TORONTO—Animal Justice, Canada’s leading animal law organization, is applauding the Ontario government’s proposal to amend the Animals for Research Act and consult on regulations to ban cruel laboratory research using dogs and cats—the first province to do so. This follows Premier Doug Ford’s public pledge to ban these practices, a commitment that reflects growing public recognition that painful tests on companion animals have no place in modern science.
“Ontario is taking a groundbreaking step by introducing laws to end the cruel and outdated use of dogs and cats in experiments,” said Camille Labchuk, lawyer and executive director of Animal Justice. “People across the province see these animals as family, and there is little social license left for research that causes them fear, pain, and death—especially given that there are an increasing number of non-animal research methods that can produce superior data.”
Premier Ford’s promise to end research on cats and dogs came earlier this year after Animal Justice helped expose a secret dog lab at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London. Whistleblowers, whose collaboration with Animal Justice led to a bombshell Investigative Journalism Bureau story published by Postmedia, revealed that the dogs were subjected to invasive and painful heart experiments before being killed and discarded. In addition to spurring the Premier into action, the revelations led to the shuttering of the cruel research program.
“The Ford government’s proposed legislation lays a strong foundation to end the suffering of dogs and cats in labs here in the province. We’re urging the province to also introduce regulations to guarantee that dogs and cats currently used for tests are released from labs and placed in loving homes, so they can enjoy the freedom and safety that every cat and dog deserves,” said Ms. Labchuk.
Ontario also announced that it will consult on laws to outlaw cosmetic mutilations that harm dogs and cats, such as declawing cats and ear-cropping and tail docking of dogs. These procedures not only cause severe pain, but can also lead to long-term complications. As a result they have been banned in a growing number of jurisdictions across Canada and around the world, leaving Ontario as the only Canadian province with no restrictions on cosmetic mutilations.
Contact:
Josh Lynn
Public Relations Manager
[email protected]
Camille Labchuk
Executive Director
[email protected]