Item - 2013.LS19.6

Please accept this letter as a request to support my motion for a staff report as outlined below:

That staff report back to the September Licensing Committee meeting with a report that will examine the feasibility of licensing wildlife control operators similar to what we are proposing with moving companies. The report to address:

•           consumer protection (e.g. diseases and fraud) and

•           wildlife protection (e.g. injury and death), and

•           how licensing will help Toronto Animal Services make more efficient use of our limited staff resources if we are able to reduce the number of complaints in regards to substandard and/or cruel operators.

The lack of government regulation means that the public is affected by incompetent advice, poor workmanship, disease exposure, undue stress and loss of money. Private, unregulated, fly-by-night companies perform haphazard work or no work at all once the money is collected. These companies often learn by trial and error which causes pain, suffering and even death of local wildlife, and stress, frustration and extreme nuisance to members of the public.

The impact on wildlife can be devastating:

•           Animals injure themselves in their attempt to escape the trap

•           Animals die of the stress caused by being trapped

•           Animals die due to exposure to adverse weather conditions

•           Animals’ offspring die of starvation from mother animal being relocated

•           Animal relocation accelerates the spread of infectious diseases

•           Animals die due to inconsistent monitoring or outright neglect

To protect members of the public – and our local wildlife – the City needs to adopt a licensing regime that upholds a professional and ethical code of conduct and that requriems operators to utilize equipment and devices that do not cause pain or suffering.