# Cruelty charges dropped against shelter staff ..



## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

_*Cruelty charges dropped against shelter staff..*_


http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100816/national/humane_society_charges



<!-- phugc --> By Mary Gazze, The Canadian Press
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_TORONTO - High-ranking Toronto Humane Society officials facing shocking allegations of animal cruelty saw their charges dropped Monday after the Crown laid out a multitude of constitutional problems with search warrants._

_The charges were laid in November in a highly publicized Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals raid in which then-president Tim Trow and four other senior managers were trotted out in handcuffs before television cameras._

_The OSPCA called the humane society a "house of horrors" in which it alleged sick and dying animals were neglected, food was covered in feces and a mummified cat was found in the ceiling._
_But because of serious flaws with the legality and execution of the search warrants, there is no reasonable prospect of conviction, the Crown said in a court document scathing in its indictment of OSPCA actions._

_"To prosecute the charges brought by the OSPCA on the basis of the evidence obtained in the particular circumstances of the warrant would bring the longer-term repute of the administration of justice into question," the Crown wrote._

_The presence of members of the media when the warrants were executed, seizures of irrelevant documents and search warrants that didn't expire were among the litany of problems the Crown identified._

_The Crown also questioned the OSPCA's motivation and noted ongoing animosity between the two organizations. "A review of the history between the OSPCA and the THS reveals differing philosophies relating to the treatment and care of animals that has on occasion resulted in litigation," the Crown wrote. "In the Crown's view there are significant issues related to the good faith exhibited by the OSPCA in the context of the nature, timing and execution of the warrant."_

_The OSPCA said it was "outraged" at the withdrawal of the charges, and lashed out at a news conference where it displayed photos of sick and bleeding animals it said were found in the care of the Toronto Humane Society._

_Chairman Rob Godfrey held a white and grey kitten named Hope, who he said was found abandoned on the side of a road. "Hope had a better chance of survival being abandoned on the side of the road than pretty much any animal did about one year ago at the Toronto Humane Society," he said._
_He insisted the organization conducted the raids for the sake of suffering animals, and not because of bad blood between the two organizations._

_He said OSPCA lawyers see the search as legal, and accused the Crown's office of ignoring evidence stored in a locker at the organization's headquarters. Godfrey said he thinks Monday's decision will send a message that animal cruelty laws in Ontario lack teeth and will not be enforced. "The truth of the matter is that if you want to be cruel to an animal, that Ontario is the place to be because there are no (enforced) laws that will actually seek to protect those (animals) who do not have their own voice," he said.The organization is calling on Ontario's attorney general to review the Crown's decision and is not ruling out further legal action._

_Brendan Crawley, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said senior Crown counsel in the ministry carefully reviewed the file before deciding the "serious constitutional issues" meant "the evidence would have been inadmissible." "I can tell you that the decision to withdraw the charges was not made lightly," he wrote in a statement._

_The charges Trow and the other officials were facing from November included animal cruelty, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and obstruction of a peace officer. Trow, who has since resigned his position, current president Bob Hambley and all but one of the current members of the board of directors were charged with new animal cruelty offences in May, but those too were dropped Monday._
_ Former chief veterinarian Stephen Sheridan is still facing complaints at the College of Veterinarians of Ontario, which were made by former veterinary staff, the Crown said._

_The Toronto Humane Society's lawyer Frank Addario said the organization's new board of directors is looking forward to regaining the trust of the community and donors, but knows it will take time to recover from nine months of negative publicity that he says didn't have to happen."This was a textbook example of how not to execute a search warrant," said Addario. "They made mistake after mistake that violated the basic rules about the right to be left alone and the rules about reasonableness. There's no explanation for that."_

_He wrote a letter to the Crown in June outlining reasons why the charges should be dropped._
_ In the letter, he said that the Toronto Humane Society has incurred $3 million in legal bills. He says it is a staggering amount relative to the society's average $10 million annual operating costs. The Crown said documents seized in the raids included statistical, adoption, and payroll records that dated from before the investigation began in 2008. It also said items seized from Trow included an "enormous" amount of material, some of which was unrelated to animal care. These included doctor's notes from employees, thank you letters, old magazines, Trow's prescription medication and a diamond pendant, according to the document._

_The Crown's documents also said it was concerned about the OSPCA's use of civilians to execute the warrants, including security guards and private investigators. The Crown said this fact was not disclosed when the warrant was requested._

_The Toronto Humane Society reopened in June with a new president and board, and the shelter's veterinary clinic has been reaccredited by the College of Veterinarians of Ontario._


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## Sam Bishop (May 8, 2008)

Wow, that's a screw up.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

Sam Bishop said:


> Wow, that's a screw up.


Totally! Another example of people letting their differences be more important than the animals they are trying to help. 

I hope the people on the receiving end of the charges go after the accusers and hit them hard legally. Those types of charges are a life sentence even if they are unfounded and unproven.


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## Mike Lauer (Jul 26, 2009)

even if animals are being mistreated you can still be a frigin wacko about it

reminds me of whale wars on TV, man i watched that show about 3-4 times hoping so bad I could watch them die int he cold seas, but it never happened. Those whalers are nicer than I would be.
they need to just open fire when they are being attacked


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## leslie cassian (Jun 3, 2007)

As a former Toronto resident, it's hard to know what to think. There seems to have been a lot of drama surrounding the Toronto Humane Society over the years. I can't help but think that there has to be a reason why Animal Control chose to build their own facility and end their relationship with the THS rather than renew their longstanding servce contract even after the THS did a massive renovation of their existing shelter facilities a number of years ago.


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## Brian McConnell (Feb 6, 2010)

apparently the charges were dropped not because there was no problems with the Toronto Humane Society but because the search warents were served wrong. apparently they used security guards and not proper people to serve the warents . That was the reason for dropping the case, a technical problem not lack of evidance.


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