We were asked....

"Why is everyone so quick to blame the SPCA for not acting, what about the dog's owner for their abuse and neglect of the dog? What the heck, how could a dog be abused for ten years with no intervention from anyone? What is wrong with people?"

This is the most common sentiment and misconception that exists around animal cruelty...that it is not the fault of the poor SPCA and that we should stop criticizing the SPCA...that it is the fault of the abuser.

But fifty years of permitting abusers to abuse with impunity, of not using the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act to prevent cruelty, allowed abusers to believe they were not committing an offence, in fact, the abuser was sometimes told by the SPCA that they were doing nothing wrong and the person reporting the abuse was the problem. (Read more: What If Puppy Millers Could Afford Lawyers? http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/3902)

On top of that, the SPCA's own facilities, which it miscalled "shelters", were sometimes no better than the way an abuser was treating the animal. (Read more: SPCA seizures: The pot calling the kettle black http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/4015)

For the evil that we all hate to end, we must properly understand the problem so that we attack the right target. Abusers exist, have always existed, will always exist. Their behaviour must be changed through education and example. But for fifty years the SPCA neglected any real education and has set an example of pet abandonment by taking every animal dragged shaking through its doors, and killing the unsellable. Even now the SPCA runs "lifestyle accessories" ads encouraging people to buy more dogs, instead of running ads that tell the truth like AAS with its tiny budget does. (See our ads: http://www.animaladvocates.com/Adverts.htm) As for the education it claims? Where are the brochures at SPCA facilities, in Chinese, Hindi, Farsi, and other languages that tell dog purchasers that at dog should not be isolated in a yard until ruined?. Hell - there isn't even one in English, and that is after promising the City of Vancouver in 2001 that it would take care of the problem of the plague of yard dogs in Vancouver.

The SPCA is slowly dragging up its standards although sometimes it is hard to see any progress as, for just one example, it continues to sell sick animals. (Read more: The BC SPCA sells sick animals http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/3921) As far as we know, the SPCA dog purchase agreement still doesn't prohibit keeping dogs isolated outside their whole lives.

We do believe that the SPCA is grinding its way to higher standards, but the process is terribly flawed by so many people at the SPCA not having a clue about what the ethical underpinnings of animal welfare are. It is also in danger of failure because of certain very alarming actions by Craig Daniell, its current CEO, some of which can be read at WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? The SPCA raids Forgotten Felines Cat Shelter http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/3718, and SPCA to give dogs back to Chilliwack puppymiller after being paid "seizure costs". http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/3014

AAS has said many times that we believe Mr Daniell is passionate about animal cruelty and determined to prevent it in BC. If that were all we believed about Mr Daniell, we could get back a normal life and stop so much rescuing of dogs the SPCA is permitting to suffer and so much wearying tracking of SPCA actions. But too many actions by Mr Daniell (far too many to list here) have made it impossible to trust that the SPCA is being led by a principled person and we cannot stop until trust is firmly in place. (Read more: CRAIG DANIELL: PASSION WITHOUT PRINCIPLE? - A DANGEROUS COMBINATION http://www.animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/3765)

We see no reason to believe the SPCA would have made any improvements at all if it weren't for AAS's determination to force it to reform by years of investigating, documenting, connecting all the dots, building a website (which now gets over 13,000 hits a day), by paying for expensive newspaper ads, and by fearlessly publishing. We knew the SPCA would try to stop us and we braced ourselves for the lawyers. Sure enough, the SPCA spent many thousands of dollars given to it by people (who believed it was using their donations to honestly and sincerely prevent cruelty), to try to silence the one voice that was telling the real story, the voice that was truly speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. (Read more on how the SPCA used lawyers to try to silence AAS: http://www.animaladvocates.com/libelthreat.htm)

Why would the SPCA have reformed without being forced to? The system was working for them...more than nicely, as their salaries and wages, provided in part by its huge dog control/disposal contracting business, showed so clearly.

It is reform of the SPCA that is going to stop the evil cruelty that exists. Blaming only abusers is to miss the point and in a way is a betrayal of animals because suffering animals need animal-lovers to know what to do and not to make mistakes that mean they will go on suffering.