Humane Society.
In November, the OSPCA raided the THS and arrested five top officials on animal cruelty charges.
During the investigation, OSPCA inspectors found a dead caged cat in the ceiling, as well as sick animals that were not being cared for or medicated.
Animals were found severely underweight and the ones being fed were eating food that expired five years earlier, the Ontario society alleges.
Animals were left to die in their cages because the THS has a no-kill policy, the OSPCA alleges.
“The OSPCA shall remain in control of the portion of the premises of the THS which are devoted to the care and treatment of animals, and I further order that no employee or director of the THS shall interfere in any way with the activities of the OSPCA in that regard,” Judge D.M. Brown wrote in his ruling released Tuesday.
The OSPCA is thrilled with the ruling, lawyer Brian Schiller said.
“This is absolutely what we wanted,” he said. “Our concern is the welfare of the animals so we are delighted to deal with the animal’s care.
“There will be a hearing date on Feb. 2 and more will be decided on that day, whether there needs to be a public guardian to address the animal concerns. (The judge) can make whatever orders he deems fit,” Schiller said.
Brown also criticized the THS for mismanaging charitable donations by using the money for legal bills and for not paying for their utilities.
A chartered accountant with Deloitte and Touche has been appointed receiver and manager of the THS.
“Given the urgency of the matter and the serious questions raised by the evidence about the current financial status of the THS, I am not prepared to leave it to the charity to place before the court the evidence it chooses about its financial health,” Brown wrote.
The THS will fully comply with the ruling, said spokesman Ian McConachie.
“We look forward to working with the court-appointed financial monitor to provide a full picture of the financial status of the Toronto Humane Society to the court,” McConachie said.
“The Toronto Humane Society continues to pay its bills to suppliers of goods and services,” he said. “We are providing for all the animals at the shelter with food, medicine and staff care.”
In another development with the beleaguered THS, its president Tim Trow has now resigned.
“He is facing criminal charges that he plans to vigorously defend himself,” Trow’s lawyer, Andras Schreck, said. “He has found it impossible to perform his responsibilities so he has stepped down.”
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