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For almost a decade, The World Society for the Protection of Animals Canada has been fighting to end abuses in Ontario's roadside zoos.

Also known as WSPA, the organization's goal is to create a worldwide animal welfare movement, which includes making changes in our own backyard.

Melissa Tkachyk is the programs officer at WSPA and has worked on the Roadside Zoo Project for the past four years. WSPA Canada has been fighting to make changes in roadside zoos for more than a decade.

"There are more roadside zoos here than any province of Canada and we have the weakest regulations," she said. "There are about 60 zoos in total and 45 of them come under the typical definition of a zoo and the majority of them are not accredited by the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums."

However, there are a number of facilities that aren't typical zoos, but rather are petting zoos with the odd wild animal or they might be focused on a specific species like reptiles or butterflies.

Along with the weakest regulations, Tkachyk said the province doesn't license exotic species such as tigers, so anyone can own one. Also, if someone gets bitten by, for example, an exotic snake, anti-venom may not readily be available in Ontario.

"There's a huge human health and safety concern and as well there is no one doing safety inspections and there are no safety regulations," she said. "So these animals can be housed in any condition the owner sees fit, the public can come in and I've seen cases where the public can walk right up to the cage with a lion or tiger in it and a child could easily put (his) hand right in, and there is the potential of escapes."

And the animals suffer as well, Tkachyk said.

Tkachyk said WSPA has conducted countless investigations and have hired experts from the zoo industry to evaluate the conditions the animals are kept in. For the most part, conditions are shocking.

"They typically offer the animal shelter, a food and water bowl and that's it," she said. "They're usually in these box-like, small cages and have very little room to move let alone run or climb or hop like they'd do in the wild, and very little for stimulation."

Many of these animals, she said, are pacing back in forth, a tell-tale sign of psychological disturbance.

Tyson was one such animal.

Tyson was a kangaroo WSPA first discovered in 2001 in a roadside zoo in London, Ont.

Tkachyk said Tyson was one the saddest animal she had ever seen. Tyson was alone in a small, barren cage. He had a patch of dirt and a metal shed to sleep in.

"It was so sad to see an animal that could cover more than three metres in just one hop and his exhibit pretty much measured 3x4 metres so he couldn't even take one natural hop and that to me explains what a roadside zoo is and why we need regulations and standards," she said.

Some animals live for decades in these conditions.

Surprisingly, Tkachyk said many of these owners don't think they're doing anything wrong. Some even think because they've saved the animal from another horrible situation, they're at least better off.

"Right now, anyone can open up a zoo; we don't have any regulations or restrictions," she said. "In other provinces they do require a thorough application process, a business plan that shows how you will care for the animals, staff requirements, and these are things we want to see in Ontario."

Tyson garnered worldwide media and public attention. He was last seen in 2006. That zoo is now closed and the animals at that zoo, including Tyson, have disappeared, she said.

"He could very well not be alive because he didn't look very well the last time we saw him," she said.

In a regular zoo, Cliffe said animals in an environment that takes into account the needs of that particular species as well as trained staff who are educated on the needs of the species they care for, which is not the case in many roadside zoos.

"In a lot of cases, you will most likely have a collector who wants to have these animals and who wants to profit from them, who are not trained to care for them and the conditions these animals live in many of these roadside zoos are appalling," she said.

But hope for change is on the horizon.

Bill 50, the provincial Animal Welfare Act, was introduced in April and if passed will update the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act that has been in place since 1919, Tkachyk said.

"We have the animal cruelty provisions under the criminal code that are 116 years old and have had very few improvements since that time of Queen Victoria," she said. "Ukraine, Croatia and Malaysia have stronger legislation than Canada."

Significant changes will include making it a provincial offence to abuse any animal and Tkachyk said it will include regulations for roadside zoos. For the first time it will establish penalties for abusing animals including a lifetime ban on owning any animal.

"It will finally make it a provincial offence to abuse any animals, right now. Shockingly, it's only a provincial offence to abuse a cat or a dog used in a commercial breeding operation like a puppy or kitty mill."

Visit http://www.ontariozoos.ca to learn more about Ontario's roadside zoos or to find out how to support Bill 50.