Call the City of Edmonton (311 in Edmonton, or 780-442-5311 from outside Edmonton). More information is available here.
Or call the Edmonton Police (780-423-4567; #377 from mobile)
Call the Calgary Humane Society (403-205-4455), or report online. More information is available here.
Or call the Calgary Police Service (403-266-1234).
To report suspected (companion and livestock) animal cruelty or neglect outside of Edmonton or Calgary, call the province’s Animal Distress Line (1-800-455-9003) which is housed at the Alberta SPCA.
Up until 2019, the Edmonton Humane Society was responsible for animal cruelty protection. Peace officers with the City of Edmonton took over enforcement of the APA in February 2019. There are four full time officers and one sergeant on the animal protection team. General duty officers can provide support if needed (such as for seizures of many animals). The officers are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
In both Edmonton and Calgary, there are dedicated but informal partnerships among law enforcement officers across agencies who have prioritized animal cruelty.
The RCMP, municipal police, and peace officers appointed under the Peace Officer Act can also investigate suspected cruelty and enforce the Animal Protection Act.
An animal-specific team of provincially appointed peace officers is employed by the Calgary Humane Society. The Calgary Humane Society relies on private donations and fundraising, including for the funding of animal cruelty and welfare investigations.
An animal-specific team of provincially appointed peace officers is employed by the Alberta SPCA.
The Alberta SPCA employs twelve peace officers with authority to enforce the Animal Protection Act, serving Alberta outside the major centres of Edmonton and Calgary.
The Alberta SPCA receives an annual grant ($1,133.460.00) from the government of Alberta, through the Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry, in support of its animal protection services. Given the grant does not cover the full cost of the Animal Protection Services (APS) department, the Alberta SPCA relies heavily on fund raising to bridge the gap between the grant received and actual cost of the program, as well as other departments (such as Education and One Family Welfare), in support of its animal welfare mandate.
Data supplied by the Calgary Humane Society
Data supplied by the Alberta SPCA
Data supplied by the City of Edmonton
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Margaret Doyle is a veterinarian with significant forensic training and experience who works at Riverbend Animal Hospital in Calgary. Dr. Doyle has a Master’s degree in veterinary forensics from the University of Florida. Dr. Doyle works with the police on a dedicated informal anti-cruelty team, made up of Calgary Humane Society peace officers and a Calgary Police liaison officer, and four crown prosecutors.
Dr. Nick Nation is a veterinary pathologist who supports law enforcement and cruelty investigations.
The RCMP has three forensic laboratories in (Vancouver, Ottawa, and Edmonton). The Forensic Science and Identification Services (FS&IS) offered at these laboratories assist with criminal investigations. These services are intended for humans, but given the human-animal violence link and other crimes against animals, they could be enlisted for cases involving other species.
The Alberta SPCA has utilized a multitude of programs in support of their prosecutions. Peace Officers (previously special constables), historically sent animal tissue samples to the OS Longman Laboratory which is run by the province’s Department of Agriculture Dr. Nick Nation conducted postmortems and provided his expertise in evaluating samples. When this was no longer available to the Alberta SPCA, their peace officers utilized private labs and on a limited basis with the Airdrie Provincial Laboratory. Officers currently work with the University of Calgary in support of this work.
With respect to farmed animals, the Alberta SPCA currently works with large animal practitioners who may conduct a field necropsy (completed under the protection of a search warrant) with the removal of samples sent for pathology (e.g. bone marrow analysis). Further, investigators often secure experts in pasture and forage analysis, and will work with experts in the analysis of feed.
