In a ruling released Friday, Associate Chief Justice John Rooke of Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench called the originating notice by the animal rights groups “an abuse of process”.

The proper legal channel by which to address the issue was for the groups to take their complaints to local peace officers, he wrote.

“There is a possible caveat: if the public officers charged with responsibility under the legislation do not meet that duty, the jurisdiction of the court might be invoked to seek relief through a judicial review application for mandamus [a court order] or an application for mandatory injunctive relief [an injunction].”

An originating notice filed earlier this year alleged the 35-year-old Asian elephant had been suffering from a number of illnesses and had been under distress “caused or permitted by the City of Edmonton.”

The applicants sought a declaration that the city was violating Alberta’s Animal Protection Act.

Animal rights groups vow to keep fighting

“The city is obviously very pleased by today’s ruling and our position from the outset has been that the Edmonton Valley Zoo is in compliance with all applicable regulatory and legislative standards and strives to exceed them,” city lawyer Stephen Phipps said.

The city has always taken the position that any complaints about Lucy’s condition should be made to regulatory authorities, he added.

“What the applicants tried to do here was to shortcut that entire process and simply proceed by a civil process and to eliminate any sort of investigation into Lucy’s actual care.”

But one of the groups behind the lawsuit vows the fight to move Lucy from the zoo will not end.

“The judge is saying, you need to compel these people to do their jobs, not come into the court and ask me to do it in this way,” said the president and founder of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk by phone from Washington, D.C.

“We are worried that, of course, nothing good will be done for her and it will be too late but we will be re-grouping, our attorneys are getting together, there will be more action coming. This is a technical setback.”

Newkirk said the groups filed the legal action because they couldn’t get officials to investigate their complaints.

But Phipps said a letter was sent to the Edmonton Humane Society by one of these groups several years ago requesting that Lucy be relocated. A review was carried out and nothing was found to be wrong.

“It was more of situation that [the animal rights groups] disagreed with the conclusions that were arrived at by these officers rather than the officers did nothing,” Phipps said.

The legal action was the latest step in the long battle between the city and animal rights groups over Lucy. High-profile lawyer Clayton Ruby represented the animal rights groups in the lawsuit.

The animal rights groups want the city to move Lucy to one of two elephant sanctuaries in the United States.

Shea said the ban was suspended until further notice after Inuit leaders questioned the legality of the ban.

“I’m please to report that we have just learned this morning that the petition launched by the Inuit government for an injunction has been granted by the European Court of Justice,” said Shea. “This means that the ban does not come into force tomorrow.”

Earlier Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke out against the EU ban on Canadian seal products, which was scheduled to begin Friday, saying the federal government is “very strongly in opposition” to it.

It’s a “flagrant discrimination” against the Canadian sealing industry, which the prime minister described as a sector that employs “hard-working people who are also of modest means.”

Harper made the comments while speaking with reporters at a government announcement in Miramichi, N.B.

“It is a disgrace that they’re treated this way in some countries based upon no facts or information whatsoever. So, we strongly object to the decision,” said Harper.

Last November, Canada made an official complaint to the World Trade Organization about the European ban.

Stockwell Day, who was trade minister at the time, said last year Ottawa had formally requested WTO consultations on the ban, the first stage of the world body’s dispute-settlement process.

Day said the regulation, adopted by 27 European countries, was a violation of the EU’s trade obligations.

Canada, he said, is arguing that the seal hunt is “a legitimate economic pursuit” and that the EU ban is based “neither on science nor on facts.”

Samantha, living at the zoo since 1974, was euthanized Monday after suffering her second stroke in a matter of weeks, the zoo said in a release.

The gorilla was paralyzed on her right side after a stroke in mid-July. She made some progress in her recovery, but Monday’s stroke put her in critical condition.

Zoo officials then decided to euthanize her.

She was the favourite mating partner of Charles, a male silverback gorilla at the zoo and father of her five offspring.

Charles paid extra attention to her after her first stroke, “coaxing her, or encouraging her or communicating with her because he was obviously very concerned about her situation,” said Chris Dutton, a veterinarian at the zoo.

“So of course, now that she’s passed away, I’m sure that there will be some upset within the group. There’ll be some changes in the group dynamics most certainly.”

The gorilla was born in Gabon in 1972 and came to the Toronto Zoo two years later.

Two of her offspring — Shalia and Sadiki — are still at the zoo.

“Over the years, I have spent a lot of one-on-one time with Samantha,” said gorilla keeper Matt Stephenson in a statement.

“I will particularly miss her ’singing’ at breakfast and dinner, and those purrs and rumbles she made that were like music to the soul and which always bought a smile to my face.”

The Western Lowland gorilla is an endangered species found in western Africa. The average lifespan of the gorilla in the wild is about 35 years, although in captivity it can live up to 50 years.

Huang Kuo-nan has insisted he did not mate the two animals on purpose: Breeding and crossing of rare protected animals is illegal in Taiwan, and if he is convicted, he could be fined around $1,500.

Huang created the country’s first liger cubs after the mother, a Bengal tigress named Beauty, gave birth to triplets.

But only two of the youngsters survived. Like many hybrids, they lack the ability to reproduce.

The cubs, whose father is an African lion named Simba, are being hand-reared as the mother made no attempt to take care of them.

Huang said Simba and Beauty have lived in the same cage since they were both small. And the two started mating three years ago — but this was the first pregnancy, he added.

“Usually when a lion and a tiger are kept together, they will for sure attack each other to death, but these two have been spending time together since they were small,” Huang said.

The Crown told a courtroom at Old City Hall on Monday morning that there were several legal problems with a November raid by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that led to the charges against the five senior members of the society.

Some of the problems include seizures that were too broad and the presence of the media at various times during the execution of the search warrant, the Crown said in a document outlining the reasons it dropped the charges.

“Ultimately, the Crown has concluded that the lawfulness and execution of these warrants were seriously flawed to such an extent that the Crown would be unable to successfully tender the evidence seized during these searches,” the prosecutors wrote.

The Crown was also concerned with the OSPCA’s use of civilians — including private investigators — during its investigation.

Taken together, these issues ensured there would be no reasonable chance of conviction of any of those charged, the Crown said.

An angry Rob Godfrey, chair of the OSPCA, said at an afternoon news conference that the Crown’s decision means “open season for animal cruelty in the province of Ontario.”

He added: “We are outraged by the Crown’s decision to drop all charges of animal cruelty, conspiracy and obstruction … [against] the former THS staff members.”

Godfrey also appealed to Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley to review the Crown’s move.

The OSPCA is a provincial agency charged with enforcing the province’s animal cruelty laws and has the power to lay charges both under the Criminal Code and the OSPCA act.

5 charged in initial raid

The OSPCA took over the humane society on Nov. 26, 2009, after a much-publicized raid. Investigators said they found animals that were neglected at the shelter, with some being left to die in cages without proper care and nutrition.

Five senior officials were charged with animal cruelty:

- President Tim Trow.

- General manager Gary McCracken.

- Head veterinarian Dr. Steve Sheridan.

- Supervisor Andy Bechtel.

- Manager Romeo Bernadino.

Charges against Trow, McCracken, Bechtel and Bernadino also included obstruction of a peace officer.

Members of the society’s board of directors were charged with five counts of animal cruelty, a provincial offence under the OSPCA Act.

Vijay Kumar, another society leader, was charged in March with animal cruelty. All those charges have now been dropped.

The humane society reopened its River Street shelter on June 28, seven months after it was closed following the raid. A new board and president, Michael Downey, is now in charge, and the shelter’s veterinary clinic has been reaccredited by the College of Veterinarians.