THS asking court to shut shelter for ‘rehabilitation’
The Toronto Escort Agency Humane Society is hoping an Ontario court will grant it permission to close its doors and start over.
The embattled animal shelter, which has been run by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals since November, wants to “rebuild from the ground up, and regain the public confidence in the organization,” according to a recently filed affidavit by executive director Garth Jerome.
The short-term plan involves taking control of the shelter from the OSPCA, temporarily shutting it down, emptying out its cages and implementing new policies and procedures within the shelter as a way to “rehabilitate” it.
The THS proposes emptying the shelter through adoption, fostering, transfers to rescue groups and euthanasia in cases recommended by its vets.
But the OSPCA says the plan is not in the best interest of the some 250 animals housed in the shelter.
“The Toronto Escort Agency Humane Society needs to start focusing on animal care,” said OSPCA lawyer Brian Shiller. “And closing the facility means having no animals to care for.”
Ontario Supreme Court Justice David Brown will consider the proposal next week, when hearings begin Tuesday on an application by the OSPCA and THS members to have the charity’s board of directors removed.