Public Investment in Animal Protection Work: Data from Manitoba, Canada

Abstract

Simple Summary: This paper explains how animal protection work is organized and undertaken in Manitoba, Canada. In most Canadian provinces (and countries of the Commonwealth), responsibility for investigations into crimes against animals has been assigned to charities reliant on donations and fundraising. Manitoba is one of the only provinces in Canada to use public money to fund animal cruelty investigations. However, there is no scholarly research on Manitoba's model. This paper offers the first examination of Manitoba's publicly funded animal protection model. It explains the organizational structure and investigations process, then identifies strengths and areas for improvement.Abstract: There is a dearth of research on animal cruelty investigations policy and work, despite its importance for protecting animals from illegal forms of cruelty. This study provides baseline data about the approach used in Manitoba, one of the only Canadian provinces where animal protection is publicly funded. By integrating statistical and qualitative data collected through interviews with key informants, this paper elucidates how animal cruelty investigations are organized and undertaken in the province. Although animal protection in Manitoba is publicly funded, the workforce responsible for undertaking investigations is a cross-section of public and private actors with different occupational classifications and working conditions.

Assessing the Uniformity in Australian Animal Protection Law: A Statutory Comparison

“…The Coalition, however, elected not to support the national body due to cost concerns [ 363 ]. In addition, there have been numerous independent reviews and inquiries into animal welfare enforcement in both Australia [ 364 , 365 , 366 ] and internationally [ 367 , 368 ], with the Canadian province of Ontario changing their enforcement model as a result [ 369 ], and recent proposals have been made for New Zealand to establish an independent authority to oversee animal welfare at a national level [ 368 ]. However, in Australia, the conclusions drawn from the two reviews conducted in Victoria [ 364 ] and WA [ 365 ] was that the current enforcement models are appropriate and an independent authority is not required (see [ 6 ] for further commentary).…”

The Organization of Animal Protection Investigations and the Animal Harm Spectrum: Canadian Data, International Lessons

“…Manitoba is unique among provinces due to its publicly funded but hybrid publicprivate delivery/investigations model. Investigators are paid and appointed by the province but either work directly for the Chief Veterinary Office as government employees, the Winnipeg Humane Society as staff of the nonprofit, or, in most cases, are independent contractors (thus not legally defined as workers) (see Campbell 2019;Coulter and Campbell 2020 for further analysis of this unusual model).…”

“…Table 5 provides data from the province of Manitoba (population 1.4 M). Of the data currently available, this is the sole province with publicly funded cruelty investigations (see Coulter and Campbell 2020 for further details about the model). The most common issue identified in the province is consistently a standards of care violation.…”

“…Investigations Details from Manitoba. Data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture(Campbell 2019;Coulter and Campbell 2020).…”

Animal Cruelty and Neighborhood Conditions

“…In Winnipeg, Canada, issues most often reported include animals locked in cars, left in conditions of extreme heat or cold, insufficient food and water, and abandonment. However, research on cruelty enforcement has found that prosecution is rare, occurring in only the most serious cases [ 8 ].…”