An SPA Canada investigator goes undercover at Berger Blanc for the Radio-Canada program *Enquête*.
A shocking report broadcast on Radio-Canada’s *Enquête* program revealed cruel practices at Berger Blanc, Montreal’s municipal pound.
An SPA Canada investigator went undercover at the animal pound. For six weeks, he worked as a maintenance worker at Berger Blanc. He cleaned the cages, fed the animals and even attended two mass euthanasias. On many occasions, he witnessed terrible treatment of the cats and dogs in the care of the for-profit pound.
SPA Canada is asking the public to show its dissatisfaction by attending the upcoming demonstration and by asking the mayor of Montreal to end all of its contracts with Berger Blanc and to no longer hire for-profit companies to take care of stray and homeless animals. For more information, please see the poster for the demonstration.
The following information is backed up by proof from videos, audio files and witnesses.
Parvovirus has been present at Berger Blanc for the past 15 years.
Since there is no isolation room for this purpose, a high quantity of animals contract and die from this illness. These animals don’t get any treatment except for a final solution : euthanasia!
The rate of euthanization is very high.
80 to 200 animals are euthanized every day.
On top of being rushed, the euthanizations at Berger Blanc are not done in the presence of a licensed veterinarian.
When the investigator was present during euthanasias, there was no veterinarian present. The person in charge of euthanizing the animals was a maintenance worker, which is neither a veterinarian or an animal health care technician. The animals were killed via intracardial injections (through the heart), a practice that is seldom done. Ordinarily the injections are given intravenously, a method that is a lot less painful. Probably because of his lack of expertise, the person in charge of euthanasia sometimes failed the execution and had to start over, leaving animals to agonize for long minutes, even hours before dying. It was observed that it had taken him up to 12 times of redoing the injection, which expert veterinarians and technicians at SPA Canada find inconceivable.
Where do the animals end up?
They are piled into the garbage containers behind the Berger Blanc. Many times, there was video proof showing that the animals would be the container for hours, still alive. A vehicle from the company RCI picks up the containers when they are full. The contents are then brought to a traditional garbage truck, and that truck, in turn, brings it to the dump. The bodies of the animals end up with the everyday garbage.
Profit is more important than the life of an animal
- The majority of animals are killed after 5 days.
- The animals that are given up for adoption are almost automatically euthanized, unless they are purebred or puppies.
- Le Berger Blanc doesn’t offer any follow up service for any of the animals.
- The cages are very small.
- No foster care program is in place. A dog and her puppies were euthanized because they didn’t have place for her and the puppies for the eight week period that the puppies needed to remain with their mother. It would have been more expensive to keep the animals there than the profit would have been made after they were sold. If there were a foster care program in place, the life of this dog and her pups could have been spared.
- Le Berger Blanc doesn’t accept volunteers.
- Le Berger Blanc doesn’t have a microchip detector that would permit them to easily find the owners of a lost animal. It sells for about 500$ retail.
- Quebec is just about the only place in North America where one can turn a profit while operating a pound.
- The animals that are adopted are not sterilized, contrary to the policy of most shelters. This contributes to the overpopulation of stray cats and dogs.
