Help Captive Animals In Ontario
Action Alert from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Born Free USA
September 2013

ACTION

Contact the Honourable Premier Kathleen Wynn and the Honourable Madeleine Meilleur to thank the Premier and the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services for their willingness to enact humane legislation on behalf of captive native and exotic wildlife in Ontario, and to encourage the trend of animal welfare.

Honourable Premier Kathleen Wynn
Prime Minister of Ontario
Main Legislative Building
Queen’s Park
Toronto ON M47 1A1, Canada
[email protected]
phone (416) 325-1941)

Honourable Madeleine Meilleur
Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services
18th Floor
25 Grosvernor Street
Toronto, ON M7A 1Y6, Canada
[email protected]
phone (416) 326-5000)

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

In Ontario, anyone can keep any kind of exotic animal allowed by the municipality. There is no licensing requirement and most regions have no restrictions. Marine mammals are regularly allowed into a facility that already has nearly forty beluga whales, and would like more. Poisonous snakes, tigers, cougars, and other potentially dangerous animals may be privately kept. Ontario, where I live, contains about a third of Canada’s human population, yet does not even have a zoo licensing program.

Little is done to remedy this lack of control, even after someone is killed by an exotic "pet" or there is yet another exposé of exotic animals kept in abysmal conditions in some terrible little roadside zoo.

But, today, there is hope. The Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, the Honourable Madeleine Meilleur, is working on legislation that could make a huge difference in the lives of exotic animals in the province of Ontario.

We are not asking for much: just what so many other Canadian, American, and other jurisdictions have, which is a law on the books that provides at least some level of protection for marine mammals and other exotic wildlife kept privately. The legislation would, for the first time, require some standards of animal care and at least give authorities the ability to shut down the worst facilities that most abuse animals.

Please help us succeed! Write to the Honourable Premier Kathleen Wynn and the Honourable Madeleine Meilleur to thank the Premier and the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services for their willingness to enact humane legislation on behalf of captive native and exotic wildlife in Ontario, and to encourage the trend of animal welfare.

SAMPLE LETTER:

I want to express my gratitude for your willingness to enact humane legislation on behalf of captive native and exotic wildlife in Ontario.  This is a new and exciting development! 

It is important to establish meaningful regulations controlling zoos, aquariums, and private collections, both in the interest of the animals and in the interest of the safety of the general public.  While the need for such regulations has long been recognized, no Ministry has previously been willing to take the responsibility.  That is what makes your initiative and support so important! This effort to get effective zoo licensing in Ontario is entering its third decade. 

It is time for change. Your help can assist us in making that change happen.

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Thank you for everything you do for animals!

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