April 22, 2025
It Could Happen Here
Warning: This article contains disturbing details.
Last week, I felt sick to my stomach reading about a man in Mississauga facing allegations of animal cruelty in connection to puppies who were found mutilated and dead.
The story so far indicates that the suspect purchased the puppies through online platforms like Kijiji.
At the OHS, we work hard to help our community learn about how to responsibly acquire a pet — avoiding the common pitfalls of online sales that cause animals to suffer and leave some hopeful buyers with massive, unexpected bills.
While our resources are great for people who want a pet to love and cherish for its entire life, they do little to stop a seller who is careless, unaware or desperate from giving the pet to someone whose only intent is harm.
A little over a year ago, we reported an unusual trend of more puppies entering our care. To my shock, from January to March, we admitted 78 puppies compared to only 11 puppies in the same period last year.
These are puppies who arrive as entire litters, sometimes with their mom, sometimes born right in our care. We don’t always know the story of how an animal ends up with nowhere else to go, but for some of our recent puppies, their owner indicated they had been trying to sell the dogs, but no one was buying.
To those who chose to bring pups they could not keep to the OHS, I can only say one thing: Thank you. You’re a partner in animal welfare.
If there is anyone reading right now who has puppies they are trying to sell, but can’t find a home, bring them to the OHS. Giving them a chance for a bright and healthy future at the OHS is far more humane than abandonment or slashing prices in a race to the bottom.
The tragedy in Mississauga is an extreme example of how online pet sales can go badly, but attempting to offload pets at bargain bin discounts without a matching process is likely to cause suffering for all involved. More common is the pet owner who purchased a “cheap” puppy on a whim and wasn’t prepared for the cost of veterinary care and didn’t realize they need to maintain their pet’s mental well-being through training and enrichment.
As tariffs rage, stock markets roil and leadership changes hands, money becomes an increasingly prevalent concern. People are more cautious about buying new pets and with new Ontario legislation that makes puppy mills illegal, what was once a profitable business is rapidly slowing down.
The OHS’s rising puppy population may be a symptom of this changing market. If that is the case, I say yes, bring these pups to the OHS. It costs nothing to surrender and we are here for you and your pet, judgement-free. As a humane society, animal welfare — not profit — is our mission.
Thanks to our caring community, there is a better tomorrow for Ottawa’s animals and the people who love them. Right now, you can make twice the impact when you donate to the OHS.
Thanks to you, we are building a more humane and compassionate community.
Sharon Miko
President & CEO