A Sarnia councillor wants Guelph University to remove its cap on veterinary student intakes.
Margaret Bird said emergency or after hours services in Sarnia-Lambton are non-existent and the cap, which she claims is 100 students per year, has resulted in a veterinarian staff crisis.
"I am asking for the cap on intake to be removed, or that Guelph University employs an additional veterinary professor in order to have at least two classes instead of just one," Bird said in her motion to council.
City council supported her request to send a letter to the Minister of Training, Colleges & Universities, and copies to Premier Doug Ford, the College of Veterinarians, the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association, Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey, and the registrar at Guelph University.
"I ask that this letter be sent by Friday, June 10th, as this is an extremely urgent situation," she wrote.
At this month's meeting, when given the chance to speak to her motion, Bird said it was prompted by calls from constituents.
"Over the past couple of months, I have received many heart wrenching phone calls from pet owners who are told when they phone one of the area vets that they have to take their pets to London or Windsor, which can respectively be two or three hours away, depending on where they live."
Bird said when an animal has been injured in an accident, or is in pain, they can not -- in most cases -- be moved.
"On a few occasions, I've heard from pet owners, who are so desperate, they carefully place their dog or cat in the vehicle and drive to one of these locations. I've also heard that (some of) these pets died on route."
Bird said while online services are offered for a fee, it is time consuming in an emergency and too expensive for some.
"Up until about three years ago we had a rotating after-hours service between all the vets in Sarnia-Lambton," Bird said. "For some reason this has stopped. I understand that many of the vets are burned out from all of their hours of work and there's not nearly enough staff to alleviate this situation."
Bird hopes the letters help resolve the issue.
Councillor Mike Stark voted against the motion, saying it wasn't the city's jurisdiction.