The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals wants out of the farming business.
In a staff meeting this week in Stouffville, it said it’s losing money and needs to restructure. The leadership plan is to slim down to running animal shelters and rescue programs.
It gets $5.75 million a year to police animal welfare in the livestock, horse and zoo industries.
It has lost several controversial cases, such as accusing a well-respected dairy farmer of abusing his cows because some dry cows were thin and charges against Marineland in Niagara Falls for keeping dolphins and whales in captivity.
The officers were told during the briefing that the OSPCA will ask the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to take over investigations of farmers.
While the OSPCA has lost respect for some of the charges it laid against farmers, it has also been the point organization dealing with some horrendous cases of animal abuse where, for example, half the pigs in a large barn near Woodstock were dead and the others were starving.
