The SPCA likes to tell the media that it works with other rescue groups. It may, occasionally, but too often it works against rescue. In Victoria a very timid border collie was bought from the SPCA recently. The SPCA did not do a home check, nor did it make any follow-up calls to see how things were going and when things did not go well, the owner did not want to send the dog back to a prison cell and perhaps a death sentence, so she gave her to Chelco Farms rescue Rehabilitation Society who specialize in border collies with behaviour problems. The SPCA and the staff are familiar with Chelco Farms where, Chelco owner Jill Oakley said, "The dog would live in a home environment, which could only be beneficial to a dog as timid and needy as this one. And, my rescue would interview, homecheck, place her, and monitor her in a new home."

The owner said she would call the SPCA as it was the right thing to do, but, "When the lady called the Victoria SPCA, to inform them, she was reprimanded for giving the dog to a rescue rather than returning the dog to the shelter. They tried to intimidate the lady by telling her she signed a contract and according to the contract if she couldn't keep the dog, she must return the dog to the shelter.

"The Victoria SPCA would have never known this dog had been given away, if it wasn't for her call. The SPCA didn't care where this dog was, or who this dog was with. Two months and the owner had never heard a word from the Victoria branch.

"Is this the society that cares about the well-being of the animal?"