Edmonton Humane Society employees who left 3 cats in vehicle were fatigued: report
CBC News | Posted: December 20, 2018 11:26 PM | Last Updated: December 21, 2018
Cats survived after being left alone for 22 days earlier this year
Employee fatigue and operational shortcomings were contributing factors in an Edmonton Humane Society incident this spring that saw three cats left inside a vehicle for 22 days, an independent investigation has found.
The cats were discovered alive on April 18, more than three weeks after they had been transported to Edmonton from Grande Prairie, said the investigation report released Thursday.
The animals were dehydrated, hungry and had urine burns on their paws when they were discovered. The three male cats — named Magic, Chance and Lucky — have since recovered and have been adopted.
Kim Krushell, a former Edmonton city councillor who is now the president of a tech company, oversaw the investigation, working alongside Calgary firm IRISS Corp.
Key findings
In its report, IRISS Corp. recommended the humane society review and evaluate its operations practices, identify concerns in policy, develop a risk management framework and develop security policies and procedures for the facility.
Among the investigation's key findings were that EHS employees worked 12 hours straight in poor weather conditions before arriving in Edmonton with the animals, which had been picked up at an animal care facility in Grande Prairie.
The employees "reported being extremely tired," which may have affected their decision making, the report said.
"The investigator noted such a trip should have been done over a two-day period, particularly when poor weather conditions were factored in."
A timeline of events noted that two humane society employees left Edmonton for Grande Prairie at 4:30 a.m. and drove through a late spring snowstorm. They were picking up 19 cats and four dogs. But they didn't count the animals they had loaded into the vehicle before departing for Edmonton.
One of the employees had made about 40 transport trips prior to the incident, which "may have led to complacency in handling the animal inventory," the report said.
Conal Archer, who conducted the investigation for IRISS Corp., suggested EHS should address policies around long trips with animals.
"One of the things is they need to create very strong policy with respect to transportation, whether that transportation be long journeys or whether that transportation be moving animals from here to a centre perhaps," he said.
He added the investigation showed that stronger paperwork policies are also needed.
In Edmonton, at least three EHS employees noted extra paperwork for the three male cats, but that information was never acted on by EHS staff. "Previous animal transfers routinely yielded too many or too few files," which may have been why staff never followed up, the report said.
Summer Bradko, Edmonton Humane Society's board of directors chair, said the organization is taking steps to prevent this type of incident from happening again.
"No one employee is responsible for what happened. We as an organization are taking responsibility for it," she said.
Procedural changes
Since the incident, EHS has made some changes to its processes:
- Requiring drivers to stay overnight on transports longer than seven hours round-trip.
- Requiring two drivers for transports more than 100 kilometres.
- Requiring a pre- and post-trip vehicle inspection from EHS supervisors.
- Having a trip plan and animal tracking form be completed and submitted.
The humane society plans to share the investigation's findings and recommendations with other animal welfare organizations.
- Investigation launched after Edmonton Humane Society forgets cats in vehicle for 22 days
- Humane Society worker faces charges after cats left in truck for 3 weeks
In September, a humane society employee was charged with causing or permitting animals to be in distress, and failing to provide animals with adequate food and water, in relation to the incident. EHS confirmed Thursday that the staff member still works for EHS but does not handle animals.