A young couple facing a $17,000 bill for the return of 18 animals, including four service dogs, that were seized in Windsor by Animal Welfare Services is taking their case to Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal.
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Chelsey Flanders and her partner, Lexa Mogck, lost an appeal under the provincial Animal Welfare Services Act in October of an order to pay $17,086 for boarding and veterinarian services arising from the seizure of their animals.
The pair’s animals — five dogs, 12 cats and a horse — were taken into Animal Welfare custody last June 5 after inspectors found them in a rental truck parked at Ford Test Track.
The provincial Animal Welfare Services Act does not differentiate between the care needed for pets versus service animals. It does say that no person shall cause an animal to be in distress, and anyone with custody or care of an animal shall comply with the standards of care and administrative requirements.
“My fiancé and I have what is required for our service animals under the Accessibility Ontario Disabilities Act,” Flanders said. “We need them to work and complete daily tasks.”
Flanders and Mogck were spending the night in the truck with the animals after driving from Alberta to Windsor, where Mogck is enrolled at the University of Windsor and Flanders was planning on working in her field of environmental science.
They were taking possession of a new home near the university that day.
But officers with the Animal Welfare Service seized the animals, alleging in reports that the animals were in distress and without food or water on a day where the temperature reached 30 Celsius.
“Yeah, that was completely inaccurate,” Flanders told the Star. “My fiancé, Lexa Mogck, was returning with three whole tubs of water and there was cat food.
“There wasn’t dog food present,” she said. “We feed our dogs raw (food). Because I’m Indigenous, that’s what I have opted to feed.
“We had told the inspector that … because we had spent the one night in the (rental truck), we hadn’t run out and purchased two nights of food because we didn’t have a cooler.”
I need my dogs
Flanders has three service dogs and one in training. Ahsoka, a great Pyrenees/Rottweiler/bloodhound mix, is needed for mobility and psychiatric issues; Hera, a German shepherd, is a cardiac and allergen alert dog; and Aayla, a Labrador retriever puppy, is in training for medical alerts and retrievals.
Flanders said she has been unable to work without her dogs with her.
Mogck’s service dog, Chimaera, is a German short-haired pointer required for a brain issue.
“My fiancé has really struggled this last semester in school (due to) tremors from a brain injury,” Flanders, 21, said. “So it’s been really hard on her, on her studies.
“And then, of course, without me being able to work, I’m trying to get onto Ontario Works, but that’s a long process.
“So we’re at a point where it’s just, it’s awful,” she said. “There’s no income that can be made.
“I need my dogs. I’ve had to be hospitalized multiple times, taking multiple ambulances because of the cardiac issue.”
Eventually, the horse and 11 of the cats were returned to Flanders and Mogck.
But five dogs and one cat were retained and kept under veterinarian care due to “low body condition score” and additionally, “emaciation” in two of the dogs, according to Animal Welfare official reports.
Many of the animals needed to be vaccinated and all were given medical examinations.
Charges for professional care amounted to $17,086.
Unable to pay the $17,086 charge, the couple was informed that the animals were forfeited to the Crown on Dec. 17.
“They ordered us to pay, which made absolutely zero sense,” Flanders said. “That is under reconsideration.
“We’re taking both of those decisions for judicial review as well as bringing it to the Human Rights Tribunal.”
Flanders said she and Mogck have done everything inspectors have required of them since settling into their Windsor home, and if the animals were returned, they would be able to care for them.
“Yeah, 100 per cent. We’ve never had an issue with any of that,” Flanders said.
“We allowed one inspector to come visit at the home and he confirmed it was clean and everything was good. But they just never returned them.”
Animal Welfare Officials declined to speak with the Star when contacted.
“As this matter involves active litigation, it would be inappropriate to provide comment,” said Brent Ross, spokesman for the Ministry of the Solicitor General, via a written statement.
“I’m hoping to (get the animals back),” Flanders said. “They claim that there’s no hope, which is absolutely insane.
“The two service animals of mine are fully trained and required at the end of the day,” she said. “As is my fiance’s. So I’m hoping that the Human Rights Tribunal is able to do something.
“But at the very least, I’d like them to work with us.”