Later this month, the OSPCA is slated to drop its duties around animal cruelty investigations and will instead become a more mission-driven advocacy group that focuses on changing the laws to better protect animals in the conditions they currently face.
While it’s too early to release its recommendations on current animal protection laws, the OSPCA is working toward suggested practices.
“The Ontario SPCA has commissioned a team to work together to draft what we believe the future provincial animal welfare legislation should look like,” Melissa Kosowan, associate director of communications for the OSPCA, told The Dodo. “This work will set the stage for new legislation, including stronger regulations prohibiting the use of animals in entertainment, providing for their protection as pets and farm animals and establishing their status as sentient beings under law.”
Dostaler ultimately wants Chocpaw to surrender its dogs to a rescue group and close for good — but until then, all the dogs’ lives hang in the balance.

“I would tell people the dogs have their own summer vacation and they just relaxed on the off-season,” Dostaler said. “That was all bullshit. The way these dogs live … it’s not worth the fun that anyone could possibly have while dog sledding. If they knew the truth, would they take part? No ... These poor people have no idea what they were supporting.”
Some dogs, like one dog named Pike who lived at Chocpaw and was featured in the “Sled Dogs” documentary, escape the industry and end up in a loving home. But that’s the exception, not the rule.
Dostaler fights so that every dog will one day know what it’s like to have a family.
“A family came in and they wanted a dog that was brindle covered,” Dostaler said. “We showed them dogs and [they] fell in love with Pike. So they came in, and we let their dogs out and all of them were just sniffing around. It was just luck that he got along with them. I’m really happy it happened that way. I kept in contact with them too. I’m so happy he got out — but not all dogs get to.”
To help dogs escape the sledding industry and earn legal protections, you can sign this petition. You can also share this article.
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