Full Contact List for Mayor and Council

Keep the Letter Writing Campaign efforts alive! Write your Mayor and Councillors about the Hamilton Animal Control today:

Mayor Bob Bratina - The Office of the Mayor
Hamilton City Hall, 71 Main Street West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-4200
Fax: 905-546-2340
Email: mayor@hamilton.ca

Brian McHattie - Ward 1
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2416
Email: Brian.McHattie@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Nikola Wojewoda-Patti, 905-546-4528, Nikola.Wojewoda-Patti@hamilton.ca
Assistant: Dale Brown, 905-546-2226, Dale.Brown@hamilton.ca

Jason Farr - Ward 2
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2711
Email: Jason.Farr@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Maureen Scally, 905-546-4677, Maureen.Scally@hamilton.ca

Bernie Morelli - Ward 3
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2702
Email: Bernie.Morelli@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Nick Westoll, 905-546-4550, Nick.Westoll@hamilton.ca

Sam Merulla - Ward 4
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-4512
Email: Sam.Merulla@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Pager (24/7): 905-777-7491
Executive Assistant: Diane Piedimonte, 905-546-3168, Diane.Piedimonte@hamilton.ca

Chad Collins - Ward 5
Hamilton City Hall
2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2716
Email: Chad.Collins@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Residence: 905-545-3737
Assistant: Lucy Finelli, 905-546-4679, Lucy.Finelli@hamilton.ca

Tom Jackson - Ward 6
Hamilton City Hall
2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2707
Email: Tom.Jackson@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Nancy Bates, 905-546-4695, Nancy.Bates@hamilton.ca

Scott Duvall - Ward 7
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2706
Mobile: 905-973-1720
Email: Scott.Duvall@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Monique Taylor, 905-546-3929, Monique.Taylor@hamilton.ca

Terry Whitehead - Ward 8
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2712
Email: Terry.Whitehead@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Colleen Wicken, 905-546-2779, Colleen.Wicken@hamilton.ca

Brad Clark - Ward 9
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2703
Email: Brad.Clark@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Robert Ribaric, 905-546-3210, Robert.Ribaric@hamilton.ca

Maria Pearson - Ward 10
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2701
Mobile: 905-973-7418
Email: Maria.Pearson@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Christine DiGiantomasso, 905-546-3192, Christine.DiGiantomasso@hamilton.ca

Brenda Johnson - Ward 11
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-4513
Email: Brenda.Johnson@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Kathy Dinney, 905-546-4678, Kathy.Dinney@hamilton.ca

Lloyd Ferguson - Ward 12
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2704
Email: Lloyd.Ferguson@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Executive Assistant: Kathy Bishop, 905-546-3196, Kathy.Bishop@hamilton.ca

Russ Powers - Ward 13
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2714
Email: Russ.Powers@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2769
Assistant: Arlene VanderBeek, 905-546-3190, Arlene.VanderBeek@hamilton.ca

Robert Pasuta - Ward 14
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2705
Email: Robert.Pasuta@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Lynne Cecchetti, 905-546-4643, Lynne.Cecchetti@hamilton.ca

Judi Partridge - Ward 15
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Phone: 905-546-2713
Email: Judi.Partridge@hamilton.ca
Fax: 905-546-2535
Assistant: Alison Morrison, 905-546-3944, Alison.Morrison@hamilton.ca

Mrs. Rose Caterini - Office of the City Clerk
Hamilton City Hall, 2nd Floor - 71 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8P 4Y5
Fax: 905-546-2095
E-mail: clerk@hamilton.ca

Reminder: Hamilton Council Meeting re: Animal Control Reforms on September 20th, 2011.
NB: Agendas are normally available the Friday before a meeting.
Monday meeting agendas are normally available the Thursday before the meeting.

Emails to and from the Hamilton SPCA

Sent: Monday, July 18, 2011 10:08 PM
To: Keith Scott
Subject: Hamilton SPCA and Hamilton Animal Control

Dear Mr. Scott:

I am very concerned with the very high number of animals being killed by Hamilton Animal Control each year. I am aware that HBSPCA does pull some animals from HAC, but the number killed is still unacceptably high. I heard that in the past there was an agreement between HBSPCA and HAC that HAC would not adopt animals to the public in order not to compete with HBSPCA, since you are in the same building. I do believe that this is no longer in effect?

I have written with my concerns to the Mayor & Councillors of Hamilton. I understand that HAC works under the conditions determined by the City.

I would be very interested to have your perspective on the situation and whether you feel that these very high kill rates are really unavoidable. Is there any way that the HBSPCA could help HAC in reducing the number of animals killed each year. I do congratulate HBSPCA on your subsidized spay/neuter clinic. I hope you are getting a great response from the public. Do you also have a TNR program for feral cats? This is something that every jurisdiction must have in order to control the cat population.

I came across the following article and would love to see a co-operation (this was the article Leanne Tucker posted about animal control & humane society working together) like this in Hamilton and the wonderful save rates as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read about my concerns. I look forward to your response.

Sincerely

Eva McDowell


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Enclosed below is his response to me. There are some good points in his response.


From: Keith Scott
Subject: RE: Hamilton SPCA and Hamilton Animal Control
To: "EVA MCDOWELL"
Date: Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 7:44 PM

Ms. McDowell first of all I would like to thank you for your email and the concerns expressed therein.

There is no question, Hamilton Animal Control has been under fire lately for issues that are largely out of their control, as they are for most pounds and animal shelters around the country, when it comes to euthanizing animals and cats in particular.

The HBSPCA has an agreement with HAC whereby we have first right of refusal in the selection of any and all animals that meet our medical and behavioral criteria for adoption once they have cleared their stray time (72 hours). There may have been an understanding that HAC wouldn't provide adoption services as long as we were operating out of the same location however, as far as I am aware they have always offered animals to other pounds, shelters and rescues as we do not have the space required to take them all, especially the kittens and cats.

I am going to assume for the moment the high kill rates you are referring to are the cats and kittens. Given the current situation in the City of Hamilton and surrounding region, I'm not sure this is unavoidable. At this time of the year in particular HAC, HBSPCA, rescues, fosters and other rescues in the region are bursting at the seams with kittens and cats. It is unfortunate there are so many irresponsible owners who either don't believe in the spay/neutering of their pets for whatever reasons or who just don't care because they are disposable. There is a serious overpopulation of cats and kittens in our community many of whom end up on the streets only exacerbating our street cat and feral cat issues across the city. HAC are doing the best they can given the current circumstances they find themselves in and are left dealing with the symptoms.

To do our part in the community, as you indicated, we opened our community assistance program to assist low income individuals and families with the spay and neutering of their pets. This program has had great success to date but we have only begun to scratch the surface of the problem at hand.

The HBSPCA also has a TNR program that has been running for a number of years. Last year alone we spayed and neutered approximately 600 street/feral cats. Our target for this year is to attempt to do the same. Again we are but scratching the surface due to the large number of cats annually abandoned by their owners and left to roam the streets.

What is the solution to the issue(s)? More funding and education? Yes and a willingness on the part of all animal welfare organizations to continue to do their part in working towards an acceptable solution to our community challenges. The general public and pet owners in particular have a huge role to play in this. They cannot abdicate their responsibilities to someone else. Over time with a concerted effort by one and all I am sure we can get the numbers down to an acceptable level whereby mainly those with severe untreatable medical or behavioral conditions will have to be euthanized.

To assist HAC we are no longer bringing in dogs from outside our region as we believe there are enough here that require our attention. In addition we have recently increased our cat/kitten holding capacity in the shelter by 100%. In the years to come we need to renovate the shelter to increase our overall holding capacity for both dogs and cats as a means to assisting HAC and the community. There is no question an expansion of both our community assistance and TNR programs over time will provide some measure of relief to the overpopulation as will more education.

The article attached to your email was very interesting and worthy of further discussion and investigation as to how they accomplished all they have. This is something we should all be striving to achieve and we can definitely learn from each other. We do not have to reinvent the wheel when there are good examples out there we can follow and emulate.

Thank you again for sharing your concerns with us and I do hope I was able to shed some light on the subject matter from my perspective.

Sincerely,

Keith

Keith Scott
Chief Executive Officer
Hamilton/Burlington SPCA
Office - (905) 574-7722 Ext 310
Fax - (905) 574-9087

Claudia Vecchio's Letter to the Hamilton Mayor and Council

ORA-Organization for the Rescue of Animals                  

300 Coxwell Ave., P.O. Box 22608

Toronto, Ontario M4L 3W7

Phone: 416 726-8895

CRN 85580 9448 RR0001

Email: info@ora-animalsrescue.org

www.ora-animalsrescue.org

Monday, June 20, 2011

Honourable Mayor and Hamilton City Council,

I am a real estate professional and the chairperson of ORA-Organization for the Rescue of Animals, an all volunteer run animal organization that rescues stray and abandoned animals throughout the Greater Toronto Area. Nine years ago we were urged by one of our volunteers to rescue cats from the Hamilton Animal Services. Hamilton Animal Services was then ill reputed as a “High Kill” pound for putting down thousands of tame, healthy cats every year. We were appalled then to learn how wonderful those cats were: they obviously were someone’s pets. A few months ago we were asked by another volunteer to rescue a few cats from the Hamilton Animal Services. We were shocked to find out that in nine years nothing had changed at the Hamilton Animal Services: it is still a high kill pound putting down thousands of animals every year. The Hamilton Animal Services has not adopted any of the alternative measures to killing embraced by animals control shelters throughout North America, notably here in Calgary, Canada. The Hamilton Animal Services is in fact, unbelievably, not even open to the public for adoptions.

The Hamilton Animal Services illogically and unethically picks up people's cats found roaming outside just to bring them into the pound to be killed in their twice to thrice a week routine killing spree. After having conducted diligent research, and although the Hamilton Animal Services pound manager failed to provide us with the precise figures we were requesting, we at ORA-Organization for the Rescue of Animals together with an associated group of concerned citizens are taking it upon ourselves to actively address the issues and demand reform.

To that end, we are requesting Mayor and Council to implement the following reforms:

(a) to increase or remove entirely the current limit of two pets per household;

(b) to change the by-laws prohibiting free roaming cats and to stop picking up trespassing cats. This will remarkably reduce the number of animal intake at the Hamilton Animal Services;

(c) to acknowledge that feral cats are not homeless, they just belong outdoors and stop therefore picking up feral and stray cats;

(d) to implement a low-cost spay and neuter program and to launch a high-profile and effective education program emphasizing the necessity of spaying and neutering;

(e)  to implement a Trap Neuter and Release (TNR) program for feral and stray cats so as to contain the stray cat  population;

(f) to open the City of Hamilton Animal Services up to the public for adoptions and to extend the facility’s opening hours which are currently Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM, and Saturday, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM, to make the shelter more publicly and conveniently available for pet retrievals, especially before and after standard work and commute hours;

(g) to guarantee that animals receive prompt veterinary care which includes, but is not limited to, a full-time staff veterinarian on the premises;

(h) and to take the decision of euthanization away from the hands of one person. Euthanization should be used only as the very last resort and the decision to euthanize should be taken collectively by senior staff at the Hamilton Animal Services.

Once the ferals are TNR’d and therefore no longer killed, and people’s pets are no longer being picked up and killed, then the only animals coming in to the Hamilton Animal Services pound would be owner surrenders and strays taken in by the public. The number of the intakes will be reduced immensely as a result, and with open adoptions and help from rescues, it would be possible to actually transform the Hamilton Animal Services into a no kill pound. The money saved from reducing the number of animals taken in and the money saved from stopping the euthanasia of healthy animals can be used towards the implementations of the above mentioned Trap, Neuter and Return programs and low cost spay and neuter services (although low cost, it can still be self carrying). Other revenues can come from surrender and licensing fees.

Massive euthanasia, apart from being morally unacceptable, does not help to contain pet overpopulation, while TNR and low cost spay and neuter are very effective. TNR programs recognized and implemented by many animal control shelters worldwide have proven to be the most effective way to contain and reduce the number of stray cats. Killing stray and feral cats is not only unethical, repulsive and costly to taxpayers, but it is also ineffective.

We urge you to reconsider the directions you and Council have taken until now and we ask that you implement the above-stated mandates forthwith to transform the Hamilton Animal Control pound from one of the most dreaded and deadly places in the region, into a true animal shelter which preserves life and serves as a model for neighboring communities.

Attached to this letter are items prepared by volunteers to support our requests: an up-to-date researched timeline of events as well as a collection of signatures [59 pages] to support our petition to the Council and Mayor’s Office.

Regards,

Claudia Vecchio

Volunteer Chairperson

ORA-Organization for the Rescue of Animals

www.orarescue.org

Tel: 416 726 5762

Eva McDowell and Terry Chapman Hutchison's Letter Writing Campaign

Here are the names and email addresses for the Mayor and Ward Councillors of Hamilton. The snail mail mailing address is: Hamilton City Hall - 2nd floor - 71 Main St. West - Hamilton, Ontario - L8P 4Y5

PLEASE START EMAILING AND WRITING TO EACH OF THEM. WE NEED TO START A LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

HERE ARE THE EMAIL AND PHONE NUMBERS:

Mayor Bob Bratina mayor@hamilton.ca 905-546-4200
1 Brian McHattie Brian.McHattie@hamilton.ca 905-546-2416
2 Jason Farr Jason.Farr@hamilton.ca 905-546-2711
3 Bernie Morelli Bernie.Morelli@hamilton.ca 905-546-2702
4 Sam Merulla Sam.Merulla@hamilton.ca 905-546-4512
5 Chad Collins Chad.Collins@hamilton.ca 905-546-2716
6 Tom Jackson Tom.Jackson@hamilton.ca 905-546-2707
7 Scott Duvall Scott.Duvall@hamilton.ca 905-546-2706
8 Terry Whitehead Terry.Whitehead@hamilton.ca 905-546-2712
9 Brad Clark Brad.Clark@hamilton.ca 905-546-2703
10 Maria Pearson Maria.Pearson@hamilton.ca 905-546-2701
11 Brenda Johnson Brenda.Johnson@hamilton.ca 905-546-4513
12 Lloyd Ferguson Lloyd.Ferguson@hamilton.ca 905-546-2704
13 Russ Powers Russ.Powers@hamilton.ca 905-546-2714
14 Robert Pasuta Robert.Pasuta@hamilton.ca 905-546-2705
15 Judi Partridge Judi.Partridge@hamilton.ca 905-546-2713

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Letter to Mayor & Councillors of Hamilton:

I wish to state my concerns about Hamilton Animal Services. I have been informed that public adoptions are not allowed and only a few animals are saved by rescue organizations. Thousands of animals, especially cats are needlessly killed each year. If Hamilton Animal Services were to allow public adoptions, it would significantly reduce the number of animals that would be killed.

Many of the cats that Hamilton Animal Services are picking up are not feral or stray cats. They are people’s pets. By holding these animals only 72 hours before killing them, they are not giving the owners enough of an opportunity to reclaim their missing pets, due to the limited hours during the week, when most people are at work. Also a limit of 2 pets per household is very low.

I am also aware that Hamilton Burlington SPCA offer a reduced cost spay/neuter program to low income families. By expanding on this spay/ neuter service or even offering rebates for those who spay/neuter their animals at their own vets, Hamilton would be able to further reduce the number of cats that are killed each year.

In this day and age these old fashioned shelter practices are no longer acceptable. Animals are sentient beings – intelligent and with feelings who do not deserve to be put to death needlessly.

In Calgary, Alberta, they were able to increase the number of animals saved each year to well over 90 percent. There is no reason that Hamilton cannot reach this goal as well. I am certain Mr. Bill Bruce of Calgary Animal Services is very willing to speak with the city of Hamilton so that you can make the same improvements to your animal control program.

There is also a program in the United States and other parts of the world based on Nathan Winograd’s No Kill Advocacy that is very similar.

The needless killing of so many innocent animals can no longer be tolerated. I do not know of any other city that does not allow adoptions from their Animal Control. I hope that the City of Hamilton will take the steps necessary in order to correct this terrible injustice.

I would appreciate a response indicating your stand on this important issue.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

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By HAC-STK