WELFARE - City of Calgary Recognized by Nature Canada

Nature Canada, Canada’s oldest national nature conservation charity, presented their inaugural Safe Cats Safe Birds Award to the City of Calgary for its progressive municipal policy that keeps cats safe and saves bird lives.

“Our Keep Cats Safe and Save Bird Lives national campaign asks Canadian cat owners to join a growing movement of people who keep their cats supervised if they go outdoors. Unsupervised outdoor cats are at considerable danger from collisions with cars, fights with wildlife, diseases and poisons and are responsible for an estimated 100 to 350 million bird deaths a year in Canada,” said Eleanor Fast, Executive Director for Nature Canada.

“The City of Calgary’s Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw is a model for other municipalities to follow.”

The Calgary bylaw requires both cat and dog owners to license their pets, and to keep animals from roaming at large.

The bylaw is an important factor in Calgary’s success, but the strong public education campaign, the ‘I Heart My Pet’ rewards program and the promise to return licensed pets are motivation for pet owners, earning Calgary the highest compliance rates in the country.

“It is an honour for The City of Calgary to receive Nature Canada’s inaugural Safe Cats Safe Birds Award,” said Naheed Nenshi, Mayor of Calgary.

“Our approach focuses on accessible service and education that encourages responsible and accountable pet ownership. The result is a safe and healthy community for pets, and I’m proud of the work done by my colleagues at The City of Calgary to achieve this.”

The conflict between cat lovers and bird fanciers is a long one with deeply entrenched and very opposing views.

Like Nature Canada, organizations like the University of Guelph, by conducting surveys and research around the issue of cat population and protecting the birds, are trying to find ways for the groups to work together.

“The hope is that we can bring together cat supporters and bird advocates to take actions to improve cat welfare and reduce the effect of outdoor cats on birds,” Tyler Flockhart, a Liber Ero post-doctoral researcher at U of G, said.

HEALTH - Veterinarian Recognized as Person of National Significance

(Dr. Frank W. Schofield)

This week Parks Canada and the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada commemorated the importance of Dr. Frank W. Schofield as a person of national historic significance.

A special ceremony was held on September 30th in Guelph, Ontario with members of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, the University of Guelph and Ontario Veterinary College, the Schofield Memorial Foundation, and Dr. Chung, former Prime Minister of Korea.

Schofield was considered an outstanding veterinarian who was nationally and internationally known for his research in animal disease, in particular sweet clover poisoning of cattle, infections in young animals and viral mink enteritis, which led to improvements in both human and animal health.

His research explained bacterial, viral and toxicological ailments, which he found new ways to prevent or treat. He identified the dangers of Escherechia coli and developed Warfarin, still an important anti-coagulant.

Through his scientific, missionary and political work in Korea, he contributed to the democratic development of that country and is recognized there as a patriot.

He was closely involved with the independence movement by documenting the mass jailing, torture and deaths associated with the struggle for Korean sovereignty.

At the time of his retirement from the Ontario Veterinary College, almost 75% of all English speaking veterinarians in Canada had studied under Dr. Schofield.

Schofield is the only veterinarian to be recognized as a person of national significance by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

Created in 1919, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada advises the Minister of Environment and Climate Change regarding the national historic significance of places, people and events that have marked Canada’s history.

Do You Own a Dog? Interested in Dog Behaviour? Take This Survey

Researchers at the University of Guelph are looking for dog owners to complete a 20 minute survey on dog behaviour.

Upon completion you will entered into a draw for a chance to win $50!

This survey aims to assess how well dog owners can recognize fear in dogs, and if this can be improved with training. The results will help improve the validity of future dog temperament studies.

Visit http://fluidsurveys.com/s/OwnerFearRecognition/ to participate.

Urban Animal Scholarship Finalist Studies Urban Feline Populations

Dr. Flockhart removes a tracking collar. Photo credit: Eric Foss/CBC

Accurate data do not exist regarding the feral cat population in Ontario. Dr. Tyler Flockhart is a post-doctoral fellow that is studying feline overpopulation and its management. In 2012, the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies estimated that approximately 600,000 cats in Canadian shelters did not find homes. According to Toronto Animal Services, in 2014 the feral cat population in Toronto was approximately 100,000.

One issue is that no one knows how many feral cats reside in Canada. Not only do feral cats disturb gardens and yowl at night, it is also believed that in Canada they kill hundreds of millions of songbirds each year. Cats can also carry toxoplasmosis; a parasitic disease that can infect humans.

The Chair of Guelph Humane Society, Dr. Shane Bateman said, "A good scientific look at history would tell us that the current model [euthanizing stray cats that do not find homes] just simply doesn't work. There are probably more cats today than there have ever been, and so euthanizing and trying to get ahead of the population explosion that way just simply isn't a good option, and it's a very, very unpalatable option for communities who are more and more concerned about animal welfare. Everybody has an opinion and sometimes those opinions can be very passionate and that only adds to the challenge around this work." 

Flockhart said, "People are looking for solutions and quite often those solutions need to deviate from what's been done over the past 30, 50, 60 years."

In 2014, Toronto started a trap, neuter, return program. Bateman said, "Until we have more scientific information about the utility and importance of tools like trap-neuter-return or accessible or low-cost spay-neuter, it's difficult to know because these are huge resource-intensive programs and projects." 

"We have pretty good information on the number of cats that come in and go out of animal shelters, but we don't know the number of cats on the street for sure, and we don't even really know the proportion of cats that have indoor-outdoor access. These are really basic questions that require numbers so that we can address the magnitude of the risk and how we might address it", said Flockhart. 

Flockhart is performing research to answer several critical questions. He is developing a population model for cats and is tracking feral cats in Toronto and Guelph to examine their movements. Flockhart’s research should provide crucial information on feral cat populations and successful management of Canada’s feral felines. Flockhart will be presenting this research at the Summit for Urban Animal Strategies in Lake Louise this October.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

View Flockart on Canada AM - July 27, 2015

U of Guelph Seeks Input from Animal Shelter Management

Dr. Tyler Flockhart is performing research on understanding the capacity of animal shelters for cats and dogs,  the length of time animals stay in the shelter, and the size of the municipalities/towns/cities that the shelter serves.

All shelter managers/operators are asked to participate in this one-time survey, comprised of 9 questions that should take 5-10 minutes to complete, about your organization and the geographic area that you service.

The purpose of this survey is to gain valuable information to more effectively and accurately estimate the current shelter capacity for dogs and cats to address overpopulation of companion animals. The information gained from this survey will be used in statistical models of companion animal populations that concurrently consider owned animals, unowned (feral, stray) animals and the movement of animals through the shelter system. Information gained from the models will be used to help inform responsible and cost-effective solutions to address companion animal overpopulation.

Please share this information with your peers so Dr. Flockhart may include information from across North America and the world in this study.

If you are interested in participating, please TAKE THE SURVEY

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about this research please contact Dr. Flockhart

U oF Guelph survey seeks dog owner input

Researchers at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, are conducting a survey to investigate the effect of a dog's environment and personality on their behaviour. We are interested in hearing about you and your dog's life.

Please note the following:

• In order to participate you must be 18 years of age or older and be a dog owner
• We anticipate this survey to take approximately 30 minutes to complete
• In appreciation of your time, you will be entered into a draw to win one of four $150 Visa gift cards. Estimated chances of winning are 1 in 1000.
• All information provided will be kept confidential

Take the Survey!

OVC Economic Impact Huge, Report Says

The Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) at the University of Guelph is an economic engine, directly contributing more than $125 million to Ontario's economy each year and generating 800 jobs annually, according to a new economic analysis by Deloitte LPP. 

The global consulting firm reviewed the 152-year-old veterinary school as part of a process supporting reaccreditation. The report was officially released earlier this month during the opening of Canada's Outdoor Farm Show. 

"We've always known that the University of Guelph and Ontario Veterinary College contribute to the quality of life in our province," said U of G president Franco Vaccarino. "This report shows just how significant an impact OVC has on Ontario's economic vitality." 

To read the full news release and download a copy of the report, visit www.uoguelph.ca.