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A Voice For Those Who Have None |
April 8th, 2010 By:Admin
Antoine Goetschel is a lawyer for animals, which at first can strike people as odd, but is is an idea that was adopted some years ago by his native canton of Zurich in Switzerland. His official title is, lawyer for animal welfare in criminal matters, and he is the only one of his professional breed in the world today.
Goetschel can initiate and intervene in prosecutions under the country's animal abuse laws as public counsel representing the interests of the abused parties - the animals involved. Goetschel was in Montreal for a symposium at the McGill law faculty on animal law, a field that has steadily gained at least academic respectability in recent years. It is now taught by the majority of U.S. law schools and half a dozen of Canada's leading universities.
Switzerland has been and remains at the forefront of animal welfare legislation having some of the world's most progressive animal protection laws. Cattle and horses are to be regularly exercised outside barns, and "social" animals like pigs, goldfish and canaries can't be kept alone. It prohibits goldfish from being flushed alive down toilets and sets minimum space requirements for gerbils and proper water temperature for pet frogs.
David Wolfson, an adjunct professor at New York University who also lectures at Columbia and has written extensively on animal welfare says the U.S. has many laws, federal and state, against cruelty to animals and for the protection of endangered species, but that enforcement is spotty. Another problem, he suggested, is that enforcement is often an ancillary responsibility of government agencies, like the agriculture department, whose focus is more on other things.
Along with Goetschel and others in the animal welfare movement, Wolfson makes the point that societies that respect the dignity of non-human creatures are healthier societies and less prone to cruelty toward people. "Awareness of other creatures' suffering, compassion and empathy, are generally positive characteristics that are worth cultivating." One of the proven ways of detecting homicidal tendencies in people, he notes, is that they are given to animal cruelty as children.
Alanna Devine is the director of animal welfare for the local SPCA. She has a law degree from McGill, is a member of the Ontario Bar and has clerked for the Supreme Court states, that Quebec is about 100 years behind the rest of Canada and Canada is about 100 years behind a lot of the American states and those states are about 100 years behind the most progressive European countries such as Switzerland and Germany interms of animal welfare. She said a vital step the latter countries have taken is to recognize animals as beings whose dignity and welfare merit legal protection while in Canada they are still legally regarded as mere property. In Germany and Switzerland, animals are considered as creatures, not objects, separate from human persons under the law, but more then a chair or a car.
All three agree that the issue of legal rights for animals rigorously but reasonably applied is generally making headway in public acceptance and jurisprudence. Devine notes a creep of acceptance even in Canadian courts: in some divorce cases involving custody of household pets, the best interests of the animal have been taken into consideration by the judge.
Wolfson said it is astonishing how much acceptance of animal rights has already come about. "I'm optimistic that things are going to get in large part reasonably better. I think the message of empathy and compassion toward creatures that are capable of feeling pain and trying to find ways to reduce their suffering is a sound message and one likely to be successful in some significant way. Just how far it will go, I don't know."
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Manitoba About to Shake Up Rental Pet Policy |
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April 19th, 2010 By:Admin
In Winnipeg, a storm is brewing, a fur storm, landlords might soon be forced to accept tenants with pets. Animal owners are lining up behind an opposition bill that, if passed into law, would outlaw no-pet rules at rental properties across the province. Many people across the province have had to give up their pets when they move into a rental situation, and they especially are passionate about this bill. Since January, more than 4,000 people have signed up on a Facebook page to support Gerrard's bill (I support Fluffy's Law (Bill 218) in Manitoba), which was tabled at the end of the legislature's fall sitting. Groups such as the Winnipeg Humane Society have joined the battle and are calling on the NDP government to pass the bill, as many of the pets which have no where to go end up at the Humane Society. Ontario has this legislation and fewer pets there have been destroyed since they passed the bill. On the other side of the argument landlords feel they should have the right to choose whether they allow animals and some tenants have allergies, while others simply prefer to live in a pet-free building. One of the major organized groups which oppose the bill are the Professional Property Managers Association who represent landlords whoch are very adamant that pets remain optional. With all the balanced debate about this issue, it seems likely that this bill will not become law but strangers have happend!
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April 5th, 2010 By:Admin
A recent genetic study was released showing that the origin of the domestic dog can be traced to the Middle East, rather than East Asia which had been previously thought. The findings closely link the domestication of dogs with the rise of human civilization, which is the same area where domestic cats and many of our livestock originated, and where agriculture first developed. Dogs were found in human burial sites and in one famous example, the remains of a puppy were found curled up in the arms of a human skeleton. But the earliest history between people and mans best friend (12,000 to 13,000 years ago) was probably a love-hate relationship which persists in parts of the world today which might explain a cultural ambivalence towards dogs in the Middle East.
The study came to its findings by comparing the genetics of over 900 dogs representing 85 breeds and over 200 wild grey wolves (the domestic dogs closest wild relative) from around the world. What the comparisons showed was that the vast majority of dogs share more genetic markers with grey wolves in the Middle East then any other wolf population.
The archaeological record of dogs dates back 31,000 years to the remains of a Great Danelike specimen found in Belgium. The first people to domesticate dogs from wild wolves probably were nomadic hunter-gatherers, who were followed at a distance by canine interlopers in search of scraps. That relationship likely matured over thousands of years but it was often more of a nuisance than anything. Eventually, dogs provided protection, an early warning system, maybe even helped out with the hunt, and then eventually, even closer in, provided companionship.
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April 4th, 2010 By:Admin
The City of Calgary will be counting cats and dogs in the newest city census for the first time in a decade along with its other standard questions which determine population growth and other key figures. The City currently estimates that there are 112,000 dogs and about 110,000 cats. The estimate is based upon 10 year old data though, however the new census will help bring more accuracy to its estimates which will be used to determine how many dog parks are needed, percentage of licensed dogs and cats, etc.
The city census is done every April, with the results available in July. |
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The Easter Bunny, Not a Good Gift |
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April 3rd, 2010 - By: Admin
Animal shelters across Canada are asking people to stick with chocolate and candy and forgo getting a bunny for Easter. Pets as gifts are a nice thought, but it is never a good idea to give a person a living thing as surprise, pets are something that should be carefully thought of before getting, especially by the person who will care for that pet, given as a gift, they can overwhelm and frustrate the gift recipient. Directly after Easter shelters notice that bunny abandonment runs rampant as families figure out having a live in Easter bunny might not be for them.
Pet stores of course cater to fickle 'to be' bunny parents by loading up on especially cute and cuddly baby bunnies before Easter in order to sale as many as possible over Easter. Many parents and their children soon grow tired of the bunnies once they start to reach maturity, and begin to exhibit behaviour that they did not bargain for.
In many cases once people get tired of the bunnies antics they simply drive to a park or parking lot and just let the un-neutered/un-spayed rabbit go free, thinking the rabbit will have problem fending for itself in the wild. This increases rabbit populations roaming within cities as they are voracious breeders, two domestic rabbits can produce 200 offspring within a year.
So please whenever getting a pet, think very carefully, spend time doing research into what to expect of being a pet owner of the domesticated animal you are planning to get. Caring for a living breather being is not to be entered into on a whim.
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