Protests

A walk for tougher animal cruelty laws in Windsor . . .

“Hopefully this is the start of many little rallies, not just in Windsor but all across Ontario,” said Tammy Deslauriers, the protest organizer. A Facebook group she started, “Windsor dog abuser sought,” had over 6,500 members as of Saturday afternoon.

Deslauriers said she’s hoping to take her case to Ottawa and strengthen the laws.

“I want life,” she said of a possible penalty for abusers. “These are lives. They have blood in them. They have a brain.”

Windsor-Tecumseh MP Joe Comartin called on the Harper government to introduce a bill toughening animal cruelty laws. His own private member’s bill, he said, will likely never make it through Parliament. The bill would set a ten-year maximum sentence for abusers and re-define animals as sentient beings.

. . . and a funeral in Newmarket.

A moment of silence was held Sunday outside a Newmarket shelter for the animals euthanized by the OSPCA as a result of a ringworm outbreak.

But amidst the tears and despair was plenty of anger and outrage.

More than 100 protesters, many dressed in black, called for the resignation of the board of directors and urged York Regional Police to lay criminal charges against the organization for causing unnecessary suffering, pain and death to the animals under its care.