By Judi McLeod
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The Humane Society of Canada (HSC) seems sadly out of touch in the ongoing contaminated pet food scandal.
In the U.S., pet lovers blame the absurdly incompetent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for bumbling investigations into the contaminated pet food scandal and for the doublespeak that marked their recently cancelled media conferences.
In a press release Wednesday the Human Society of Canada publicly credited the FDA for "uncovering the contaminants" and fielding "more than 21,000 complaints".
"Whatever you may say or think about US politicians, they care about animals," said Michael O'Sullivan, HSC Chairman and CEO. "Here in Canada, the inaction and arrogance of Canadian politicians and civil servants is truly breath taking."
It was during the FDA watch that contaminated pet food made its way into livestock feed with the potential of entering the human food chain.
Lionizing the FDA and American politicians is hardly winning the HSC friends among the throngs of angry American pet owners who feel let down by both the FDA and their elected officials.
"Yikes, you mean we shouldn't bash the FDA for incompetence and lack of forthrightness," pet owner Mike Giacco wrote Canada Free Press (CFP) about O'Sullivan's comments.
HSC officials are miffed their letter calling on the Canadian government to create a taskforce to investigate the pet food industry following allegations that tens of thousands of pets have become ill or have died, has no response five week later.
The animal charity also made formal complains to the RCMP and other police forces and the Ontario Securities Commission and other securities regulators asking them to conduct their own independent investigations to determine if criminal animal cruelty charges and securities charges should be laid.
"We need hard answers about the names of key officials at these pet food companies. We need to find out what they knew about the problems, when they knew about it and if there were any delays in alerting the public and government agencies," said the animal charity's Western Regional Director Al Hickey.
"Unlike other countries, here in Canada, for all intents and purposes, pet food companies are allowed to regulate themselves, with disastrous results. There are over 13 million dogs and cats living with their families across Canada and we need to do everything in our power to protect them right now. We need to take care of our own," said Hickey.
Even as more pet food products are being recalled, worried American pet owners have turned to websites such as www.petconnection.com and www.itchmo.com in droves.
"Since March 16, more than 5,600 pet food items have been recalled after the discovery that the chemical melamine found in imported raw materials has killed thousands of pets. From the first, we've been a key source of information for pet lovers," www.petconnection.comstates on its popular site.
As of yesterday, Diamond Pet Foods announced that it has recalled a limited quantity of Nutra Nuggets Lamb Meat and Rice Formula in dry food in 40-lb. bags because of melamine cross contamination. To date, no animal deaths have been reported.
That was no surprise to www.petconnection.com because they knew "the lab at UC Davis had found melamine in samples after a pet-owner and veterinarian in Visalia, Calif., suddenly had pets fighting for their lives."
"Again we have to ask: "Why is this still happening? Pet-food companies: If you truly do want to "restore trust", you will get your products tested, pull what's contaminated, give us the results and stop with these two-days-after-we-already-know-because-someone-else-caught-you recall notices."
Meanwhile, the Humane Society of Canada should fight the Canadian government without lionizing the FDA and American politicians.
Facts in pet deaths to date demand it.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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