Over the last two years animal welfare complaints have mushroomed in Manitoba, jumping to 390 in 2007 from approximately 100 in 2005.
Those numbers don’t indicate a problem with animal care in the province, but are a measure of a successful awareness campaign. The Manitoba Farm Animal Council (MFAC) has heavily promoted the Animal Care Line, which is a confidential phone line for people to call when they believe an animal is in distress.
However, the executive director of MFAC noted the boom in complaints does not mean that more farmers are ratting on their neighbours.
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“It’s a tool for us, as an agricultural community, to start taking care of each other again,” said Shanyn Silinski, at MFAC’s annual conference, held April 18 in Winnipeg. “If you notice a neighbour who has a neat as a pin farm… all of a sudden things aren’t taken care of and the animals look hungry, it’s better to phone and head off a wreck than wait till someone else calls because there’s dead animals in the field.”
Silinski and her colleagues at MFAC have been busy the last few years, spreading the word on Manitoba’s animal care line. Last year they provided care line stickers and information about MFAC to all the municipal workers in the province. This spring they are telling utility workers about the program.
“They’re travelling those secondary roads all the time,” said Silinski, which means they will notice if something doesn’t look right on a particular farm.
Silinski said the animal care line has been around for several years, but it was never promoted effectively.
The word is obviously getting out to the public because awareness of the care line has contributed to the jump in complaints.
Participants at the MFAC meeting in Winnipeg speculated that an increased awareness of animal welfare may have also contributed to the jump in complaints.
Earlier this year, a case of severe neglect made national headlines when 27 horses were found dead on a ranch near Edmonton.
In order to nail down the factors behind situations like that, the province of Manitoba is planning to issue the data from the animal welfare complaints.
Tim Pasma, a veterinarian with Manitoba Agriculture, told the audience at the MFAC meeting that the province is going to collate the causes of incidents, which will allow problems to be identified and solved.
He gave the example of the connection between a mental illness like depression and animal neglect.
In addition to the Animal Care Line (204 945-8000), people can contact Silinski by e-mail at info@mbfac.ca.
