From the AAS web page http://www.animaladvocates.com/vcp.htm

THE VANCOUVER CITY POUND AND AAS - A BRIEF HISTORY

For a few brief months in 1998, the Vancouver City Pound really was no-kill. AAS met the pound's new director and offered to make VCP no-kill by taking every single dog that the pound planned to kill, no matter what the reason. In short order AAS took 15 dogs out of the pound, dogs that no one wanted because they were too old, too unhealthy, too anxious, too rambunctious, too timid, or too aggressive. Some were fear-biters some were dog aggressive, some were even human aggressive. If the pound said they were going to be killed, we took them.

We spent thousands on vet bills, dental bills, spay and neuter, advertising, training, and foster care. It took a year, but we rehomed everyone of them.

No mention in the media was ever made of AAS's involvement; we were never given a word of credit, all of which went to the director. We quietly worked tirelessly and paid all the bills without any help from the pound. The donations that poured in because of all the publicity went to the pound.

But it wasn't long before we realized that the pound was no-kill in name only. The first hint was from an upset person who had found a pup on the street and phoned the pound just to make sure it would not be killed. She mentioned that the puppy was "nipping" hands. Every pup nips hands, and faces - this is the canine way of inviting the human to play; puppies and dogs also nip the legs and faces of their best dog-friends to invite play. Anyone who knows or cares the slightest thing about dogs would know this, and would know that all that was needed was a little training. The pound employee told the caller that the puppy would be put down for biting. The caller was shocked and horrified and exclaimed, "I thought you were no-kill!". "Oh we are", was the reply, "but not for dogs that bite". A puppy!

Things got worse. AAS was told that the pound's version of no-kill was going to be "We kill no adoptable dogs" and that in future AAS could not have all dogs, that the pound would be killing selected dogs. We kill no adoptable dogs is the dishonest definition that allows a pound to kill all the dogs it was always killing while getting praise for being "no-kill", because it decides which dogs are "adoptable" and which are "unadoptable". It kills the unadoptable (unsellable) dogs and then says, "We kill no adoptable dogs".

Why did the pound want to go on killing dogs? It wasn't because of legal liability issues, as AAS had paid a dollar for every dog and signed a waiver. Nevertheless, the pound told AAS that these were the rules, and to make sure we understood, threatened to put down two dogs that AAS had already paid for, had had neutered, vaccinated, and tattooed. The two were waiting for AAS to find suitable foster homes. We told the pound that they were not to touch "our" dogs and immediately removed them from the pound. We saw the writing on the wall and we did not go back.

If we had stayed, we would have had to stay on the Vancouver City Pound's terms. We would have had to get to know and love certain dogs that we knew we were not going to be allowed to save - and we just couldn't face that.

We left to pick up the pieces of our own rescue work that had been dropped in order to make the VCP no-kill. We had wanted to show the world that it could be done. We had wanted to form a partnership with the pound that could be emulated everywhere.

Instead, we and the dogs were victims of behind the scenes power struggles and egos, and the public was fooled.

To add to the disgrace, the Vancouver Sun continued for two years to call the pound no-kill - even going so far as to call it "official no-kill", something it never was (City Hall refused to make it official). This further misled the public and prevented real reform of pound services because it created a sense of public complacency and hid the causes of the big, desocialized yard dogs that the pound is still killing.

Many of the dogs that are killed in pounds are are used-up yard/guard dogs, big breeds so ruined that the only thing that can be done with these poor, worn out souls is kill them. In spite of these dogs killing and maiming when they get loose, the City of Vancouver waits until they have attacked before killing them, or until they end up in pounds as strays, instead of legislating against the ruin of these dogs.