My Disturbing Experience With Edmonton Animal Services

Several years ago I found a small at on the streets of downtown Edmonton on a late winter night. As I was at work when I found it I took it back to my office where several co-workers and I fed it and decided what to do with it (throughout this section I will refer to the cat as "it" only because at this point I don't remember what sex it was). It was a beautiful and sweet little animal who stole all of our hearts. Figuring that someone would be looking for this beautiful animal we decided to turn it over to the pound. As it was after business hours I took the cat to the Emergency Vet Clinic downtown where they scanned the cat for a microchip but were unable to find one. The staff at the vet clinic said that I could either take the cat home with me for the night and then turn it over to the pound the next day or leave it with them and they would give it a physical exam and turn it over to the pound the next day.. My first thought was to take it home with me and I desperately wish that I had gone with my first thought, however I elected the vet clinic to keep the cat.

The staff at the vet clinic advised me that if the cat was not claimed by its owners within a certain period of time it would be taken to the Humane Society to be adopted out. They also gave me the opportunity to leave my name and phone number so that if the owners did not claim the cat I would be given the first opportunity to adopt it. I left my information and fully expected that the cat would be claimed by it's owners.

Several days after leaving the cat at the clinic I came home and found a message on my answering machine from Animal Services advising me that the cat had not been claimed and asking me to call them if I was still interested in adopting it. The message had been left that afternoon and I did not get home until after they were closed for the day. The first opportunity I got to call Animal Services was late morning the next day. I let them know that I would very much like to adopt the cat and was completely devastated when they told me that the cat had been killed earlier that morning. They had not even waited 24 hours after calling me before they killed the cat. This may have been a cat that was unwanted by it's owners but it had a loving home where it was wanted waiting for it. After getting off the phone with Animal Services I contacted the Edmonton Humane Society and they were as shocked as I was that the pound had killed this animal as they had room for cats in their facility. They would have been more than willing to have accepted the cat if the pound had simply offered it to them. For some time after this I made repeated attempts to meet with or speak to David Leeb regarding this but my phone calls and correspondence were ignored.

There are a number of disturbing and puzzling aspects of this case. The pound was well aware that I was interested in adopting this cat as evidenced by their call to me. In spite of this they elected to kill it at the first opportunity. It is indefensible and unreasonable to not allow even 1 day for a person who has indicated an interest in an animal to return a call confirming that they were still interested in providing it with a new home. Animal Services has to know that when they leave a message in the afternoon that there is a good chance that the person is not going to get that message until the evening, after the pound is closed. They also have to know that it is not always possible for a person to return a call as soon as the pound opens in the morning. As I phoned them back within 4 hours of them opening in the morning it is quite evident that they had no real interest in placing this animal in a new home. The cat was obviously suitable for adoption as they would not have contacted me to offer it to me if it was not. Even if I had decided against adopting the cat the Edmonton Humane Society was accepting cats and it could have been turned over to them to be adopted out. This is what the pound claims it's policy is. Instead of following their own policy they elected to kill a perfectly healthy animal.

Animal Services denials based on alleged policies ring hollow in light of the fact that they do not follow their own policy regarding transferring animals to the Edmonton Humane Society for adoption as evidenced by what happened in this case.