July 29/00
To Whom It May Concern:
I have been involved in animal welfare for two and a half
years. I began as a Director at the BC SPCA Penticton and District Branch.
Soon after "coming on board" I was elected Vice-president of the Board. My
ten plus years working as a veterinary assistant was one of the assets I brought with me
to the group.
As a responsible Director I visited the shelter as often as my work
schedule would allow; usually a minimum of twice a week. I would arrive unannounced
and walk through the kennels and cattery. To my disgust and dismay I witnessed, on
almost every visit, animal abuse and neglect within the walls of the Penticton
shelter. I took the time to document the abuse/neglect and would bring my findings
to the Board of Directors.
Two of the most horrific incidences occurred when some puppies had been
left for over 24 hours in their own excrement. No food or water was present in their
pen. On the second occasion, a cat had been brought into the shelter on a
Sunday. The cat was in obvious distress and yet the staff left it to sit in a
carrier for more than 1-1/2 hours.
Luckily another Director had stopped in, a rare occurrence, and
instructed them to contact the vet on-call to have the animal examined. The cat was
euthanised, as it was past treatment. The vet suspected poisoning. Both
employees involved were given a written warning only. I pleaded with the Board to
terminate the two staff members that were in charge when both of these atrocities
occurred. The Board refused because they were afraid of a wrongful dismissal suit
being filed against them. I told them if they chose to do nothing then I would be
forced to resign. That is how I came to leave
the Board of Directors. Not one other Director would stand with me. Even
after I described how this neglect was violating the Act that we were supposed to be
enforcing.
Then there was the time that the shelter manager apparently put a cat in the deep freeze
or morgue before ensuring the cat was dead. He had used the CO2 box and either did
not have the expertise or time to make sure that the cat had succumbed to the effects of
the gas. He is reported to have put the cat in the freezer, and the next day when
another staff member went to place another body in there, she found that the cat had
clawed its way out of the body bag. It had tried in vain to claw its way out of the
freezer as the inside of the freezer lid had been clawed and torn. That poor animal
suffered an unthinkable death because of the uncaring and irresponsible actions of a man
that was an ex-RCMP Staff Sergeant!!!
During the huge wildfire in Salmon Arm in August 98,
the Shuswap BC SPCA were left to deal with evacuated livestock, companion animals and
their own shelter animals. The highly paid staff members at the BC SPCA's Head
Office did not contact the shelter to see if they needed any additional staff, or
financial support. Only after they were contacted by myself and one other Penticton
Director, did they "bother" to phone the shelter. That took two days to
happen and by this time the Shuswap SPCA was in the dilemma of having to evacuate the
shelter and still assist others in the area to leave. Again, I was disgusted,
embarrassed and shocked by the apathy and lack of
caring from the Head Office staff and the Field Operations Director, Carl Ottosen,
from Kamloops. If you check out the BC SPCA web site http://www.spca.bc.ca/about.htm you will
see that they are taking the credit for the work of the Shuswap Branch. As an added
note, it was not the BC SPCA that evacuated "smoke effected deer" as it says on
the web site. It was a group called Critteraid that went up to a wildlife rehab
centre and orchestrated the removal of one fawn, hawks, owls, skunks, raccoons, chickens
and horses. To the best of my knowledge the 32 Branches still do not have an
organized evacuation or disaster plan/policy in place.
I guess my point in telling these accounts of my time with this one shelter is to convey
my feelings of disappointment and disbelief. I once held the BC SPCA in high
regard. I thought that they did everything they could to prevent animals from
suffering. Not only do they choose to not enforce the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals Act, but there are times when they have been guilty of committing offenses under
that act themselves.
I cannot comment on what happens at other shelters in B.C. I only know what has been
reported to have occurred and what I have witnessed first hand, at the Penticton
Branch. I believe that it is time to hold the BC SPCA accountable for their obvious
lack of commitment to the animals in our province. John van der Hoeven, long-time
Director of Operations for the BC SPCA, (paid employee) told me that it is improper and
probably illegal for them to investigate animal cruelty cases if the RCMP are
investigating. This comment was made to me after I inquired why the man that beat a
dog in the head with a hammer and then buried it alive, was not going to be prosecuted for
animal cruelty. Mr. van der Hoeven also blames this on the Crown. Who then is
responsible for seeing these cases make it to court? Isn't this what the public
wants?
The BC SPCA should do the job the donating public thinks they are doing -enforcing the PCA
Act. So many abused/neglected animals are falling between the cracks because the
Special Constables are too busy carrying out the obligations of their pound contracts that
they don't have time to properly investigate neglect and abuse complaints.
The PCA Act is capable of helping thousands, it just needs to be
consistently enforced by the society that is legally empowered to. They are paid for
this job through the donations of little old ladies and young children who honestly
believe that each penny or dollar they give goes to "help the animals".
When they find out that this is not the case, they will be heartbroken.
Less money needs to be wasted on the salaries and expenditures at the Provincial office
and the Vancouver Regional Branch. They should leave the animal control contracts to
the municipalities. I applaud the efforts of Animal Advocates Society to effect change,
and to establish actual "no-kill" pounds. It will take a lot of hard work,
commitment and some sleepless nights. All involved must come to the table without
egos, and with the welfare of the animals at the top of the list always.
Best regards,
Laura Dean
Summerland, B.C.
BC SPCA member
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