An SPCA representative's response to my previously posted letters, and my reply:

B: Thank you for getting back to me. Please see my replies below.

SPCA: Hi Brigitta,
I am in receipt of your correspondence to Doug Brimacombe regarding animal welfare at the shelters. I appreciate your ongoing concern. However, I understand that you met with the shelter superintendent and had some issues resolved. If that is not so, please let me know.

B: Well I can't say we resolved any issues. He said I should speak to him first. I said I did, two years ago. He said I only point out the bad and not the good, I acknowledged that and made some positive observations as publicly as I'd made the negative ones... but we didn't clear up any problems.

SPCA: From what I understand the issue around cats not having sufficient water were isolated incidents that the superintendent assured were not the norm.

B: No, they were not isolated incidents. Volunteers have complained about cats having no food/water or neither overnight over the last couple of years. I can understand how some cats will run out of water some hours before they're next dealt with. The shelter is a hectic place, and a few hours won't kill them. What I'm concerned about are the instances where staff go home in evening without checking that all the animals have adequate food/water to get through the night. Then the animals may not be attended to until noon the next day. That's 18 hours, or longer that some animals have been without. The staff there now seem, for the most part, to be on the ball and to care. I think they do what they can. All I would ask in addition is for 10 minutes at the end of the day to check the animals.

SPCA: According to the superintendent, you claimed to be satisfied with his response to this matter.

B: ?? I may be forgetting part of our conversation. But the matter isn't done with. I told him I understood his side of the issue. But these problems at Maple Ridge have never abated appreciably.

SPCA: In terms of improvements to the shelter cages there are plans to retrofit cages with water and food bowl holders. We recognize that with the addition of the boxes, water is being spilled more often. I would hope that the holders would be in place by September. We need to outfit the whole province so it will take some time to ensure we can get a supplier that can accommodate requirements of different facilities.

B: I'll look forward to September.

SPCA: In terms of a trailer - it is up to the shelter superintendent to put forward a proposal to the Administrative Office of the need and cost.

B: All I can say is that the local facility has been allowed to lapse into deplorable condition. Will anyone in the SPCA accept responsibility?

SPCA: I believe I told you that in terms of facility improvements, Maple Ridge will be addressed in the near future.

B: I'm sorry, if you did, I forgot. I guess it's because I was told repeatedly for two years how things were about to get better.

SPCA: Procedural changes will need to be looked on a provincial level - which I did discuss with you when we met. We hope to have Regional Managers in the fall. They will audit all shelter and start to make changes that will improve animal welfare and customer service among other things.

B: I'm afraid I still don't understand why it would take a new Manager and have to wait another season. I don't know why these basics should be difficult to address now. I honestly don't mean to be flippant when I say it shouldn't have to be a Project. I understand that change for a province-wide operation takes time. But I guess what I'm asking here is that a shelter superintendent tells his staff at 5:30, "Please check all the animals before you go."

SPCA: We are an organization in change and we kindly ask that you have some patience as we proceed with restructuring the Society. The aim is to serve animals in a more progressive way. We are already taken some positive actions such as the cat management program and the dog assessment testing. We are working to expand the volunteer base and work more closely with rescue groups. Once we have regional managers in place this fall, you will see many more changes come about. Brigitta, please give me a call should you wish to further discuss your concerns.

B: Thank you for responding. I do appreciate that you took the time to do so. But I hope you understand that I need to see some of the changes in place. I appreciate that change takes time, but things must be seen to be done in a reasonable time. The small rescue groups manage to do what they do because they don't support a big bureaucracy. With the extremely limited budgets at their disposal, they've shown what can be done with very little. (I understand the SPCA's head office has a new fitness center? While animals are living with inadequate shelter?!) The SPCA still gives the appearance of being a corporation for which animals are a commodity, not an animal welfare society that exists for the benefit of the animals. It will take visible, appreciable improvements for the animals, not the people, to change that image in my eyes.