Save Plateau pets!

Plateau pet-owners are urging the borough not to renew its contract with the Berger Blanc animal shelter when it expires this spring. At a borough council meeting on Monday, residents submitted a petition claiming Berger—which operates in 10 of the city’s 19 boroughs—is violating its contract.

Amongst its complaints, the petition argues Berger makes insufficient efforts to reunite lost pets with their owners, even if the pets have ID tags or microchips.

Anjali Choksi submitted the petition, which had collected almost 1,500 signatures online in less than a week.

Plateau borough mayor Luc Ferrandez is encouraging petitioners to keep collecting signatures. But he said unless another organization makes a bid when Berger’s contract ends, the borough won’t have much choice but to renew the deal.

Jeanne-Mance borough councillor Piper Huggins, who is reviewing the dossier, says Berger won its current two-year contract unopposed.

At the meeting, Projet Montréal leader Richard Bergeron mused that the $65,000 the borough pays Berger annually could instead be used to open a Plateau animal shelter.

“We think that would be a fantastic idea,” said Choksi. In the meantime, the petition can be signed at (petitions24.net/petition_berger_blanc).

Berger Blanc executive director Pierre Couture flatly denied the allegations when contacted by the Mirror.

—ELISABETH FAURE