Pneumatised!

MM,

This just in the news recently. City of Toronto is thinking of enforcing animal licensing by-laws and this isn’t referring to animals being kept at the zoo – this is about the “Fluffy” we keep as pets (cat or dog, take your pick). Here’s the news story – Pulse24.com – Dogged Pursuit?

Now what is appalling to me isn’t just that they are thinking of enforcing this by-law but that they have this licensing law to begin with. From an animal rights perspective, cats and dogs have every right to live freely in this city, in this country, on this PLANET – as much as humans do! Whatever happened to enlightenment? Still a long way away for this society, I guess. In addition, the fees for pets is cheaper if they are spayed/neutered and have been microchipped. How’s that for enlightened? Little Fluffy has to give up something of himself just to get a discount so he can live here. Imagine if this was forced on humans, how much of an outrage would there be? Imagine if some alien species took over the planet and imposed a fee on every man and woman and gave a discount if he/she had a vasectomy/hysterectomy. Or better yet, imagine an alternate reality where perhaps reptiles overran the population and decided that humans were procreating too fast, so they made us pay fees just for being here and gave us a discount if we… went under the knife? I say treat animals the way we’d like to be treated. Fairly. As equal living, conscious beings. But I guess, sadly, not everyone can see beyond their hand in front of their greedy eyes. Such near-sightedness, so much for being a “superior species”.

The City of Toronto website says that we can “save” money from the animal licensing (Animal Services: Licensing – Toronto Public Health) How much of a fool do they think its citizens are? Pray tell me how me dishing out money EVERY YEAR for an ludicrous fee will save me money? It seems to me I’d save money NOT paying a fee every year. And what about the pet rescue missions? This certainly makes it much harder for them to keep rescuing the cats and dogs off the streets if they have to pay fees on top of normal pet care needs for every animal they rescue.

For those who are interested in the legal aspects of this, see Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 349. Note sections 349-10, 349-18, and 349-25 as well as footnote 13. The City is planning on enforcing the licensing fees as per the Provincial Offences Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.33, s. 61. Just great, nearly every citizen in the City of Toronto would then be considered to be “offenders”. Lovely. Thanks for turning us into “Toronto the Bad”, no longer “the good”.

Cassandrah
Your local webmistress and pet lover
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