I suspect that the most direct example I could point to, coming out of the Quanto case, is the profile that is placed, and that this legislation will underscore, on the value that these animals bring to their task, to their service, to our country. We included military animals, to which I can speak somewhat personally, having observed the use of military animals in Afghanistan, where they provided tremendous service at great risk. They are often used in the detection of explosives, IEDs. Many people will have seen them at airports, where they're detecting drugs and sometimes contraband material, including weapons.
These animals have, by design, assumed a certain amount of risk, and we want to protect them. I think you will hear very shortly from witnesses about the value, the financial value and investment, that comes with these service animals based on the training, the time that it takes. Not every animal, obviously, is designed for this type of work. Horses, for example, are also used very often for crowd control. They're used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They're very often used in situations where they too can be in harm's way.
So it places these service animals at a higher threshold. It obviously has penalties attached in a way that is designed to deter individuals who might be inclined to harm them, to injure them, to kill them. For those reasons, we have encapsulated this in a bill that brings about mandatory penalties and in some cases fines; they're not necessarily mandatory penalties, depending on the circumstances.
I should also praise Costas Menegakis, who brought this bill forward as a private member. It was later incorporated into this bill that you see before us, presented by the government.