After taking in neglected beagle, Steinbach rescue calls for regulation of backyard breeding
11-week-old puppy Leo turned over to rescue after being saved from alleged backyard breeder
Animal rescue and advocacy groups are calling on the province to reinstate its breeder licensing requirements, and say the lack of regulation is leading to uncontrolled backyard breeders and puppy mills across Manitoba.
Leo, an 11-week-old beagle, was recently turned over to the Steinbach and Area Animal Rescue after a woman saved him from what the rescue believes was an irresponsible backyard breeder.
"He was soaked in urine … he's very underweight," said Michelle Neufeld, president of the rescue. "His belly was distended because of the worms."
Neufeld said Leo is struggling with knee problems impacting his ability to walk, but the veterinary team is hopeful that with time, proper care and nutrition he will get better.
Neufeld said right now it's nearly impossible to catch these breeders. In the case of Leo, the seller asked to meet up at a Starbucks.
"It's hard to catch them rurally, especially when they don't meet at their own location. Like if [the woman] had met him at his own location, we could have reported his address," she said. "The provincial vet could have gone down and checked out the conditions of the area."
The rescue has started a petition on the website change.org that calls for regulation of backyard breeding. It's calling for legislation the rescue calls "Leo's Law" to be drafted and enacted provincewide.
Backyard breeding an 'epidemic' in Manitoba
The Winnipeg Humane Society said it often sees dogs coming from irresponsible backyard breeders.
"There's definitely an epidemic happening in Manitoba," said Brittany Semeniuk, an animal welfare specialist with the Winnipeg Humane Society.
Semeniuk said the Humane Society is at maximum capacity, as are many shelter spaces across the country.
"In recent years, we are seeing a direct correlation in animals that are being sold off of websites like Kijiji and backyard breeders who are simply now no longer profiting off of these animals," she said.
Semeniuk said the situation got even worse after the height of COVID-19 pandemic, when demand for dogs began to drop and people started going back to in-person work.
She said it resulted in an influx in unwanted animals that backyard breeders are trying to offload.
"They're dumping them on the side of the road or they're bringing them to rescue shelters or they're auctioning [them off] at livestock auctions like we saw earlier this year," she said.
"There are a lot of animals that simply now need homes because of overbreeding."
WATCH | Rescued puppy highlights rash of backyard breeders: advocates
The City of Winnipeg updated its responsible pet ownership bylaw with new requirements in several categories for owners and businesses last summer.
Dog and cat owners who live in Winnipeg and intend to use a specific female for breeding purposes need a breeding permit, which can only be obtained after a list of requirements are followed. It includes getting a letter from a veterinarian that supports the breeding, a history of responsible pet ownership and an inspection of the breeding property.
The permit also imposes a limit of one litter per animal per year and no more than four litters over the life of the animal.
While it's a positive step, advocates say its impact is limited as they see irresponsible breeding continuing in the southern regions of Manitoba.
Semeniuk said right now there is no penalty for people running these operations and that needs to change.
The Humane Society and other animal advocacy groups have said the province needs to immediately reinstate its licensing requirements to try to get a handle on the problem.
"They stopped being implemented in 2013, and so really anyone in the province now can breed dogs or cats and sell them for a profit without any sort of consequence," Semeniuk said.
"So in recent years we've really seen these operations flourish with no penalty, or really any sort of prosecution for keeping puppy mills and backyard breeding."
Province suspended licensing requirements
In 2013, CBC learned the Manitoba government quietly suspended the licensing requirement for dog breeders in the province. The decision came shortly after Manitoba's Animal Care Act was amended, requiring more licensing and regular inspections from animal breeders.
Wayne Lees, the province's chief provincial veterinarian officer at the time, said there were problems with licensing inspections. His office contracted out inspections and found some inspectors applied very low standards.
He said his office was too busy with animal welfare cases to take on licensing during that time.
Without licensing, inspections and regulation, Kaitlyn Mitchell, director of legal advocacy with Animal Justice, said it is virtually impossible to find bad breeders until an incident somehow surfaces.
Mitchell said that by then, it is often too late to save many of the animals.
"Unfortunately, many of these facilities simply place profit over the health and well-being of animals," she said.
"You can see animals kept in crowded and filthy conditions, animals made to breed over and over again throughout their lives, and often these animals are simply discarded when they're no longer needed or profitable to the breeders using them."
Mitchell said some provinces are doing a better job at dealing with the issue than others, but added that there is no province currently setting a "gold standard."
However, she said it is long past time the government in Manitoba steps up and advocates for the animals.
"The Manitoba government has failed for over a decade to enforce our licensing regime, and in doing so, the government is failing animals and it's passing the buck to rescue organizations across the province who are left to deal with our overpopulation problem," she said.
Complaint-based system
The province said it has not reinstated licensing and inspections, but said in spring 2020 it implemented the online kennel training certificate program.
"Kennel operators can show their customers that they have completed the training as added assurance of their practices," a spokesperson said in an email.
Instead of inspections and regulations, the province works on a complaint-based system.
The Department of Agriculture assigns animal protection officers to inspect and investigate concerns regarding breeding operations and kennels.
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