Educational Value in Animal Welfare Enforcement

By Jamie Shanks, Communications Branch, Regina

Don Ferguson, Executive Director of Animal Protection Services of Saskatchewan (APSS), has a trivia question for you.

“What percentage of all law enforcement encounters across Canada are resolved through education? What would you guess?”

Ten per cent, perhaps? Twenty-five?

“What if I told you it’s closer to 98 per cent?” asks Don. Contrary to common perception, he explains, only about two per cent of enforcement contacts that occur nationally every day actually result in tickets, violations or charges laid—thanks to officer discretion and an emphasis on education and compliance to help resolve encounters in a positive way.

This is, in fact, one of the guiding principles of APSS and its Animal Protection Officers who are responsible for the enforcement of The Animal Protection Act, 2018 in Saskatchewan. It’s a philosophy that results in nearly identical outcomes, Don says.

“You can look at our case files, and only about four to six per cent of all of our calls result in the seizure of animals being taken into protective custody. The rest are resolved through compliance and education.”

It’s a testament to the dedication, expertise and professionalism of the highly trained Animal Protection Officers, who operate on the front lines of ensuring the protection of animals in Saskatchewan. The Act provides the authority for an Animal Protection Officer to take any action they consider necessary to relieve animal distress, including delivering them into the custody of an appropriate agency for care or safety. This includes educating animal owners on the provision of adequate care to relieve animal distress, with an unwillingness to act on recommendations usually leading to animals being taken into protective custody. The complexities of potential scenarios related to animal welfare also demand a high degree of coordination and collaboration; for example, police or social workers can potentially bring in Animal Protection Officers for support, or vice versa.

The majority of complaints received and investigated by APSS involve dogs. The next most common animal is typically cattle, given that Saskatchewan has the second-largest cattle herd in the nation. In such cases, APSS may consult with two key groups of experts in the course of an investigation to determine if adequate care is provided or needed: registered veterinarians with the Saskatchewan Veterinary Medical Association and livestock and feed extension specialists with the Ministry of Agriculture. Registered veterinarians are relied upon for technical expertise in actual diagnosis or treatment, and the ministry specialists provide consultation on feed rations to ensure a producer is in compliance and can maintain their animals in a state of good health.

For APSS, their specific focus is on the requirement that a person who owns an animal or is responsible for its care cannot allow it to be in distress. Aside from the Act, this includes obligations under established guidelines or codes of practice, such as those relevant to production animals like livestock, which are also a natural but important component of maintaining public trust in agriculture. While the definition of “distress” goes well beyond simply being deprived of food or water, the two main types of animal cruelty are neglect and deliberate physical abuse, and most complaints received by APSS involve neglect in some form.

But such neglect, however unfortunate in reality, may or may not actually be deliberate—and this is a fundamentally important detail.

“Humans with problems are what causes animal problems, and they may have their own challenges, whether they’re financial or related to mental health or all kinds of issues,” Don says. “We can fix the animal problem… what we can’t always fix is the human problem that caused it. There doesn’t have to be a mens rea, or ‘guilty mind’ component, like there is in the Criminal Code where it’s got to be wilful.”

That said, being found in contravention of the Act can potentially result in stiff penalties: a person found guilty could be subject to a maximum fine of $25,000 or up to two years imprisonment, or both, with subsequent offences also incurring, in addition to the above, a fine of $1,000 for each day an offence continues.

Anyone with animal welfare concerns is encouraged to contact the appropriate enforcement agencies like APSS, which relies on the public as a significant source of information, Don says.

And, he adds, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

"If they have a concern, and they’re not sure, we’d rather have them call it in and have us go do an investigation and find out everything’s okay, than not make a call and we end up having animals in distress.”

As defined in The Animal Protection Act, 2018, an animal may be considered in distress if it is:

• Deprived of food or water needed to maintain a normal state of health
• Deprived of shelter
• Deprived of medical attention or veterinary care
• In pain, wounded, abused or neglected
• Housed in unsanitary conditions
• Abandoned

Initial signs of distress may include restlessness, inappetence (lack of appetite) and an altered temperament. Chronic distress in cattle can lead to reduced growth and fertility rate and suppressed immunity, so producers should routinely evaluate their animals and act promptly to address situations that may result in distress. A herd veterinarian can provide medical attention, if required.

Have an animal welfare concern? Please report it to Animal Protection Services of Saskatchewan at 306‑382‑0002.