Delays, cost overruns dog Montreal's animal shelter
In 2011, the city announced it would
build a centre to reduce the number of abandoned or stray dogs and cats
destroyed. So what happened?
Published on: January 24, 2018 | Last Updated:
January 24, 2018 4:30 PM EST
Of the more than 26,000 lost, abandoned or stray dogs and cats
that end up in shelters every year in Montreal, an estimated 50 to 60 per cent
are put down for want of a home, according to city figures.
That works out to
slightly more than 1,000 dogs and cats killed each month.
In Calgary, where the
dog population is of similar size, the euthanization rate for dogs is about
five per cent.
There is no simple
explanation for the glaring discrepancy, but what Calgary has and Montreal
lacks is an animal-services centre that has helped position the city among the
leaders in animal control in North America.
In 2011, the city of
Montreal announced it would build such a centre to drastically reduce the
number of animals needlessly destroyed, but that was four mayors ago. The
centre was supposed to open in 2016.
Not only has the project
been delayed, but the estimated cost has skyrocketed from $23 million to $46
million — roughly $41 million more than what Calgary paid for its bare-bones
but vaunted facility in 2000.
The price has surged
because the proposed site is a former municipal dump heavily contaminated with
hydrocarbons and other toxins. Decontamination costs could amount to as much as
the cost of the centre itself.
Last week, the new
administration of Mayor Valérie Plante told the Montreal Gazette that if the
centre is built, it might not be until 2022. More than $1 million has already
been spent on studies and plans.
Requests for interviews
with Montreal civil servants working on the dossier have been refused. A new
call for tenders is in the works, explained city spokesperson Gonzalo Nunez,
and those with knowledge of the file “don’t have all the elements needed for
answers in hand.”
Last week, during a
meeting of the city’s finance committee to study the 2018 municipal budget, the
latest estimated price of $46 million came to light, thanks to questions posed
by opposition councillor and committee president Richard Deschamps.
“Is there no one at the city who thinks this doesn’t make sense?”
said Deschamps, quoted in Le Devoir. “It’s troubling.”
Seven years after the
facility was first promised, costs are spiralling and its future remains in
doubt, along with the fate of tens of thousands of animals it was designed to
save.
It was under the
administration of then-mayor Gérald Tremblay that Montreal first proposed to
build a Calgary-style centre to better protect its animals.
The decision was spurred
by citizen outrage over news reports depicting cruelty at shelters run by
Berger Blanc, and statistics showing Montreal has some of the highest
animal-abandonment and euthanization rates in North America.
Then and now, most
boroughs signed contracts with either the for-profit Berger Blanc or non-profit
Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to handle lost or
abandoned pets or wild animals in distress.
The city envisioned
operating its own animal-services centre, including a veterinary clinic, rather
than sub-contracting to outside shelters. This approach would help harmonize
services, improve return and adoption rates and allow the city to promote
responsible pet ownership.
Acknowledging their lack
of expertise, city officials consulted with a committee of experts and hired
veterinarian Suzanne Lecompte in 2012 at a cost of $76,000 to develop a new
animal-services model.
In 2014, new mayor Denis Coderre announced the centre would be
built in the Villeray—St-Michel—Parc-Extension borough, on Pie-IX Blvd. between
42nd and 47th Sts., at a cost of
$23 million for the building, equipment and professional services.
The Tremblay
administration had initially chosen a site at Angrignon Park in LaSalle, but
Coderre said the new location would put the facility in an area with the highest
pet concentration in the city, which would increase rates of return and
decrease operating costs.
The centre would be able
to handle 14,000 animals a year. It would employ 90 people and be managed by a
non-profit organization, with annual operating costs of $7 million, while
existing shelters like Berger Blanc and the Montreal SPCA would continue to
offer services as well.
The SPCA, which provides
services to nine boroughs and three demerged cities, remains a vocal promoter
of the new animal shelter. It handles about 16,000 animals a year, 2,000 of
them wild, spokesperson Anita Kapuscinska said.
Berger Blanc, which the
city says handles about 12,000 pets a year in contracts with seven boroughs,
did not respond to requests for interviews or statistics.
With the change of
venue, the scheduled opening of the new centre moved from 2016 to 2018, as it
requires relocating the city-owned municipal yards to make way for the shelter
and outdoor dog runs.
In 2015, city council
approved a $3.2-million contract for architectural, engineering and landscaping
services, executive summaries issued by the city show.
Craig Sauvé, the Projet
Montréal councillor responsible for animal services under the new
administration at city hall, said to date, more than $1 million has been spent
on plans and analyses.
Also in February 2015,
city council approved a contract for $84,733.99 to hire consulting firm
Legico-CHP to monitor the project and ensure against cost overruns.
In 2016, the city’s
2017-2020 capital works budget revealed the price estimate for the facility had
jumped from $23 million to $34 million. The city said the sudden rise was
because of studies showing the proposed location had been used as a dump site
and would require decontamination.
Because of the hike in
costs, city council approved, in May 2017, an increase in fees to be paid to
Legico-CHP for its consulting work, to $111,288.09.
During the last two
years, the city issued four calls for tenders to move the municipal yards to
make room for the animal centre. The first was cancelled because the city was
unable to purchase the adjoining piece of land to which it was planning to move
its municipal yard. The second call for tenders, to move the yard to another
location, was cancelled because no one bid, city spokesperson Nunez said. The
third call, again to move the yards, failed because the bid that came in was
two times higher than city estimates. Other entrepreneurs contacted by the city
said they were too busy to take on the project.
A fourth call for
tenders, to move the municipal yards and decontaminate the site, was issued in
October. The deadline for bids was last week. They are currently being studied
by the city.
“The administration of
Denis Coderre did not factor the costs of decontamination into its estimate,”
Sauvé said, calling the omission “irresponsible.”
The city also is faced
with the problem of finding a new site for the municipal yards to be displaced.
All options are open, Sauvé said, including keeping the yards where they are
and finding a new place for the animal-services centre.
“Right now we’re still
doing the cost analysis,” he said. “We want to make sure that wherever we go,
we’re getting the best bang for our buck, that we’re responsible with
taxpayers’ money — and that it’s going to serve the purposes that it needs.”
How Calgary solved its euthanization problem
It took Calgary about 15
years to create its “responsible pet owner” model that resulted in one of the
lowest animal abandonment and euthanization rates in North America.
It hadn’t been done
before, “so we had to learn from scratch, and try things, and fail, and try
them again,” Bill Bruce, the city’s former head of animal services, told the
Montreal Gazette.
Now that the template
has been created, he believes Montreal could adopt a similar model within three
to four years.
“It’s a lot of work, but
it pays huge dividends,” Bruce said. “In North America, we don’t have a problem
with overpopulation and stray animals — we have a problem with responsible pet
ownership.”
Calgary started with a
long public-awareness campaign. The message to residents: paying for an annual
dog or cat licence (now $39 and $18, respectively) is not just a tax, but helps
attain a much higher rate of return of lost pets to their owners.
The licence fees also go
toward paying for inspectors and the city’s animal-services centre, which
allows the city to put abandoned animals up for adoption instead of euthanizing
them.
Overall, the Calgary
approach has led to fewer animal issues and a safer community for everyone,
Bruce said.
Pet owners are asked to
perform four tasks: license your pets and equip them with an identification tag
or microchip; sterilize them; ensure their physical and psychological health
through exercise and diet; and don’t let them become a nuisance.
“If you can do those
four things, you can have any animal you want, and as many of them as you
want,” Bruce said.
Instead, the city
follows up on reports of aggressive behaviour, and advises owners of training
that is necessary if they want to keep their animals. In 98 per cent of cases,
owners comply, Bruce said.
Calgary built its latest animal services centre in 2000 for $3.5 million. An extension for
veterinary services quarters was added later a cost of $1.5 million.
At 21,000 square feet,
it’s half the size of Montreal’s proposed shelter, despite the fact Calgary has
a similar number of dogs as Montreal — roughly 120,000, but less than half the
estimated number of cats (90,000).
Calgary decided it would
not need a large centre because it did not plan on holding the animals for
long. The shelter has spaces for 84 cats and 80 dogs, and cages tend to be
mostly empty.
During his time there,
from 2000 to 2012, Bruce said 95 per cent of the roughly 5,000 dogs that came
in each year were either returned to their owner or put up for adoption.
Only 4.5 per cent had to
be euthanized, because of extreme health or behavioural problems. Current
figures are roughly the same, he said.
“The whole key to
Calgary’s model for animal services was not housing them,” Bruce said. “We just
want to get them back home as soon as possible.”
Revenue generated by
licence fees covers the $6-million annual cost of operating the shelter and
paying its two dozen animal inspectors and other employees.
In Montreal, thanks to a
concerted push under the last administration, the number of dogs that are
licensed jumped from about 15 per cent in 2016 to 41 per cent today, the city
says.
“Changing the model from
euthanization to responsible pet ownership is a complicated process, but there
are a lot of people in Montreal that want it, so hopefully they can pull it
off,” Bruce said.
“I’m excited to see what
Montreal is doing.”
