VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Ontario is trying to come up with a solution as that province’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) transitions away from enforcement of animal cruelty laws.

The British Columbia SPCA continues to handle its own animal cruelty cases, and that’s unlikely to change.

Marcie Moriarty with the BC SPCA says it’s a crisis in Ontario where, as the OSPCA withdraws enforcement service, she says it is naive to think police forces will have the resources to handle all that province’s animal cases.

But she assures B.C. won’t end up in the same situation.

“Our constables are appointed under the Police Act, so one of the main concerns that was raised in the Ontario SPCA case had to do with a lack of accountability,” she says. “Our structure here is just simply different.”

She says the BC SPCA is uniquely positioned to do animal cruelty enforcement, but adds they are under-resourced and work closely with policing partners across the province to help as many animals as possible.

“What people need to remember is, the Ontario is paying the OSPCA about $5 million dollars. We actually do the service for free in British Columbia. We’re uniquely positioned to do this work, but without a doubt it is something that is under-resourced,” Moriarty says.

The OSPCA’s contract with the provincial government expired on April 1. The charity has said the cost of investigating more than 15,000 cruelty cases per year has become too burdensome and surpasses the $5.75 million it receives annually from the government.

Its role came into question in early January when an Ontario court ruled the government erred when it gave the OSPCA policing powers without also imposing accountability and transparency standards.

The OSPCA has said that ruling was the catalyst to abdicating its role as it shifts its focus from enforcement to the shelter business.

The Ontario government has not yet announced a new system for investigating animal crimes. In a letter sent to the OSPCA at the end of March, the province’s Community Safety Minister, Sylvia Jones, said she hoped the new legislation – based on a “new animal welfare enforcement model” – would be in force by January 2020.

“It’s a bit naive to assume that suddenly enforcement for all animal crimes is going to be taken over by a policing agency, and that the resources required to deal with animal cases, which are unique, will be adequately provided for,” Moriarty says. “I think that’s the crisis that’s happening right now in Ontario.”

The OSPCA has pointed to a model that exists between the New York Police Department and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. There, the police conducts the investigations while the ASPCA provides veterinary care, housing and forensic services.