TORONTO - Ontario's little-known team of taxpayer-funded animal cruelty investigators recently issued its first-ever news release after launching in 2020.
Animal Welfare Services has slowly become more transparent following pressure from The Canadian Press to open up about its years-long probe of Marineland.
Earlier this month, the organization issued a short statement about the death of five dogs and the distress of 24 dogs related to 96 charges against a Hamilton woman.
That came after Chief Animal Welfare Inspector Melanie Milczynski gave her first-ever interview about the Marineland investigation.
She isn't sharing much more about the Hamilton case, but she says its significance — and questions from locals about the investigation — played a role in going public with the charges.
Milczynski admits Animal Welfare Services has been under pressure to share more with the public about its work.
She says the organization is trying to be more open about what it does and when it lays charges.
