Public Guardian requested financial records, identifying 'possible lack of internal controls'

A member of the Toronto Humane Society's board of directors has received more than $14,000 this year in what she says are reimbursements, and a provincial agency is looking into concerns about alleged employee theft, kickbacks to directors and improper use of the charity's cars and credit cards, The Globe and Mail has learned.

The Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee, which has publicly refused to intervene at the shelter, wrote a letter to the THS's board of directors in July requesting documents including audited financial statements, policies on cash donations and details regarding pet supplies delivered to one director.

"We have identified some concerns with respect to the Toronto Humane Society ... including a possible [sic] a lack of internal controls, which may have led to the loss of charitable property through employee theft," the letter reads. "In addition, concerns have been raised with respect to the use and monitoring of the charity's corporate property such as vehicles and credit cards."

Delores Qasim, the director who received the money, said that the $14,000 figure seemed high, but said that she was reimbursed for veterinary and supply expenses incurred by the 50 to 70 sick and elderly cats she fosters for the THS each year.

The investigation to date has focused on animal welfare, leading to five senior managers and the charity's board of directors being charged with animal cruelty. The OSPCA's calls on the public guardian to appoint an interim supervisor to the THS have so far been rebuffed, with the agency saying publicly its jurisdiction pertains only to financial mismanagement.

But a source inside the shelter said the two issues are closely intertwined, and provided financial documents to The Globe that showed that the charity had spent $418,609 on lawyers so far this year, compared with $276,248 on emergency animal care.

Late yesterday, a lawyer for the THS released a statement accusing the OSPCA of improperly interfering "with our employees and regular operation of the premises."

The lawyer, Pell Capone, called the investigation of the shelter an "illegal and unwarranted exercise" and said his clients would be challenging it in court.

The Globe's findings came on the same day that OSPCA investigator found that the THS had been feeding long-expired canned and dry food to their animals and that the shelter's suppliers were demanding cash payments up front because of balances owed. Critics railed at the apparent lack of funding for animal needs in light of the legal spending. "We have a situation at the THS where lawyers came before food for its vulnerable animals," Judy King, a THS volunteer and member of the Association to Reform the THS, said in a statement.

"It is urgent that the province steps in and appoints someone independent of the OSPCA and the THS to oversee the shelter and its finances," said Brian Shiller, a lawyer for the OSPCA. "The OSPCA hopes that the government will take the lead in creating a new and functional THS."

The charity's coffers, which receive about $10-million in donations each year, remain in the control of the very directors who have been charged with animal cruelty. Those directors have come out swinging against the OSPCA's investigation, saying in a release on the humane society's website that the OSPCA has no legal right to stay in the shelter beyond midnight tonight.

"Normal operations of the Society, including the adoption and admission of animals, will resume on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009," the release says.

The THS is also encouraging any staff who feel they've been harassed to report the incidents to the society's spokesman. "They will be reviewed by legal counsel and appropriate action will be taken," the release adds.

The OSPCA said yesterday that their inspection of the shelter would take longer than initially expected.

"When we find dead cats in the ceiling, so you wonder what else is here," OSPCA inspector Kevin Strooband said in a statement, referring to a mummified cat found in the shelter's rafters. "We need more time to carry out this investigation, but we will be keeping the public notified of our progress and how they can help."