ANIMAL ADVOCATES SOCIETY OF BC - SPCA, KELOWNA, MANDY RAWSON

From Mandy Rawson - Tanglewood Farm, Kelowna

January 21/00
Letters Editor,
The Vancouver Sun

I have followed with interest the letters to your paper regarding the SPCA. I felt compelled to state that these incidents are not occurring only in the lower mainland.

We have a beautiful SPCA in Kelowna. It has lots of windows, clean floors, and mostly empty stainless steel cages. It has an expensive ventilation system and a classy kitchen for its personnel. (AAS comment: Some Vancouver SPCA's have had expensive renovations done to the staff and public areas while the helpless animals huddle still in dark, dirty, fear-filled cages.)

But I have lost all confidence in its ability to help animals, and here are just a few of my reasons:

I watched the shelter finally impound an old abused pony (only after bowing to months of public pressure), nurse him back to health, and then return him to his owner. The owner proceeded to starve him again. The SPCA never charged him.
The SPCA failed to press charges against a man who admitted to trapping and killing neighbourhood cats. Its rationale was "they were only cats".
Hundreds of cats and dogs have been executed monthly by the shelter. Their only crimes were that they were large and black (if they were dogs), old, not cute, or they happened to sneeze or hiss (if they were cats). (AAS has been told hundreds of similar stories.)
I have known of cats and kittens being killed despite the fact that volunteers had offered (in writing and in person) to take these animals. the last time this happened to me, I was promised that a cat "on death row" would be safe until I could claim it. When I arrived two days later the cat had been "accidentally" euthanized, even though the special constable had written a note on the cage indicating the cat had a home. (AAS has been told many similar stories of every SPCA.)
A special constable refused to go under a school portable to rescue a pregnant cat with a badly broken back. Her reason? It was too dark and dirty. I don't like confined spaces either, but I still managed to rescue the suffering cat.
And old woman who fed feral cats had begged for help to have some of the cats trapped and fixed. The SPCA refused to help, but agreed that if she got a trap and drove the trapped cats to the "shelter" they would kill them (AAS comment: our personal experience with the Vancouver SPCA in North Vancouver confirms this, plus countless other confirmatory stories.)

I have a small farm full of ugly dogs, feral cats, and formerly abused livestock. The unconditional love they provide me is compensation enough for the cost and time of their care. Most would be SPCA rejects.

It's time the SPCA started investigating their vast financial resources in a more humane direction - actually helping animals.

Mandy Rawson, Director,
Critteraid

March 16, 2002

Mr Douglas Brimacombe,
CEO, BC SPCA

Dear Mr. Brimacombe,

Re. Kelowna Capital News article of Friday, March 8th, 2002 “SPCA takes dogs from all over B.C.”

The comment of assistant manager, Ms. K. Woodward, that she “can’t remember ever euthanizing an adoptable animal” at the Kelowna shelter, needs to rebutted. Can she really not remember? What do her words mean when they are set next to the lives of the hundreds of animals that were killed at the shelter in the last year? Sadly, the statistics speak for themselves. With 4,365 animals surrendered and 2,196 adopted, did the remaining 2,169 animals simply evaporate? Is Ms. Woodward really asking the citizens of the Central Okanagan to believe that almost exactly half of the animals surrendered to the shelter were sick or aggressive?

How about the endless parade of adorable kittens that were dropped off at the shelter during the spring and summer months, whose only ailments and crimes were over- abundance? What about the loyal old cats condemned to death, whose only illness was advanced years and whose only misbehavior was having lost their youth and spunk? Or the big, bouncy black mutts that have never been housebroken or obedience trained, whose crimes were the unwillingness of new owners to spend the time and energy necessary to overcome the neglect and poor management of the dogs’ previous owners? How about the countless cages of gentle rabbits? What about the animals whose only sin was that they allowed their owners to move away without them? Perhaps Ms. Woodward’s denial is of the Bill Clinton variety--she doesn’t “remember ever euthanizing an adoptable animal” because she didn’t actually do the euthanizing.

I suggest that, of the 2169 “unadoptable” animals, a number worthy of remembering were neither sick nor vicious. Nevertheless, many of these animals were destroyed simply because there are far too many unwanted animals in the Central Okanagan for the number of adoptable homes available. Why can’t that sad reality be stated loudly and publicly by the Kelowna SPCA?

Furthermore, Ms. Woodward’s comments also demean the endless work being done by other smaller animal groups. Some volunteers have raised funds to help low income families afford spay/neuter costs for their pets. Volunteers all over the Okanagan Valley worked outside all months of the year, trapping, spaying and neutering, and managing feral cat colonies. Still others rescued and rehabilitated high risk animals from shelters. Yet, according to Ms. Woodward, the Kelowna shelter was able to take in “500 animals from other shelters” because it was so empty. Is Ms. Woodward really expecting the public to believe that the above volunteers’ efforts were unnecessary because there wasn’t a problem with animal over-population in our area?

The sad truth is that until pet ownership becomes a privilege and not a right and strict spay/neuter bylaws are enacted and enforced--thus curtailing the backyard breeders and puppy mills--the problem of unwanted animals will only continue to worsen. In order for the public to act on the truth, it must know the truth. Selective amnesia and comments that knowledgeable people can’t and won’t swallow only exacerbate the problem.

Certainly, it’s time for the Kelowna SPCA to stop ‘sugar coating’ the truth and admit that memorable numbers of loving, healthy, adoptable animals must be killed every month because there are not enough adoptive homes. It’s time for the BCSPCA to free its employees and boards all over the province to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Please, enable the public to know the full extent of the cruelty caused by animal over-population. Isn’t that the least that your society, whose apparent goal is the prevention of cruelty to animals, should do?

Sincerely,

Mandy Rawson,

Critteraid Director