Cross-posted from CYA on 10/8/2003 at 07:23:46 PM by k9_fe_

”Denis Edwards was, until today, a hard-working volunteer and generous donor at the Vernon Branch. He phoned me this morning to say that he had been "fired" and that volunteers would no longer be permitted to help with the cleaning of cat cages.

COMMENT: BCSPCA Website “Volunteering for the BCSPCA - Volunteer Positions - We call them volunteers, but to the staff, and the animals, they are heroes. Wherever they serve, volunteers are a highly valued resource to our Society.”

”When he turned up this morning to put in his usual three hours of cleaning, he was told that the staff had decided that volunteers were responsible for the disease problem at the horribly overcrowded shelter.”

COMMENT: If diseases are spreading in the Vernon shelter as a result of improper cleaning procedures then IMO the fault lies entirely with the staff who are responsible for training and following up on volunteers. As for blaming volunteers for the “horribly overcrowded shelter”, this makes absolutely no sense and I'd certainly like to hear how the Vernon SPCA can justify such a ridiculous statement.

”He is a dedicated, conscientious, responsible volunteer who does his best to help the animals in a shelter where 7 cats are crammed into one cage, “

COMMENT: BCSPCA Website – “The BCSPCA Charter - The BC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the quality of life for the animals of the world we share.” In my opinion “7 cats crammed into one cage” doesn’t sound much like quality to me.

”staff members have failed to notice a dead kitten in a cage”

COMMENT: The BCSPCA is going to have considerable difficulty convincing the public about the importance of the Five Freedoms, if their own organization continually fails to abide by them. In this particular case, what about “freedoms” number two: “freedom from pain, injury, and disease”; freedom number three: “freedom from distress”; and freedom number 4: “freedom from discomfort”?

"a heavily pregnant cat [ which Denis brought to their attention, only to be told that the staff had believed the cat was an overweight male. ]”

COMMENT: They mistook a pregnant female cat for an overweight male cat? If this was an issue about very young kittens I could understand that mistake, but this was about adult cats for heavens sake! It must have taken a lot of balls for a staff person to admit to that particular error. Speaking of balls, are they completely blind at the Vernon SPCA or what?