Watership drowned

>> Dead mammal in the Lachine Canal presents a jurisdictional conundrum

by PATRICK LEJTENYI

The Lachine Canal will never be hailed as a showcase for environmental gumption, but the corpse of a small, drowned mammal floating within spitting distance of the Atwater Market footbridge still has the power to alarm. First spotted on September 4, the body--which may or may not have been either a terrier or a rabbit--floated in a bed of algae in full view of pedestrians before being picked up last Friday.

Two weeks ago, Jane Sorensen, a freelance technical writer, reported the late creature's watery resting place to the Mirror after she saw it while biking home from work. She had first called the SPCA, which directed her to Berger Blanc, which in turn directed her to the City of Montreal. None of them accepted responsibility for picking up the corpse.

"I didn't call anybody else afterwards because I didn't want to go through a round robin again. Nobody was taking responsibility for it," she says. "I was shocked. And saddened. How are they going to find out who the animal belongs to, and how are they going to investigate if it had been drowned?"

In fact, Parcs Canada runs the 14.5-kilometre-long canal, and is responsible for its security. There seemed to be, however, some confusion as to who takes responsibility for floating carcasses when the Mirror began its inquiries.

Initially contacted two weeks ago, a Lachine Canal media rep said the police and firefighters are responsible for removing human bodies--alive or dead--from the canal, regardless of how they got there. She was unsure about who took care of non-humans. A few days later, she corrected herself and said the SPCA is responsible for animals--alive or dead--found without owners either in the canal or on its Parcs-Canada-run banks. "The SPCA must furnish its own equipment to do pick-ups," says rep Michelle Yvon. "But in this case we used a maintenance boat to pick up the body."

Pierre Barnoti, executive director of the Quebec SPCA, first heard of the drowned animal after being contacted by Parcs Canada following the Mirror's call. He says that through a joint effort, with the Parcs Canada maintenance men pushing the unidentifiable body from the algae to the banks, the SPCA managed to restore some dignity to the unfortunate possible rabbit or dog's earthly remains.

"It was indescribable," says Barnoti of the carcass. "It was like a balloon. It was horrible. There was no more fur, it might have been a baby seal. It was in an advanced state of decay. It was absolutely impossible to identify it."

It was also "absolutely impossible" to determine its cause of death. Barnoti says that in instances where an animal has been the victim of foul play, an autopsy is performed to determine whether charges should be laid. But, because of the details in this particular case, which Barnoti says is the first of its kind, any follow-ups are impossible.

There is no formal contract between Parcs Canada and the SPCA as of yet, although negotiations between the two began over the summer. A final agreement has yet to be signed, but Barnoti is optimistic that Parcs Canada and the SPCA will eventually settle on a proposed $35 fee per call, which will cover truck and manpower costs.

As for the animal, it was buried, in dry ground, over the weekend.