Comment: Aside from completely skewing the figures (47 adult dogs seized, 34 killed - puppies are easily sellable, and many were conceived within the SPCA, and so to include them in the statistics is misleading), the most apalling part of this press release is the second half of the third paragraph:

1. "The dogs received extensive rehabilitation by SPCA staff". In fact, it was volunteers who spent the majority of the time socializing the dogs. SPCA staff administered anti-anxiety drugs that were known to cause aggression in fearful dogs, and were thus contraindicated in such cases by the drug company who manufactured the product. SPCA staff then subjected the dogs to assessment testing, and when the dogs failed, SPCA staff killed them.

2. "40 of the dogs, including the 21 puppies, were successfully adopted into new homes." Clever wording. That means the SPCA admits to killing 28 of the dogs. Figures provided by ex-employees, and information compiled through press releases at the time puts the death toll at 34 adult dogs. And as everyone knows, anyone can sell a puppy, so the puppies really are not germane to the issue, and should not be included in the statistics.

3. "After several evaluations by veterinarians and animal behaviour experts the SPCA was advised to humanely euthanize the dogs." What is missing here is that the dogs were warehoused for seven months in SPCA cages, unaltered, hormones raging, some allowed to breed, none ever fostered in a stable home environment, BEFORE being assessed. The SPCA seized these dogs from a familiar existence, threw them into a stressful and strange environment of concrete, chain link, and gawking people, subjected them to this for seven months, then assessed their mental state. Of course the dogs had behaviour problems-who wouldn't after all that?

The press release also falsely describes the conditions the dogs were seized from. Most of them were not tied to trees, and no volunteers (the ones who worked most closely with the dogs) could corroborate that any were malnourished. As a matter of fact, it would appear that Lapointe's dogs were not even in simple distress, let alone critical distress. See pictures of how Gaston Lapointe kept his dogs (below).

BC SPCA CEO Craig Daniell argues that animals seized by his Society are better off dead than being left in the conditions they were seized from. It is up to the individual to read the material, look at the evidence, see the conditions Lapointe's dogs were kept in, and judge for themselves.

All we know for sure is that the SPCA sure took care of the dead part.

Beaverdell dogs before being killed by the SPCA