Farm animal councils across the country are attempting to minimize the impact of a new report on livestock transportation in Canada.Last week, the World Society for the Protection of Animals released a report called Curb the Cruelty, which documented incidents of extreme negligence and unnecessary suffering of livestock during transport. The WSPA reviewed Canadian Food Inspection Agency reports to write its own report, said Melissa Matlow, programs officer for the WSPA’s Canadian chapter in Toronto.Matlow, the lead author of the report, called the information in the CFIA’s inspection reports shocking.“I was surprised by the number of animals that were arriving dead and crippled and plus the severity of those injuries,” she said. “But I was probably most shocked by the passive reaction to some of these problems by several CFIA inspectors.”In one of the most extreme examples documented, a live and injured cow was dragged off a truck and dumped into a pile of dead animals at a rendering plant in Lethbridge. The animal was left there alive for nearly two days before it was euthanized.The CFIA report on the incident showed that the truck driver violated a Health of Animals Regulation that prohibits unloading an animal in a way that causes undue suffering. But the WSPA found no record of the CFIA penalizing or fining the driver.Matlow said the CFIA doesn’t release details of these violations to the public.“We need to be more transparent about this,” she said.“That’s why we see repeated problems.”The WSPA’s analysis generated more than the usual amount of attention for an agricultural issue, because the Globe and Mail ran a feature story on the report. The article prompted Cynthia Mackay, executive director of the Ontario Farm Animal Council, to write a letter to the paper’s editor, rebutting the WSPA’s criticism of Canada’s animal transport system.“I think they are using extreme examples and trying to make it look like the norm,” Mackay said. “For readers of the Globe and Mail, my purpose was to definitely put the report into perspective.”Lorna Baird, executive director of the Alberta Farm Animal Council, added there has been an effort across the industry to provide training for drivers.“The Canadian livestock industry (from producer organizations to processors to transporters) has joined forces to develop the only multi-species livestock transportation training and certification program in North America,” she wrote in an e-mail.“This training program, already carried out in many provinces, will further improve animal care during transport.”In the House of Commons last week, Ontario NDP MP Malcolm Allen said millions of livestock are shipped across Canada every year, many diseased and dying en route, and the government is doing nothing about it.Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz dismissed the WSPA report as media hyberbole.“The member opposite would be better served if he did not read these ridiculous articles that sometimes appear in magazines.”
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