SPCA controversy doesn't help the animals
Barbara Yaffe
Vancouver Sun
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Canada's poodles and pusses by now have got the news -- the Senate yet again has let animals down. In November, senators rejected Ottawa's animal cruelty bill before rising for Christmas recess.
The future of the four-year-old bill is now uncertain. Who would have imagined an attempt to update legislation aimed at properly punishing animal abusers would be so difficult to pass?
Closer to home, news for animals isn't any more sanguine. In B.C., controversy surrounds the SPCA, its operations and relations with municipalities and privately operated animal shelters.
The controversy goes back to 2001 when it was first reported the society was paying its then-Vancouver regional branch director an absurdly high salary. Ever since, the SPCA has not been able to get itself back on track.
A second CEO, Doug Brimacombe, left the SPCA last spring for unknown reasons. Discussions regarding his severance are now in the hands of lawyers.
The society last year ran a $4.5-million deficit on a $22.7-million operating budget. Accordingly, it's reorganizing its administration and laying off staff in hopes of balancing its books in 2004. Some $12 million of the $22.7 million budget goes to staffing.
The layoffs prompted CUPE, representing many of those affected, to issue a news release last week calling on the SPCA's board to resign.
CUPE acting president Mark Hancock served notice the union will launch an information campaign to alert the public to problems in the SPCA organization and the need for it to focus more on animal welfare.
CUPE got support Monday from a new group, the Animal Rights Coalition, which is urging those who want to donate to shun the SPCA and instead fund alternative animal rescue groups (e-mail: liber@telus.net).
Both CUPE and the coalition contend the SPCA has become unaccountable. "It's time for concerned people to step in," Mr. Hancock says.
The SPCA is not covered by freedom of information legislation because it's not a government agency. And calls for an provincial ombudsman to review disputes between the SPCA and others in the community have fallen on deaf provincial ears.
Meanwhile, CUPE is charging that scandalous wages are being paid to senior SPCA employees, and in severance payments related to downsizing. The SPCA confirms severance payouts gobbled $582,000 since December 2002. In the two years previous, $723,000 in severance was paid.
SPCA salaries range from $41,000 to $105,000, though only three staffers are in the highest-earning category.
SPCA critics also grumble about the SPCA's newly purchased $924,000 administrative premises on East Seventh. It also spent $26,000 on "meeting expenses" last year.
It might be easy to dismiss a disgruntled union's complaints about the SPCA were it not for others who have joined a chorus against the agency, which is funded by the province and public donations.
Former SPCA volunteers -- some of whom had their memberships unilaterally revoked after levelling criticism -- have banded together to form Citizens Yell for Accountability.
On its Web site (www.cyabc.ca), the group states there's "too much SPCA spending on political machinations and administrative staff, when animals' primary needs are for direct service delivery and [adoption] placement.
"Donors want to know how their money is spent and to ensure that animal care, not administration and bloated bureaucracy, is the target for the funds."
Smaller private shelters, which often accept animals set to be euthanized by the SPCA, also object to the conflict of interest inherent in the SPCA having the authority to inspect their premises and potentially shut them down. After all, both the SPCA and these groups compete for the same donor dollars.
SPCA donations, incidentally, have been declining.
Confusion also exists about the SPCA's "no kill" policy, announced in March of 2002.
"No kill" turned out to be an unsustainable objective. Decisions about the animals' fate currently are based on health and potential for adoption.
Far too many are still being put down -- roughly one in three that come into SPCA care.
Some deemed in distress and euthanized can be nurtured out of distress, insist several operators of smaller, private, no-kill shelters. Accordingly, these groups are now accepting an unknown number of dogs and cats who are on death row at the SPCA.
The SPCA contends it's turning the corner with streamlined operations and a five-year strategic plan. But its current woes are worrisome as the organization traditionally serves as the linchpin of society's animal rescue operations.
byaffe@png.canwest. com