The Ontario SPCA is warning people against taking the law into their own hands after an instance last week where several animals were removed from a local apartment building by self-styled animal rescuers.
Alison Cross, director of marketing and communications with the Ontario SPCA's provincial office, issued an email statement May 2 in response to allegations currently circulating widely on social media.
Those allegations say the agency failed to act in the best interest of animals abandoned in a downtown Sudbury apartment building.
A petition signed by 1,906 people on the website Change.org calls upon Premier Kathleen Wynne to investigate the Sudbury branch of the SPCA.
The petition — as well as an email about the situation sent to Sudbury.com by a concerned citizen — say a Sudbury “animal rescuer” was notified April 28 by “the superintendent of an apartment building that three cats, 10 newborn kittens and a rabbit had been abandoned by a tenant.”
After contacting the SPCA, the rescuer was allegedly told the agency couldn't do anything because the animals are the responsibility of the landlord under the Landlord and Tenant Act.
So rescuers said on social media they went in and removed the two mother cats and 10 kittens — one kitten was found dead. A SPCA agent showed up April 29, the petition said, and told the rescuers they did not have the right to remove any animals.
“She went into the vacated apartment with the superintendent, viewed the horrific conditions of the trashed apartment, saw the one remaining cat and emaciated rabbit and left, leaving both animals behind,” the petition said.
The rescuers returned later anyway and removed the remaining animals, said the petition.
In an email, Cross said the Ontario SPCA is investigating “a case involving rabbits and several cats and kittens allegedly abandoned in an apartment in Sudbury."
She stressed that the welfare of the animals is always the society's top priority, but in working on the animals' behalf, the law must be respected.
“During the investigation, a break and enter occurred, and the animals were stolen. We believe the people that took the animals thought that the animals were in immediate distress and believed they were doing the right thing.
“We want to strongly remind the public that we must work within the law, and taking the law into your own hands can cause serious repercussions to both the animals involved and could jeopardize the investigation.
“In addition, you could face charges such as theft, interfering with an investigation and/or breaking and entering. We have located the animals and are continuing our investigation into the matter.”
