Crowd rallies for furry rights
Hundreds call for tougher cruelty laws
At least two hundred animal lovers and dozens of leashed dogs turned up for a peaceful rally Sunday at the Alberta legislature in support of tougher animal cruelty laws.
“My dogs aren’t furniture,” St. Albert resident Misti Lee Lantz said. “If someone hurt one of my dogs, it’s not the same as hurting my couch. Dogs don’t have a voice so we have to speak for them.”
Lantz has six rescue dogs, with special permission from her city, plus cats and two foster dogs.
Her friend Robin McCaffry is the woman who adopted Sydney, a Mexican rescue dog who made headlines in 2013 after bolting just hours after she was moved here from Puerto Vallarta. Sydney was missing for seven months but turned up alive in November and she’s doing well, McCaffry said. In Mexico, the black lab-whippet cross lived on the streets and was rescued after being struck by a car.
“The animal abuse laws here have to be changed,” McCaffry said Saturday at the Charlee’s Angels for the Animals Rally.
She knows from experience how abuse affects an animal; just talking about Sydney made her choke up. The dog is still too skittish to attend a big rally like Sunday’s, she said. “Sydney had a horrible life and she deserved a good home.”
Local radio host Charlee Morgan staged the rally to raise awareness about animal cruelty in Alberta and push for tougher laws, both provincially and federally. Many of those in attendance carried signs supporting Bill C-232, which if passed would change Canada’s Criminal Code so animal cruelty charges no longer fall under the property section. “I am not property!” several placards read. “I am a living being!”
“All they want is friendship and companionship, and people are throwing them out of their vehicles and shooting them,” Brian Hanna said.
“Dogs don’t have a voice so we have to speak for them.”
MISTI LEE LANTZ
He came to the rally with his three beagles, one of which he is fostering.
“If we can be as loud as our F-150 trucks, we’ve got it made,” Morgan, founder of Charlee’s Angels for the Animals, shouted to the crowd during an impassioned speech. She said the January new so famuzzled Husky and kitten found dead in a Calgary alley triggered her to step up efforts to stop animal cruelty in this province. The dog she recently rescued “was tossed out of a car like garbage,” she said.
Alberta Solicitor General and Justice Minister Jonathan Denis also spoke at the noon-hour event, voicing his support for the cause and provincial Bill 205, the Animal Protection Amendment Act, introduced by Independent MLA Len Webber. Denis said he was disturbed by the husky dog case in Calgary, too, which happened in his constituency. He wants to see mandatory minimum fines and even jail time. “That ensures abusers don’t get off with a light sentence,” Denis said Sunday.
The fact so many people turned up on a cold spring day “tells me people are serious and want action,” Denis said. He hopes the bill will pass by summer.