Papanack Zoo under scrutiny after video released
Province urged to regulate after release of ‘shocking’ Papanack Zoo video
Animal rights advocates will rally Monday outside the Orléans office of Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services MarieFrance Lalonde asking her to act against the Papanack Zoo after the release of “a shocking” video by an animal-rights group.
Animal Justice, an Ottawabased organization of lawyers fighting for animal protection, has released a video the group alleges depicts animal abuse at the zoo in Wendover, east of Ottawa.
It’s calling on people to write to Lalonde, Premier Kathleen Wynne and their local MPP, demanding that zoos face mandatory licensing.
Ontario has the dubious distinction of being the “roadside zoo capital of Canada,” said Camille Labchuk, who heads the group, which is part of a growing chorus of those calling for zoo licensing.
“It’s incredibly disturbing, that we’re the biggest province with the most animals kept in captivity yet we have the worst laws across the country,” Labchuk said.
“They need to license and regulate zoos. Ontario is an embarrassment and while Ontario turns its backs on animals, they are suffering.”
An employee of the Papanack Zoo, which has disabled its Facebook account, said that they had no statement to release Sunday on the video, purportedly filmed by a former zoo employee last year, which allegedly shows abuse and admissions of animal cruelty.
In the video, animals are seen pacing and rocking, and showing evidence of distress, according to Animal Justice. A raccoon and a skunk have their mouths pried open to bare their teeth for a camera.
A man describes how a lion cub was repeatedly hit in the face to train it and how baby animals are taken from their mothers. A woman is heard describing how deer from a rare breed died running into a fence.
Animals are also described as being held in small cages for the winter.
Lalonde issued a statement Sunday highlighting the role of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which confirmed that it is aware of the allegations and is investigating.
“I am very concerned by videos that have surfaced about the Papanack Zoo, and I understand that the OSPCA has opened an animal cruelty investigation,” Lalonde said. “The Ontario government takes the issue of animal welfare very seriously.”
The OSPCA, with $5.5 million a year from the Ontario government to investigate animal cruelty, has a “voluntary registry system” for zoos and aquariums and inspects them at least twice a year, Lalonde’s office said.
However, a spokeswoman for the OSPCA said that the licensing and regulation of zoos is beyond its jurisdiction.
“If members of the public want to voice their opinions about the laws surrounding zoos, they should contact their local MP, MPP and/or municipality,” Melissa Kosowan said in an emailed statement.
Susan Shafer of Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums, whose 31 members range from the Toronto Zoo to Ottawa’s Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo, said they share the activists’ concern about the lack of regulation.
“The perspective is that this kind of thing creates a bad name for zoos in general because there’s so much good work being done by zoos — so much conservation and so much research,” Shafer said.
No one can say how many animals are in roadside zoos in Ontario, Labchuk said.
“There’s no registry or tracking and literally anyone can set up a roadside zoo or a private menagerie in their backyard,” she said.
“The province has no way of overseeing any of these facilities. Even if they did have a way of tracking them, they couldn’t do anything about the conditions in those facilities since there are no regulations that pertain to them to allow the government to shut them down or require changes.”
We’re the biggest province with the most animals kept in captivity yet we have the worst laws across the country.