Craig Daniell, in his maiden speech as CEO of the BC SPCA, said that there are daily miracles in SPCA branches. AAS is of the opinion that it is a miracle that any animal survives incarceration at an SPCA Alcatraz for animals, but to each his own miracle.

Not to be outdone and in the spirit of friendly competition, here is AAS's entry for the "miracles" sweepstakes.

KITO

Left to suffer extreme physical and psychological neglect for years by the SPCA, AAS helped Kito to realize his own miracle of recovery. Kito and AAS had to run interference by the SPCA, but in the end Kito won the happiness sweepstakes and we award him the "MIRACLE CUP for 2003"

Congratulations Kito - well done!

By the way, we asked Craig Daniell to seize Kito, arguing that because Kito was so damaged by his isolation and chaining that his bowels spontaneously emptied when spoken to by a stranger, that Kito could be used to win a test case prosecution based on psychological neglect, something that Mr Daniell has said he is doing, as recently as the Fall issue of the SPCA's magazine, Animal Sense. "The message is clear - if you are inflicting cruelty to animals, including psychological and emotional abuse, you will be charged", Daniell is quoted as saying.

Oh really? When? To the best of our ability to find out what this secret, Masonic-like organization is doing (Mr Daniell stated uncategorically that he would not answer any emails from AAS), there have been no prosecutions for psychological neglect, and in fact, when a senior appellate court prosecutor offered his influence to get Crown to accept a prosecution for psychological neglect, his offer was not accepted - even though Crown's reluctance was the reason given for no prosecutions by a BC SPCA Senior Animal Protection Officer. (Read more: http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/3372 The SPCA declines the help of a senior Crown prosecutor. So, what - aside from talk - is it doing?

Kito looking askance at Elvis....