Shelter Needlessly Euth HUNDREDS of Pets!!

STOP the needless killing and take care of the animals that are sick because of the shelters ADMITTED negligence!!!

York Region SPCA [Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

http://www.yorkregion.ontariospca.ca/9-contactyorkregion.shtml

UPDATE: Due to public outcry from caring people like you, the killing at this facility is said to have been stopped. Still, it would be good to keep a watchful eye on this "shelter;
http://animals.change.org/blog/view/350_shelter_animals_condemned_for_skin_infectionRINGWORM,
, HUMAN - CANADA: (ONTARIO) ANIMAL EUTHANASIA
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Mon 10 May 2010
Source: The Globe and Mail [edited]
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/york-spca-to-euthanize-all-animals-after-ringworm-outbreak/article1564000/>

About 350 animals will be euthanized at the York Region SPCA [Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] this week [week of 10 May
2010] after officials failed to contain an outbreak of ringworm that
had been festering for the past few weeks. That's the entire population of animals at the Toronto-area animal shelter, which has now been closed, said Kate MacDonald, chief executive officer of the Ontario SPCA.

"Over the ensuing weeks, we've done what we can to contain the
outbreak," she said. "It hasn't worked. We're in a scenario now where
the outbreak itself is severe enough that 2 of our veterinarians have
determined it will sadly be necessary to euthanize the animals in the
shelter."

The animals will be euthanized in the coming days, she said, and the
shelter has already been closed. It will likely reopen by next week
[week of 17 May 2010] after the shelter is sterilized completely.

"Euthanasia is always a last resort," she said. "If there was anything
else we could do, we were doing it." (NO, you are nOT!)

Ringworm is contagious among humans and highly contagious among
animals. (But NEVER fatal and usually goes away on its own!!!) Such outbreaks are very rare, Ms. MacDonald said.(Not if their is NEGLIGENCE involved!!)

The chairman of the Ontario SPCA (OSPCA) has promised an investigation
into the outbreak of ringworm that is forcing a Newmarket shelter to
kill hundreds of animals.

Rob Godfrey said there will be also be a review of the OSPCA's
operations so the deadly outbreak is not repeated. "We understand that
people out there are emotional and outraged at the idea of an animal's
life being ended and I share it with them."(Yeah, right!) The OSPCA's decision to euthanize many of the animals in the shelter has sparked an outcry from politicians, other animal care organizations, and members of the public. (As well it should!) http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/76930--no-mass-euthanasia-will-happen-ospca-chairman

Mr Godfrey said one reason the infection got out of hand was that
"protocols" for identifying contagious conditions were not followed.
When widespread signs of ringworm appeared a few weeks ago, animals
were not immediately isolated as they should have been. A manager of
the shelter has been fired as a result, he said.

However, Mr Godfrey said, while better practices might have mitigated
the situation, they likely would not have stopped the spread of the
infection entirely. "This is such an extraordinary strain of ringworm
that we can't say that even following those protocols would have
prevented this altogether," he said. The "particularly vicious strain"
is highly contagious and spreads quickly, he added.

With 6 workers in the shelter also infected, the OSPCA's veterinary
advisers said the outbreak was so bad that most of the animals had to
be put down to insure that more animals and people do not catch the
virulent fungal infection.

Still, not all of the 350 animals in the shelter will be euthanized,
Mr Godfrey said. About 20 animals that are less severely infected have
been identified and will be put into isolation at other vets' offices.

Kate MacDonald, chief executive officer of the OSPCA, said the killing
of the animals, which began Tuesday [11 May 2010], was
"heart-wrenching" but had to be done. About 60 dogs are at the
shelter, while most of the rest of the animals are cats, with a few
other species such as rabbits on the premises.

Shock over the decision spread to Queen's Park Tuesday [11 May 2010],
where Newmarket-Aurora MPP [member of the provincial parliament] Frank Klees demanded that the government stop the killing. Mr Klees said he wanted assurances that all other options would be investigated. "I
believe it is imperative that we take the time necessary to deal with
this matter in a humane and rational manner," he said in a letter to
Rick Bartolucci, the minister of Community Safety and Correctional
Services.

Mr Bartolucci told reporters that he has full confidence in the OSPCA
and he believes the decision was not made lightly, but is in the best
interest of the animals and the people who work with them.

Mr Bartolucci's spokeswoman Laura Blondeau said the OSPCA is an arm's
length agency and the minister has no authority to interfere in its
decisions.

A construction worker in Keswick, said he was shocked to find out that
a cat he had dropped off at the shelter several months ago was still
there, and might be euthanized. He had received the cat as a Christmas
present, but when his 9-year-old daughter showed signs of being
allergic to the pet, he reluctantly took it to the OSPCA for adoption.
He was upset that the cat might be killed when he thought it would be
in a new home by now. "I think it is crazy to do that," he said. "It
is a mass murder." [He] said he thought ringworm was treatable, and
can't believe the OSPCA won't go to the effort to try to stop the
infection without killing the animals. "It seems to me they are going
the cheaper route. %u0160 I don't understand how it got to this."

Maureen Anderson, an infectious-disease expert at the University of
Guelph, said some strains of ringworm can be more easily transmitted
to animals or people, and sometimes the fungi that cause it may be
resistant to antifungal drugs.

Ringworm is treatable, she said on a university blog, "but it is not
cheap or easy. Animals typically require systemic therapy (usually
oral medication, which can be very expensive particularly in large
dogs) as well as whole-body topical therapy %u0160 and they need to be
treated for several weeks."

Other animal care organizations said the OSPCA could have dealt with
the outbreak without killing the animals. The Durham region SPCA said
it has dealt with 2 major ringworm outbreaks in the past 10 years,
each of which involved more than 100 animals. They were difficult and
expensive to deal with, the group said in a statement, but "at no time
was there ever the thought of euthanizing all the animals."

The Toronto Humane Society (THS) also weighed in on the issue, saying
the OSPCA is taking "the easy solution rather than working to save
animals' lives." THS spokesman Ian McConachie said he is puzzled about
how an entire shelter could be infected with ringworm. Usually,
animals with suspected infections are isolated immediately and tested,
he said. "I don't know what protocol broke down, but something
happened." There needs to be a provincial investigation to make sure
it doesn't happen again, he said.

Euthanizing such a large number of animals, while some may argue that it may be humane to do this, one has to wonder since the disease can be
self-limiting, why euthanasia is the only answer here?  

DEMAND an Immediate STOP to this Mass Exterminations! STOP the killing NOW!