Animal Cruelty

The Alberta gvernment is currently in the process of revising the province's animal cruelty regulations and here are some comments about the proposal(s)

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To view the proposed bill S-213, click here

Comments from the humane society about bill S-213

News flash from the humane society opposing bill S-213

There is an alternate proposal gaining support which is bill C-373. To review this bill, click here

Review of the differences between bill S-213 and bill C-373, click here

For those who desire to contact their Parliment representative, for those living in postal code T0L 1R0, the addresses are:

Macleod, Alberta MENZIES, Ted (Conservative) Parliamentary Address House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 Telephone: (613) 995-8471 Fax: (613) 996-9770 E-Mail: Menzies.T@parl.gc.ca

Constituency Address 4925 1st Street West, P.O. Box 40 Claresholm, Alberta T0L 0T0 Telephone: (403) 625-5532 1-866-636-9437 Fax: (403) 625-5592 TTY: E-Mail: menzit1@parl.gc.ca

A sample letter (please modify it to make yours unique):

Dear Member of Parliament, I am writing to urge you to support Bill C-373, a private member’s bill introduced on October 30th by Ajax-Pickering MP Mark Holland.

As you may know, the current animal cruelty provisions in the Criminal Code do not adequately address severe instances of animal cruelty and abuse. The law is nearly 115 years old, and reflects the values of a bygone era. The current laws don’t properly protect wild or stray animals. Penalties are laughable, and are completely ineffective as a deterrent for these crimes.

Bill C-373 strikes an excellent balance between protection of animals and protection of lawful activities such as fishing, hunting, trapping, farming and scientific research. Among other changes, Bill C-373 will extend equal protection to owned and unowned animals (including strays and wildlife); will remove animal cruelty crimes from the property section of the Criminal Code, and will make it easier to prosecute those who neglect their animals to the extreme.

Bill C-373 is identical to the various bills on this issue that have been introduced in the House of Commons over the last seven years. A previous version of Bill C-373 – C-10B – came excruciatingly close to becoming law in 2003 and was supported by the vast majority of Canadians, most animal industry groups, animal protection groups as well as all parties in the House but was held up by the Senate and then died due to the election.

By urging you to support Bill C-373, I am also urging you NOT to support Bill S-213, a private bill to amend the animal cruelty provisions of the Criminal Code introduced in the Senate by Senator John Bryden.

Bill S-213 is wholly inadequate. While it does increase penalties, it makes no changes to the current offences: it does not close the gaping holes in the current legislation, and will continue to allow animal abusers to go unpunished.

Sincerely,