A downtown St. Thomas cat rescue is facing a bill of nearly $200,000 from the province, after inspectors removed a significant number of cats from its care since May, and 17 of them were euthanized.
SALT, short for Saving Animals’ Lives Together, is a non-profit rescue that finds homes for cats and other animals, based at 353 Talbot Street. It has been open at that downtown address since September 2024. On Monday, SALT received a Statement of Account for $198,165.28 from Animal Welfare Services, the provincial team that enforces the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, often called the PAWS Act. CTV News London reported the story Tuesday.
Founder Bonnie Smith told CTV the trouble started with an inspector visit in early May, when SALT was caring for about 140 cats. She said earlier inspector visits had been “helpful and instructive,” but the May visit felt different: “It was more of a demanding, like, ‘You’re doing this,’ or ‘This shouldn’t be happening.’ And we just felt like criminals. We were in tears for three weeks,” she told the station. She said a complaint had been filed against the rescue, though she was not told who filed it or why. Smith said the shelter was overwhelmed by high turnover among its volunteers: “What do you do if you get the animals, but you got four people. You don’t just ship the animals out.”
Animal Welfare Services assigned a shelter veterinarian and arranged for about 60 cats to transfer to the Toronto Humane Society. Inspectors later removed roughly 60 more cats, and 17 of those were euthanized.
The bill covers what the province spent caring for the cats it took in. Under section 35 of the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, once an inspector removes an animal or keeps it in care, the province can bill the owner or custodian for that cost, and the owner is on the hook to pay it. Ontario took animal cruelty enforcement away from the Ontario SPCA in 2019, and the current provincial system, run by Animal Welfare Services, started January 1, 2020.
SALT does have a way to fight the bill. Under the law, a rescue or owner who gets a Statement of Account can appeal it in writing to the province’s Animal Care Review Board within 10 business days of being served, and there is no fee to file. Smith told CTV she plans to use that process: “We will be putting complaints in. We will be putting appeals in. That’s all we can do.” The bill is due August 25. The province’s Chief Animal Welfare Inspector has warned that more bills may follow for cats still in provincial custody.
A Ministry of the Solicitor General spokesperson, whose office oversees Animal Welfare Services, told CTV it could not comment further while the investigation is ongoing.
For now, adoptions of the cats still at SALT are on hold. Smith has started a fundraiser to help cover the bill, and the rescue is taking donations through CanadaHelps and PayPal Giving on its website. SALT is a separate organization from the City of St. Thomas’s own Animal Services shelter on Bill Martyn Parkway, which the city runs.
Update - August 28, 2026, 5:45 a.m. ET: Corrected the statement of account total to $198,165.28; an earlier version said $198,156.28.
Sources: CTV News London: “St. Thomas animal rescue faces existential threat from provincial watchdog bill,” Gerry Dewan, August 11, 2026, Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, 2019, S.O. 2019, c. 13, Animal Care Review Board: Appeals, Applications and the Hearing Process, Tribunals Ontario
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