Sudbury, Ont., rescue centre says its doing its best following scrutiny on ability to care for animals - CBC.ca

-

An organization called World Animal Protection has identified a Sudbury, Ont., animal rescue centre as one of 11 facilities in the province that violate Ontario regulations.

Michèle Hamers, a campaign manager with World Animal Protection, said the enclosures at Northern Exotics, in Sudbury, are too small.

Hamers said the reptiles at Northern Exotics could only engage in their resting behaviours due to limited space.

"Reptiles are incredibly diverse, are incredibly mobile, have interesting behaviours like play behaviours and others, and these animals weren't able to to engage in those because of the small tanks that they are kept in," she said.

We have two, two alligators, we have a crocodile, we have a Burmese python, we have primates, we have a porcupine.— Dennis Epp, owner of Northern Exotics in Sudbury

Hamers said World Animal Protection visited facilities across the province and submitted reports to the Provincial Animal Welfare Services (PAWS) inspectorate, which is responsible for enforcing provincial regulations on animal welfare.

Hamers said the province confirmed it received their reports, but hasn't said more.

"In our opinion, none of the zoos are doing it right or are doing it right enough," Hamers said.

She added that while representatives with World Animal Protection visited zoos like Northern Exotics, they did not speak with the owners.

Two lizards sit on a rock.
A pair of Saharan Uromastyx sit in their enclosure at the facility's education centre. (Sam Juric/CBC)

Animal rescue

Dennis Epp, the owner of Northern Exotics, told CBC News the majority of their animals are drop-offs and rescues. 

"We use their stories to educate people about them," he said.

"And that's why you'll see with a lot of our animals are missing parts of their tails or they have other healed injuries, which come from their past lives before they came to us."

Epp said he has a background in conservation, biology and environmental sciences, and loves animals. He said he does not support people who acquire large exotic animals but wants to ensure when they are abandoned or relinquished, they have somewhere to go.

A large snake in an enclosure.
Northern Exotics owner Dennis Epp says this Burmese python lived its life in a duffel bag before someone purchased it and brought it to the centre. (Sam Juric/CBC)

"Animals have always been a big part of my life," he said.

Northern Exotics has an education centre, where visitors pay a small fee to see the animals and learn about them. It also has a pet store attached, which sells common lizards, turtles and birds, and keeps the education centre running.

"We do have a few others that shouldn't be in the pet trade, but they're here as well because some people thought they should try," he said. 

It's not a perfect world. And it gets to the point where you've just got to do the best you can for what it is.— Dennis Epp, owner of Northern Exotics in Sudbury

"We have two, two alligators, we have a crocodile, we have a Burmese python, we have primates, we have a porcupine."

He said their nine-foot Burmese python was kept in a duffel bag its entire life, before someone bought it for $50 and brought it to them.

"And now she has like, it's not maybe as big as some would like to see for her, but it's far better than what she was living in," Epp said.

"She couldn't even roll. She was just in a duffel bag."

A red parrot.
Freddie the parrot is one of a handful of birds at Northern Exotics. The parrot enjoys listening to Queen and was named after Freddie Mercury. (Sam Juric/CBC)

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Epp said the Society for the Protection of Animals (SPCA) inspected Northern Exotics twice per year and never gave them recommendations.

Inspections have been less frequent since the pandemic.

Epp said he would like to have more space for the animals, and has been looking to move to a larger space. But rising interest rates have made that difficult. However, he said the facility has a year remaining on its lease. He hopes to have a larger building secured by then.

"We know we're limited on space, and we want out," he said.

"It's not a perfect world. And it gets to the point where you've just got to do the best you can for what it is. When we get that lizard dropped off in a small container, yeah we put him in a much bigger thing where he can do stuff, but it may not be as big as some other people would like."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All In The Family: Maine Mother & Son Charged in Massive Drug Bust

-
Image
corso dog :: Article Creator Woman Hospitalized After Attack By 2 Dogs At Same Edmonton Home Where Boy Died: Lawyer UPDATE: On April 15, 2024, the City of Edmonton provided an update on the fatal attack. It said that prior to the deadly incident on April 1, "the city had no lawful basis to remove the dogs from the home." The city added that "all prior complaints about the dogs involved in this incident were investigated thoroughly and appropriate action was taken in accordance with the applicable legislation." The city also said a review found that its staff "acted appropriately in accordance with our standard practices and in compliance with the relevant legal constraints given the nature of past complaints and reports." A woman was hospitalized after being attacked in February by two large Cane Corso dogs at the same home where an 11-year-old boy was killed last week, the woman's lawyer told Global News. "I...
Read more

Rare Frogs And Illegal Drugs - Palisades Hudson Financial Group

-
Image
Colombian conservationist Ivan Lozano has hit on a brilliantly promising strategy to protect his country’s rare and endangered amphibians. His plan: Flood the market with them. Lozano is not hunting rare frogs in Colombia’s Andean forests. He is raising them himself and selling them at prices designed to undercut poachers and smugglers. If he can raise the frogs cheaply enough, and in large enough numbers, he might manage to drive down the market price to the point that poachers no longer find it worthwhile to harvest and smuggle the creatures onto the black markets. Lozano told The Associated Press that his company also encourages collectors to breed their own frogs. Picture yourself as a poacher. If the government toughens the legal penalties and steps up enforcement, you will shrug your shoulders; legal risks are a basic cost of doing business. Since the demand for your product already exists among foreign collectors and other buyers, tougher enforcement merely reduces supply a...
Read more

Burn scars, winter storms threaten rare and endangered species in San Gabriel Mountains - The Bakersfield Californian

-
Image
LOS ANGELES — Up until a few weeks ago, the West Fork of the San Gabriel River was one of the most abundant wildlife habitats in Los Angeles County, a secluded and rugged area defined by its steep peaks, lush canyons and mixture of rare and endangered species. Recently however, a team of federal biologists and forest rangers was aghast when it visited the stream following the Bobcat fire, which has burned more than 115,000 acres in the heart of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Terrain that once resembled a High Sierra granite gorge now looked like ground zero after a nuclear explosion, and the usually clean mountain air was sharp with the stench of smoke. Particularly unsettling were the bare and ashen slopes that were now primed to dissolve under pounding winter storms. A heavy mudslide, experts said, could reverse decades of conservation efforts by inundating the last outposts for such federally protected species as the Santa Ana sucker fish and Southern California m...
Read more