Another skinny animal wandered amid broken-down vehicles while a putrid smell wafted from under a trailer where a dead calf was left to rot.

No one answered the door at the windowless house, so Sharpe posted photos online, asking his Facebook friends “what should I do?”

The photos went viral.

Posters advised him to call Ontario’s new hotline, set up to replace the OSPCA that no longer investigates abuse.

For nearly a century, the OSPCA provided animal protection services in Ontario but on March 4, 2019, after an Ontario court ruled a charity acting as a police force was unconstitutional, the organization gave notice it would halt those services. Their contract with the government ended June 28 and the government launched a new animal cruelty hotline as an interim measure while the province transitioned to a new system.

The OSPCA came under fire in recent years, accused of doing a poor job protecting animals, described as "opaque, insular and unaccountable" by Superior Court Justice Timothy Minnema. It's early days yet for the new hotline, but it appears the new approach is falling short of even what was in place before.

Sharpe — and hundreds of others alerted by his viral post — deluged the hotline with calls, but it was an exercise in frustration.

Many posted on social media that the hotline was not responding. Sharpe says the person who answered his call directed him to contact local police, but Durham police seemed unable to help.

“The officer told me that since the OSPCA stopped responding, they were getting all these calls, and police really didn’t know what to do.”

The officer seemed reassured by the farmer’s promise to bury the dead animal and medicate the sick calf, and left it at that, Sharpe said.

Sharpe’s viral Facebook post caught the attention of animal advocate Lynn Perrier — who’d been fighting for animal welfare ever since the Stouffville-based OSPCA killed 102 animals in a controversial “ringworm” scandal in 2010 — and Danielle Eden-Scheinberg, whose Dog Tales Rescue sanctuary in King Township has been fielding several calls a day since the provincial government stepped in.

With no response from the hotline, Perrier and Scheinberg visited the farm the next day. What they saw shocked them: cows with maggot-filled neck chains tethered to posts and rusted-out vehicles, pigs crammed into a dark, muck-filled, windowless pen, and fields filled with remnants of dead animals — so many bones they were visible from Google Earth.

An elderly man, who said he was the owner, told Scheinberg he didn’t want any help with the animals and ordered her to leave.

“He waved his walking stick in my face, said he would get his shotgun and shoot me,” Scheinberg says.

When the man’s ex-daughter-in-law and son arrived, they allegedly threw a cigarette butt at them and smashed the Jeep door on Danielle’s legs.

Scheinberg says they called police for help, then spent the next six to seven hours with the officer trying to reach the provincial hotline.

No one came to investigate nor return their or the officer’s calls that day, she says.

Finally, in desperation, Scheinberg says, she agreed to purchase the most vulnerable-looking animals.

“I don’t like to give money to people who abuse animals, but they needed medical attention. I had to get them out of there.”

The family demanded $5,000 and wouldn’t budge on price, she says. At the same time, the family called friends to bring their tractors and began cleaning up.

“So basically if an investigator comes now, they’re going to see way better conditions and the sick animals, gone with me.”

Phone calls to the rural Blackstock address went unanswered.

Const. George Tudos, a spokesperson for the Durham police, said he could not comment on the case and directed questions to the Solicitor General.

The Solicitor General's office would not comment on the investigation, other than to say, in an email, "provincial inspectors issued orders and have since verified compliance with all orders issued".

Spokesperson Andrew Morrison did not reply to questions about what orders were issued, whether any ongoing monitoring of was being done by the Solicitor-General’s office or whether animal-cruelty charges were laid.

"The investigation is now closed," he said in an email.

Asked how many inspectors have been hired, Morrison replied, "the ministry currently has provincial inspectors with a variety of specialties and experience in animal protection. This includes inspectors with specialized knowledge in the areas of livestock, equine, zoos and aquariums. Inspectors are responding to calls related to animals in distress."

The Scugog experience left Scheinberg disappointed with Ontario’s’ approach to animal protection and determined to fight for change.

If her large rescue operation had such a struggle finding someone to investigate, she says, “imagine if the average person sees animal abuse and tries to get help? Nobody cares.”

It wasn’t the first time complaints surfaced about the Scugog farm, Scheinberg says. Neighbours told her police and OSPCA were regularly contacted about abuse and wandering cows being hit by cars.

And it wasn’t the first time her organization has tried to get help from the OSPCA and the new hotline.

Spokesperson Alison Cross says the OSPCA is aware of the concerns related to the property. She says the public continues to mistakenly contact OSPCA about cruelty complaints and dispatchers redirect them to the provincial hotline.

“Ontario animals are not protected,” says Scheinberg. “This is a very bad, bad situation.”

Brenda Thompson agrees. Founder of Whispering Hearts, the largest horse rescue operation in Ontario, Thompson has won awards for her animal welfare work, participated in the provincial equine task force, and co-founded AWW-Ontario, a coalition of animal advocates.

She rattles off a list of cases across the province, from Kirkfield to Keswick, that she says were not properly dealt with by the hotline.

Rescue groups have been inundated since the government stepped in, she says.

“We are in trouble. I’ve never been so busy in 14 years. The hotline appears to be a black hole. Calls are not going anywhere and it appears there aren’t any officers on the road responding to complaints.”

Thompson says she has attempted to meet with the new chief inspector and the provincial animal welfare project manager, with no success.

“The province isn’t responding to anyone. They just put this hotline together to shut everyone up. It’s absolutely outrageous.”

“I respect what Dog Tales is doing. They’re trying to get help. But I don’t want to encourage public trespassing. People are going to get hurt. Someone’s going to get shot ... We aren’t equipped to visit properties and determine if there is abuse. We need a legit, professional investigator.”

Perrier shares that concern.

“It’s worse now than it has been in 100 years. At least before these changes, animals had some protection. Now there’s nothing. It’s just a mess.

Perrier believes Dog Tales should send a bill for $5,000 to the provincial government for doing their job for them.

“I have no doubt the whole family did a little dance after we left. They got away with abusing and neglecting animals and got paid. What message does that send to animal abusers?”

Back in King City, the cows’ neck wounds are healing, the pigs showing energy and affection in their clean, bright stalls, the calf is benefitting from antibiotics, nuzzling and looking for affection, and Dog Tales continues to receive calls from the public reporting problems with the hotline.

Sometimes, Scheinberg says, she and her team respond personally.

“I don’t care if it’s trespassing, if I get arrested. Sometimes, to create change, you have to do stupid things.”

UPDATE:

Photos of a farmer's field strewn with bones, emaciated livestock and rotting carcasses went viral last month and led to an investigation by Ontario's solicitor general. A spokesperson for the provincial government now says the investigation is closed but would not indicate whether charges were laid.

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Animal abuse? Control? Cruelty? What's the difference?