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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The pressure is on to implement a new territorial animal protection act by next fall after a recent study named the NWT one of Canada's "best places to be an animal abuser."

The Animal Legal Defense Fund, a California-based non-profit animal rights organization, released its 2009 Canadian Animal Protection Laws Rankings on May 20.

The report says the NWT, tied with Nunavut, has the lowest standard for animal protection in Canada.

The Department of Justice is working on a new legislation proposal with other government departments, such as Municipal and Community Affairs.

"It's a priority for us as a department," said Karan Shaner, assistant deputy at the Department of Justice.

"We're hoping to have all of the policy work done by the fall."

Kam Lake MLA David Ramsay said he's ashamed of NWT's ranking in the study and believes the territory should follow Ontario's example by enacting tough animal protection laws.

"That's not the kind of Northwest Territories that I want to represent," said Ramsay. "We need new legislation - period.

"In the worse cases of abuse there needs to be jail time - serious jail time. There's no place for animal cruelty in society today."

Ramsay added he'll do his part to ensure the government implements a new act.

"We'll keep pressuring them to make sure that does happen," Ramsay said. "It can't just be a Band-Aid approach."

The secretary of the Beaufort Delta Regional SPCA said a lack of enforcement is a big part of the problem.

"We need an act that's going to be enforced - strictly enforced," said Bonnie Dawson. "Animals are being left not only to starve to death but to freeze to death."

Three sled dogs were found dead and frozen to the ground last December in Tuktoyaktuk.

RCMP didn't press charges against the owner because they couldn't prove he had wilfully neglected the animals.

Similarly, RCMP didn't lay charges against a Behchoko resident after 44 of his dogs were put down due to malnutrition because they believed a conviction would be unlikely.

Local SPCA officials don't have the authority to take abused animals from their owners - that's left up to the RCMP under federal animal protection laws.

"Their hands are so tied up with everything else that they don't intervene," said Dawson, adding that abusive pet owners in the NWT rarely face any consequences.

"They don't even get a slap on the wrist," she said. "It's open season and it's got to stop."

Quebec also ranks in the report's bottom three.

Ontario had the worst ranking in last year's study, but moved into the top spot this year thanks to newly-introduced legislation in that province.