Toronto Humane Society is a Toronto charity that operates

animal shelter An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would ...

s and animal rescue operations. It was founded in 1887 by John J. Kelso dedicated to promote both children's aid and the humane treatment of animals. Since 1891, the society focused exclusively on the humane treatment of animals with the

Children's Aid Society Children's Aid, formerly the Children's Aid Society, is a private child welfare nonprofit in New York City founded in 1853 by Charles Loring Brace. With an annual budget of over $100 million, 45 citywide sites, and over 1,200 full-time employee ...

becoming a distinct organization."History of the Toronto Humane Society"
Toronto Humane Society website

History

Origin

It was founded by crusading journalist John J. Kelso after he added the comment “Why don't we have a society for the prevention of cruelty?” to a November 1886 letter in the ''

Toronto World ''The Toronto World'' was a newspaper based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It existed between 1880 and 1921, and a Sunday edition operated from 1891 to 1924. Founded by William Findlay "Billy" Maclean, it was popular among Toronto's working class a ...

'' about a horse in distressed condition. The paper published additional letters advocating for an anti-cruelty society, one letter read "Toronto is noted for its muddy streets and heavy ruts, and I venture to say there are a few of our observant citizens who have not time and again noticed the inhumane manner in which horses are whipped by their drivers when the wagons get 'stuck.'". The paper collected a total of $74 in anonymous donations and the

Canadian Institute The Royal Canadian Institute for Science (RCIScience), known also as the Royal Canadian Institute, is a Canadian nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting the public with Canadian science. History The organization was formed in Toronto as t ...

invited Kelso to speak at the fourteenth annual meeting on 19 February 1887, where he presented a paper with the title “The Necessity of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty in Toronto.” where he proposed the formation of a new society for this purpose, instead of reviving the then defunct OSPCA. Kelso then founded the Toronto Humane Society at the inaugural meeting February 24, 1887 as an organization dedicated to promote both children's aid and the humane treatment of animals. The

ultimately became a distinct organization in 1891, at which time Kelso resigned as a secretary of THS in order to dedicate more of his time to the Children's Aid Society. The THS was originally located at the intersection of Bay Street and what is now Wellesley Street in downtown Toronto. It is currently located on River Street.

2009 Investigation

Following an investigative report in ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', the THS was raided by the

Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals The Ontario SPCA and Humane Society (Ontario SPCA) is a registered Canadian charity focused on animal protection and animal advocacy. The Ontario SPCA provides services in partnership with communities including provincial animal transferiAdopta ...

in November 2009 as part of an investigation into allegations of animal cruelty at the centre. THC president Tim Trow and several other society personnel, as well as the board of directors itself, were subsequently charged. A new board of directors was elected in late May 2010, and the shelter re-opened a month later after having been closed for seven months. All charges against former board members and personnel were withdrawn in August 2010 due to problems with the

search warrant A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...

under which the 2009 raid had been carried out."Toronto Humane Society charges dropped"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

, August 16, 2010. An article in the February 2011 edition of ''

Toronto Life ''Toronto Life'' is a monthly magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ''Toronto Life'' also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including ''Real Estate'', ''Stylebook'', ''Eatin ...

'' suggested that the root of the dispute was that the THS was trying to run its facility as a

no-kill shelter A no-kill shelter is an animal shelter that does not kill healthy or treatable animals even when the shelter is full, reserving euthanasia for terminally ill animals or those considered dangerous to public safety. A no-kill shelter uses many strat ...

, a policy which the OSPCA opposed."Shedding light on the OSPCA-Toronto Humane Society debacle". ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'', January 10, 2011

Literature

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References

External links

Toronto Humane Society
{{Authority control Organizations based in Toronto Animal charities based in Canada Organizations established in 1887