Protesters demand better housing for beagles kept on Lakeshore property

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Protestors were out for a second day Saturday, trying to bring attention to the alleged mistreatment of beagles on a rural property in Lakeshore — but sometime overnight seven beagles were reported stolen and the OPP are investigating.

Property owner Philip Byrne, an animal control officer for several Essex County municipalities, spoke with police Saturday morning while the protest was underway.

Approached by the Star, Byrne declined to answer questions, saying he would have a statement at a later date.

“I have no comment at this time,” Byrne said. “But social media has beat me up pretty bad.”

OPP released a statement Saturday afternoon saying they responded to a report of a theft of seven beagles from an address on Lions Club Road in Lakeshore, adding the property was broken into sometime over night.

“Police are looking for assistance in locating the stolen dogs in the shortest available time to prevent undue harm or stress to the animals,” said the new release.

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Protest organizer Sherri Breaton, who described herself as an animal rescuer who has transported more than 1,500 dogs over the last eight years from the southern United States to new homes in Canada, alleged the beagles are kept in cages in a shed in the middle of a field with no other buildings nearby.

“We rescue dogs that are in this exact same situation,” Breaton said.

“There’s eight, maybe 10 dogs — we can’t tell because you can’t see it,” she said of a fenced area with a shed-like structure about 100 metres from the road. “He’s got an electrical fence all the way around so nobody can get on the property.

“These dogs are out there 24/7. It doesn’t matter if it’s freezing cold, if it’s a thunderstorm, no matter what those dogs are in there all the time. No human interaction, nothing,” Breaton alleged.

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Breaton claimed the dogs are being held “with the bare minimum of standards for dogs in kennels – small boxes in an empty field with no supervision.”

She wants the protests to pressure municipalities to change bylaws “so that higher standards of care will be enforced and that would allow bylaw officers to enforce them.”

Melanie Coulter, Windsor/Essex County Humane Society executive director, said the province took over all animal enforcement in January 2020.

“Prior to Dec. 31^st, 2019, we would have been the one’s responsible for going out but now those calls go to the provincial animal welfare service,” Coulter said when reached Saturday. “So they would be the one’s investigating.”

Provincial animal welfare authorities have been contacted.

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A call to Animal Welfare Ontario’s hotline at 1-833-9-ANIMAL (926-4625) provided a recorded message regarding the “incident on Lions Club Road in Belle River.”

The message stated the agency is aware of the “situation and the matter is under review” and asked anyone with “first-hand information or eyewitness accounts directly related to the incident on Lions Club Road” to report it to an operator.

Protestor Dane Blandford said pictures of the dogs inside the cages, taken by an unknown person, were shared on social media prompting him to attend the protest.

“I call myself an animal activist so whenever I see an animal in danger I like to be here,” Blandford said. “I believe what this man’s doing here is completely legal. That’s why we’re here. Like the sign says here: Legal is not ethical.”

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He also wants better laws to protect all animals.

“We’re here today to stand with the beagles who have been put through too much already,” Blandford said. “They live in terrible conditions, which we just think is deplorable.

“We feel like these animals are not protected by the law and that needs to change immediately.”

Police are asking anyone with information regarding this or any other incident to call the OPP at 1-888-310-1122.

Should you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or leave an anonymous online message at www.catchcrooks.com where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2,000.

jkotsis@postmedia.com

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