Officials from the Hamilton-Burlington Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will continue to probe animal cruelty complaints until at least June 28.

Brian Shiller, lawyer for the Ontario SPCA, the umbrella group for SPCAs in the province, said the Ford government has agreed in principle to their offer to continue animal cruelty investigations while it decides how those investigations will be done in the future.

The OSPCA announced in early March it would no longer be doing animal cruelty investigations as of April 1 but offered the province a three-month transition period.

“It hasn’t been signed off on yet,” Shiller said. “There’s no expectation there will be a gap in service.”