"Petcetera will not sell dogs or cats."

This is the deal Petcetera cut with the SPCA, that Petcetera would not compete in the SPCA's dog and cat market. The SPCA also got free retail space out of this deal with free Petcetera sales persons. What Petcetera got was the SPCA's stamp of approval, and it would appear, a hands-off policy by the SPCA on all other species, and a hands-off attitude toward complaints of cruel or inappropriate behaviour by employees.

AAS investigated the Vancouver Petcetera after this deal was signed and documented over 30 other species of animals being sold: birds, amphibians, rabbits and other rodents, reptiles and tiny gliders (the saddest of all as when their cover was raised by an employee they almost went insane with fear). We asked ordinary questions of sales clerks who clearly had no clue about the proper care of the animals being sold.

One of the first managers of the Vancouver Petcetera store was Yvonne Savard, long time SPCA Administration employee. When we also tell you that Savard is (or was) a dog breeder on the side, of Bouviers, who docked their ears and tails, we think we make it clear what the SPCA really is. It profits from the sale of pets, and no action in conflict with its "for the public" policies, is too low to stoop to.

Five years of this dirty deal has just been reinforced by Craig Daniell, the current CEO, with the announcement that he has entered into a new partnership with a mass-marketer of exotics and other caged creatures.

We welcome readers accounts of what they have witnessed at any Petcetera store and accounts of complaints to the SPCA resulting in no perceptible change.