New Brunswick SPCA's and their shelters seem to be doing things right!

I think anyone who has heard the story about the "breeder" of the pomeranians who didn't want to give up his dogs and instead smashed their heads with a hammer and tried to kill them all instead of giving them up to the New Brunswick SPCA officer a few week's ago is incredulous #1 that anyone could inflict such cruelty on another living thing, and #2 that any animal could live through such abuse.

But live through it he did - and it looks like a 9 year old dog named Ronald might have some quality of life after all. This photo shows Ronald with the manager of the Oromocto SPCA shelter who took in the 8 dogs after they were rescued from the place that they had been living previously - I'm going to post the article below so that you can read the tragic story. This post is about that story and a couple other things I wanted to point out about New Brunswick as opposed to Nova Scotia.

#1 is that the New Brunswick SPCA seems to actually treat their shelters like SHELTERS for their animals. In conversation with Tracy (the manager of the Oromocto shelter) - when they took in those 8 little dogs from the seizure - what did they do with those dogs? They immediately sent them out to foster homes! Can you imagine! Can you think of all the exposure those little dogs must be getting from the local media up there - potentially ruining any hope for conviction in a possible cruelty charge! Oh, I'm sorry - I'm talking such nonsense...

Another thing that I love about the Oromocto SPCA shelter is the fact that they only have seven cages anyway - but what they DO have is twenty-two foster homes - now that's the kind of odds I love to hear - usually "shelters" stats are the other way - lots of cages and no foster homes.

Another fabulous shelter in New Brunswick is Fredericton - they have got a fabulous system set up there too - and I've been getting their newsletter for the last couple years - and they really care about the animals there too. And one of the major volunteers for that shelter has just moved to the HRM - and has just recently become a Board of Directors volunteer for the NS SPCA - I hope that if there is a shake up that she doesn't become disillusioned and leave at this critical time in the NS SPCA's history - because the animals in Nova Scotia are going to need people like her more than ever.

I noticed that on the BOD of the Fredericton SPCA was a lady who worked on a project that the NB SPCA did a couple years ago on chained dogs which got a lot of press and that I got contacted about since I do stuff with Dogs Deserve Better - I remember that it was a really fabulous educational initiative - I have never seen the NS SPCA initiate anything educationally on their own - there was the Porkpie Hat commercials a couple years ago - but I think it was the marketing company who started that, not the NS SPCA.

Another thing that intrigued me about the article about the pomeranians came when I read a really short article about the bust:

Decision awaited on cruelty charges

OROMOCTO - The New Brunswick SPCA will present its investigation into a case of animal cruelty in Minto to the Crown this week. SPCA officers seized eight dogs from a Minto home on March 6. They include a nine-year-old Pomeranian that had suffered a fractured skull from a blow to the head and a newborn puppy that has since died. Many had few teeth, and some were very thin, said Oromoto and area SPCA supervisor Tracy Marcotullio. Five dogs were killed by blunt force trauma before SPCA officers could rescue them. A decision has yet to be made on criminal charges.

What that article says is that the bust happened on March 6th - today is March 19th - and the NB SPCA has already gotten the charges all together and ready to go to the crown. Certainly there weren't 130 animals - but there were quite a few animals, and almost all of them were in very bad condition - a lot worse than any of the Celtic Pets animals.

And last, but not least in this rant comparing Nova Scotia to New Brunswick is BSL - breed specific legislation - and maybe this is the most important, and most timely.

The government of New Brunswick very sagely held public hearings about whether to enact BSL on a province wide basis a couple years ago - and people came from across Canada to give their views and submit their opinions - even I sent a letter (and got a reply back from the Minister in charge of the review no less!) - and the government decided to NOT enact breed specific legislation - showing the world that this end of the country understands that all dogs are the same - and it's the owner and not the dog who is the problem.

This spring - the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities, headed by the idiotic Lloyd Hines - of the municipality of Guysborough - are convening to try to figure out how to implement breed restrictions THROUGHOUT the province of Nova Scotia - from one end right through to the other. That's what they want, and they're going to get it done. Starting in May, 2008. So heads up people. Nova Scotia is tumbling down into a crevasse of dog hating, can't take your dog anywhere, the idiots are winning wonderland.

It looks like New Brunswick is becoming the new Shangri-la - Mary - you're going to wish you'd never left Fredericton!

Here's the article about those sad little pomeranians:

Charges expected in animal-abuse case

Ronald is defying the odds and is continuing to recover from a traumatic blow to the head that left him with a fractured skull.

The nine-year-old Pomeranian was one of eight dogs rescued March 6 by New Brunswick SPCA officers from a home in Minto.

Five others were killed by what the SPCA described as "blunt-force trauma" before they could be taken to safety.

Among those left for dead was Ronald.

Tracy Marcotullio, a supervisor with the Oromocto and area SPCA, said the tiny dog is showing remarkable signs of recovery.

"He's done quite well," Marcotullio said Monday. "When he came in, he couldn't stand. He would just flop over.

"When we did the X-ray and realized he had a skull fracture, it kind of all made sense."

The good news is that Ronald is eating, can stand and walk a few steps, she said.

"He is certainly not out of the woods," Marcotullio said. "It's still iffy. When you look at the X-ray, you can see where the blunt-force trauma was and where his skull is actually separated.''

She said it's a serious injury.

"He's doing really well, but we never say anything is fine because we have never really dealt with this situation before."

Ronald may be facing surgery, depending on his recovery.

The incident in which Ronald was injured and the other dogs killed is under investigation by both the New Brunswick SPCA and District 2 RCMP.

Sgt. Ken Goodine said police are in the final stages of putting evidence together and will be submitting their findings soon to the Crown prosecutor's office in Burton, where the final decision on a charge or charges will be made.

"The evidence will be presented to the Crown this week," Goodine said Monday. "The investigation has been pretty well pulled together."

Paul Melanson, chief inspector with the New Brunswick SPCA, said his organization will be meeting soon with the RCMP. He said the N.B. SPCA Act allows his organization to file its own charges, but no decision has been made yet.

Marcotullio said there were eight dogs seized from the Minto location that day. Of those animals, a newborn puppy has since passed away, leaving seven.

One of the dogs will have to have a limb amputated because of "an old broken leg" that was never set properly. It dangles separately from the bone it should be attached to.

Another Pomeranian will have to have surgery on its kneecap.

"Many of them have few, if any, teeth," Marcotullio said. "Quite a few of them were very thin when they came in because, we assume, (they) were being fed large pieces of food that they can't eat. We have them on a diet of very small kibble and canned food."

The seized dogs range in age from the newborn to five months -- with the oldest, Ronald, being between the age of nine and 10.

All of the seized dogs are in foster care because they aren't ready for adoption yet. Several Oromocto SPCA staff members are participating in caring for the animals, with Ronald falling under the personal care of an area veterinarian.

Marcotullio said she and her staff have seen many things over the years, but this incident has left them shaken.

"This particular one was disturbing in its own right, just because of the nature of what it was," Marcotullio said. "I've been doing this for 10 years and we've have seen some really bad things, but this tops it. We've had animals that were maybe in worse shape, but this has been so brutal.

"The brutality of what happened that day, is inexplicable."