Tranquilization too complicated, SPCA boss says

Niagara SPCA and Humane Society executive director John Greer says his team has received an “influx of calls” since an Arctic wolf that was on the loose in Port Colborne for more than 24 hours last week was shot and killed by Niagara Regional Police.

Animal control officers were on their way to the area of Golf Course Road past the Wainfleet border on the evening of Aug. 3 after the animal was spotted roaming near livestock.

It was killed before the SPCA arrived.

During a search for the animal, which escaped from a private property in the far west end of Port Colborne, the SPCA was planning

to bait and trap the animal with the help of a licensed trapper from Peterborough, said Greer.

In recent years, there has been no animal expert in Niagara authorized to administer a tranquillizer, since the retirement of a local veterinarian who was the only individual previously licensed to do so, he said.

Getting SPCA staff trained to immobilize an animal with a tranquillizer gun would be far too complicated of a process, said the head of the SPCA that serves Port Colborne, Welland and Niagara Falls.

“Part of the problem with tranquilization that people need to realize is that you have to be careful you don’t kill the animal,” he said, adding body weight and health of the animal are factors that need to be known.

“There’s a whole formula you have to go through,” Greer said Thursday, a week after the escaped animal was killed.

“It’s not quite as easy as people think,” he said, also expecting humane society officers would need firearms training because they’d be using a “rifle-type gun with a dart in it.”

Storage and transportation of controlled narcotics used in the process is another issue.

“There would be so much legislation on top of us,” said Greer.

Net traps were used in the past but were “not very effective,” he said.

Greer said he believes the use of tranquilizers should fall under the province’s responsibility, and could be a valuable resource for humane societies to fall back on in situations such as this one.

He stands by the method that was planned — trapping the animal.

He said he couldn’t offer much opinion on the “unfortunate end” because he and his staff were not on scene when the wolf was shot.

“That officer obviously saw a threat, that they thought it was how it had to be dealt with,” said Greer.

“We were never 100 per cent sure on the actual disposition of the animal.”

Police spokesperson Const. Phil Gavin said Wednesday said no updates could be provided as to any charges that could be laid against the owner.

City spokesperson Shianne Stephens said local officials are “still investigating the situation” and that no new information was available about whether municipal bylaw staff were laying fines through its exotic animal bylaw, which prohibits anyone from keeping animals such as a wolf, unless they have been keeping it before the bylaw was passed in 2001. Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry media and issues adviser Hayden Kenez said the availability and sale of drugs used to capture and immobilize wildlife are controlled by federal legislation.

“Those seeking approval to use controlled drugs to immobilize wildlife must write and pass a qualifying exam approved by Health Canada,” he said in a written statement.

Some ministry staff receive wildlife chemical immobilization training that is provided by a licensed wildlife veterinarian prior to completing the exam.

“Chemically immobilizing free-ranging wildlife is extremely difficult because it takes time for the drugs to take effect and gives the animal the opportunity to evade capture,” said Kenez.

Canadian Association of Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarians provide Health Canada-approved training in chemical immobilization of wildlife, he added.

The MNR at the SPCA’s Welland shelter took DNA samples of the wolf carcass to confirm whether the animal was purebred or part canine. That matter remains under investigation and results of the testing could not be shared, said Kenez.