From: http://www.tinman.org/letlive/index.html

"Converting to a Let Live nation, the no-kill movement comes to Canada. After over nine years of no-kill conferences and the astounding success of the No-kill Movement throughout the USA, Let Live Canada is a new national organization dedicated to facilitating the "no-kill solution" to the problem of companion animal overpopulation across Canada. We invite all who share our goals to join us."

Comment: reading a web site like this certainly leads one to believe that the no-kill movement has been a raging success and that animals in pounds/shelters are no longer being killed. In my opinion, this is a dangerous path they are taking the public along.The problems of pet overpopulation, pet abandonment, and unsocialized dogs (three of the biggest reasons why pounds/shelters are so filled with unwanted animals) will never be seriously addressed so long as groups like Let Live Canada are out there painting a false rosey picture. To make matters worse, two of the "expert" guest speakers at the let Live Conference are the BCSPCA's Nadine Gourkow and Rebecca Ledger. For those who don't remember, these are the two UBC Scientists hired by the BCSPCA several years ago, and who created the highly contraversial CAMP program, which many people believe gives the BCSPCA scientific justification for killing dogs that are too costly to rehabilitate.

"Managing the Expectation Gap to Increase Successful Dog Adoptions"

"Rebecca Ledger & Nadine Gourkow
A longitudinal study of adopted shelter dogs in the UK has indicated that the more an adopted dog differs from the owner's expectation, the more likely it is to be returned to the shelter. This `Expectation Gap' can be minimised by a) ensuring that shelter dogs are trained appropriately to meet the expectations of their new guardians, b) matching assessed dogs with assessed owners, and c) ensuring that owners are provided with continued support in order to address behaviour problems as they arise. Rebecca Ledger will describe how matching temperament-tested dogs with expectation-tested owners has improved the number of successful adoptions from RSPCA shelters in the UK. Nadine Gourkow will then describe how this approach to re-homing is being implemented, validated and managed at BC SPCA rescue shelters in Canada."

Comment: I for one would love to hear Gourkow explain how the BCSPCA has "implemented" this program! How ironic that two of the people responsible for creating CAMP, are speaking at a Let Live Conference! How twisted is that? Almost as funny as the former SPCA CEO getting paid to give lectures on how to successfully run an organization...

If Let Live Canada wants to do some real good, it will stop tooting it's own horn about successful seminars, and instead focus on spreading the message that "no-kill" is not possible until serious changes are made to the entire system. To tout it's success before the successes are real, will simply perpetuate animal suffering.