BC SPCA to open new Education & Adoption Centre in Richmond
June 1, 2007. For immediate release. The BC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has announced plans to open a unique new Education and Adoption Centre in Richmond on July 1st, 2007. The new centre, located in a 1,911-square-foot retail space at 7791 Steveston Highway (at No. 3 Road), will serve as an adoption centre for small dogs, cats, kittens, puppies, rabbits and small animals. During the upcoming year the SPCA will also develop community workshops on topics such as common pet behaviour problems, obedience training, pet first aid, one-on-one counselling sessions for pet behaviour issues, as well as summer camps, youth workshops and birthday parties for kids. A small retail space for pet food and other items is planned for the centre as well.

"We are very excited about the new centre and the range of new programs we'll be able to offer pet guardians in Richmond," said Lorie Chortyk, General Manager of Community Relations for the BC SPCA. "This is a modern concept that moves away from the old pound or shelter model. We are creating a bright, open, user-friendly facility where people can come to adopt animals and to learn more about how to be the best pet guardian possible." Chortyk says the new SPCA centre will complement, not replace, services at the existing city shelter on No. 5 Road. "When the city awarded the animal control contract to another organization last year, we had to leave the shelter that we had operated out of for many years. But we were 100% committed to remaining in Richmond and serving the community. It was an opportunity for us to move in a new, progressive direction."

While the city shelter will still enforce municipal animal bylaws and take in stray and surrendered animals, Chortyk says the new SPCA facility will offer a range of programming that has never been available to Richmond pet guardians before. "This will be a unique resource to promote animal welfare in Richmond and we believe this new facility will serve as a state-of-the-art model for other new store-front centres elsewhere in the province."

Chortyk added that having small dogs, puppies and kittens available for adoption will meet a growing need in Richmond. "When we operated the city shelter potential adopters were always looking for small and younger animals but we couldn't always meet that need with the animals that were surrendered in Richmond alone," she said. "We encourage people to still visit the city-owned shelter to view the animals for adoption, but we also want to make sure that if people do want a specific breed or age of animal that they have access to a homeless, rescued animal at our centre, rather than going through the paper or Internet and possibly getting an animal from a puppy mill or unscrupulous breeder." She says the BC SPCA regularly transports puppies, kittens and small dogs to the Lower Mainland from northern SPCA shelters, where pet overpopulations is rampant and no homes can be found for the animals.

"One of the new features that will also be available in the centre is a 'virtual' adoption centre where people will be able to view animals online from any SPCA shelter in the province," said Chortyk. "It's really about giving people choice and access to the right pet for their family."

The centre will open for BC SPCA Summer Camps for children in July (visit www.spca.bc.ca/kids for more details) and the adoption centre will open in August. Educational programming and other services will be phased in later in the summer and throughout 2007. An official opening of the centre is planned for August.

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For more information:
Lorie Chortyk, General Manager, Community Relations, BC SPCA, 604-647-1316.