KELOWNA SPCA VOLUNTEERS SPEAK FOR THE BEAVERDELL DOGS |
| Email to Kim Munro, BC SPCA March 11/03 Dear Mrs. Munro: I am Hellena Pol, a retired high school teacher, living in Kelowna for more than 20 years. For the past 6 years, I have been a member of the Okanagan Humane Society, a non-profit charity that assists low-income families with the cost of spaying/neutering their pets. I foster around 25 animals year around and find them homes once they are fixed and vaccinated. In the past 5 years, I have placed over 600 animals for the OHS. I have also been a volunteer and a supporting member of the SPCA for 7 years. I have observed and worked closely with 4 professional dog trainers in Kelowna, trying to learn as much as possible about "man's best friend." I have walked, fostered and arranged adoptions for both the OHS and the SPCA -- about 1,400 dogs altogether. Many people, including myself, were very enthusiastic when the SPCA rescued 53 dogs from Beaverdell last summer. The problem there had been recognized for many years. In November, about half of the dogs were put down -- something which nobody questioned at the time: we assumed it was absolutely necessary. I learned from the management that the dogs had been through heavy drug therapy and that 2 teams of experts had assessed them. Apparently, they strongly disagreed with each other. The dog walking started in the middle of December, so few of us got involved. The dogs were surprisingly friendly, considering they had no human contact for 16 hours a day when the shelter is closed, were not neutered, and lived in confined areas with up to 3 males together. All that, plus the fact that dogs are not solitary animals, increases the stress level substantially. During the weeks of walking along Mission Creek Greenway, we met many folks with their dogs, often off leash. Not once did we experience any problem with aggressiveness or growling. Many passers-by complimented the dogs on their good behavior and asked why they were not available for adoption. We spent a lot of time writing detailed reports about each dog and its reaction to everything. Sadly, that proved to be a total waste of time. It’s absolutely amazing that the same SPCA that repeatedly worried about the safety of the public allowed us to walk the dogs in a public park on daily basis. Neither did anybody worry about the children in Kae’s Youth group (staff member} who brought the children several times to the back area of the shelter to play with the pups and some adult dogs.In the middle of January, I learned from the management that the fate of the dogs would be decided at BC SPCA that week. I was extremely pleased to be invited to a meeting with SPCA management and District Manager Bob Busch. At the meeting, I was told there was no need for panic and the next day Capital News said, in part, "This week, animal groups were in frenzy after a RUMOR [my emphasis] circulated that the dogs would be destroyed. The rumor was false..." Well, 2 weeks later the rumor became sad reality. Why did Bob Busch and the management deceive the public and me? When I asked this question at the AGM of SPCA on February 24th, Bob Busch said they simply meant the dogs would not be killed that week. What a joke! What a silly excuse! When asked why none of the "experts" suggested immediate spay/neuter in November, Bob Busch came with another amazing answer: "There were 92 of them, too many!" Well, the arithmetic doesn't add up, considering that, by Christmas, 24 adults were dead and the shelter had about 25 other puppies and dogs in the kennels -- that simply means that there must have been at least 40 Beaverdell pups in the shelter! Yet, when asked how many pups were actually born as a result of breeding in the shelter, Bob said one litter! Really?? We know there must have been 2 - 3 litters. When asked why SPCA couldn't share the experience and use the help of other groups of dedicated volunteers like the one in Creston which had successfully handled a similar disaster with the same breed of dogs in the same period of time at Topaz Creek, the answer was, "Those were quite different dogs, bred for dog sled teams . . . no comparison with the Beaverdell dogs." What a misrepresentation! We saw the color pictures of terribly injured, neglected dogs covered with urine and feces and read the detailed e-mails about their dreadful condition. Of the 56 Topaz Creek dogs, 54 were fixed and found homes. Okanagan Collie Rescue, a local animal welfare group, deals with horribly abused and neglected dogs every week -- 28 just in the month of January. Some of the dogs have been kept in wooden boxes, never seeing the light of day. At OCR, with no shelter and no government support, the dogs are all spayed/neutered, fostered and ultimately find new homes, thanks to tireless dedicated volunteers. In the last 4 years, ONE very ill dog was put down; more than 80 were placed last year! The madness in the press following the killing of 10 Beaverdell dogs at the end of January is hard to describe. The local paper, Capital News, printed only pro-SPCA articles. All volunteers were totally discredited and labelled intolerant, self-righteous activists, radicals, freaks, bullies -- even terrorists! The public was made to believe that these lunatics were threatening and harassing the SPCA staff on a daily basis! I have not seen such vicious attacks, false accusations and pitiful tactics since I left a Communist country 30 years ago. There was even a picture of a terribly scarred human face (one of the worst bites of the decade in town). The picture had nothing whatever to do with the Beaverdell case, yet it was placed directly in the article about "aggressive" Beaverdell dogs! What hysteria and how utterly unprofessional of the press! How did the picture get there? Only Dog Control officers had those slides. Do you know, Kim, that many women belonging to local animal charities and rescue groups have been cooperating with the SPCA for years; do you know that many of us contribute hundreds of dollars to help fix and place dozens of animals and pay the vet bills, constantly digging into our savings. All my nice clothes, jewelry and even antiques are gone for a good cause. Do you know where many of our animals, mostly abused and neglected ones, came from? Yes, an SPCA shelter where they were considered unadoptable. Would you like to meet some of them? Do you know, for example, that the Okanagan Humane Society is a small group of volunteers, mostly middle-aged and senior women, who, with their very limited funds, have been assisting low-income families with spay/neuter for the last 7 years? We started 4 years before the Regional District awarded the local SPCA $25,000 annually to do the same thing. We get $2,500, yet we have managed to fix 3,500 animals so far.Why is the SPCA such an untouchable empire when everybody, including senators, ministers and priests, makes mistakes? Why is every person who dares to have a different opinion labelled an enemy? Why are compassionate employees fired and volunteers asked to leave? I have kept quiet for more than 6 years. Now it is time to speak up. Would you like to know why Russ Forand (the manager) asked me to leave 6 years ago? I guess I was stupid to give up my whole summer. I worked at the shelter 6-8 hours a day, 7 days a week, cleaning up the cat cages. I also ran 4-5 miles a day with 8-10 dogs each day. Almarie Bowers (an incredible volunteer and dog expert) and I worked closely with professional dog trainer Hugh Devlin. According to staff, the three of us were completing more than 80% of all the shelter's successful dog adoptions. We were so happy, we thought we were really making a difference. Wrong! It apparently wasn't appreciated by the Board of Directors and some of the staff. The atmosphere in the shelter was always depressing. We have never felt welcome. There was no greeting, no smile. Well, we were there for the animals.My mother and I adopted out 2 badly abused dogs (one of them was returned to the shelter 3 times and 1 needed eye surgery) and 3 cats. I paid full fee for all of them in spite of the fact that they were considered unadoptable. Poor Sasha, the cat, was half dead, had hardly any fur left and was due to be euthanized. I still had to pay the full $70.00 for her. I could see that I became a person looked at with suspicion and fear: What does she want, why is she here every day? I assured everybody I had a very good teacher's salary but it didn't help. I brought my husband to a meeting with Russ Forand who basically kicked me out of the shelter. This was later confirmed by a letter from the Board. We read such stupid accusations as: "leaving the shelter through the wrong door, . . . disrupting work of staff." I would bring dozens of small cardboard boxes, carved holes in them, and put them inside the cages for kittens (sometimes 3-5 in one cage) begging desperately to get out of there. I knew it would reduce their stress in the misery of such a small confinement, but the staff was throwing them out and complained about it. Well, guess what. A year ago, I was shown exactly the same boxes -- now called domes -- that were "developed" by some expert at BC SPCA and I read how proud of them they were in the newsletter. Kathy Woodward (assistant manager) just looked at me and laughed her head off when I pointed this out to her. She remembered. I was also told that I worked too fast and that was causing the staff stress. Poor souls!My husband dragged me out of there saying: "You don't need this BS. Forget the shelter and have some fun." But, I could not stay away from the animals. I became a member of TRACS and soon after OHS. I started fostering, trapping ferals, and adoptions. Four years ago I became a Board member of OHS and started cooperating with all other animal charities as well as the SPCA. Looking after animals takes all my free time, I have not had a day off for 4 years. A few summers ago, there was a big fire in town. The folks from Magic Estates were not allowed to go home for 2 days and were asked to report to the Fire Hall. Guess who was standing there for hours, offering help to people and their pets? Everybody thought we were from SPCA. We had pretty crowded homes and gardens for a few days. When, a few weeks later, that fierce forest fire reached Salmon Arm, would you like to know who drove there in the middle of the night, through police road blocks, and offered help to the SPCA? My girlfriend and I were scared and inhaled lots of smoke. We felt sick for quite a few days afterwards. But, we saved 25 cats and later placed all but one of them here in town -- with the permission of the SPCA in Salmon Arm, of course. Then, when we returned to Kelowna, we were surprised to receive harassing phone calls from the local SPCA. They demanded we surrender the cats to them. Yet we knew they had not even been in touch with the Salmon Arm SPCA to offer help. Besides, Kelowna SPCA had no room for the additional 25 cats as they were full to the rooftop. I invited the staff to visit the cats any time. I had no cages. They lived in luxury. When the phone calls continued, I got angry. I phoned the manager of Field Operations, Carl Ottosen, and then everything stopped. The public has ever heard of this because our main concern has always been to help animals and had not learned to exploit the news media for publicity. On February 2, 2003, as I was leaving the shelter completely exhausted and still completely shattered by the latest killing of dogs, I said quietly to a staff member that I have known for 7 years now, "How do you guys sleep at night? I don't." The following morning the manager Russ Forand called me and announced that I wasn't allowed in the shelter any more. We have known each other for 7 years and attended many meetings together. I have sponsored some of the dogs in the shelter, and helped to place couple of old dogs. Why couldn't he approach me personally and discuss such a silly little comment, like an adult? Why did he have to blow it out of proportion by going to the press? A friend of mine, like me, was upset by the killing of the dogs. We had both known them so well. Neither of us could sleep or eat properly for weeks. My friend offered to foster and possibly adopt one of the remaining 11 dogs she had become quite attached to. The answer from Russ Forand was, "No." When I questioned him about it a few days ago, stressing how experienced and caring this couple was and how much time they could spend with the dog, he repeated, "Not even a remote chance! Never!" So the dogs were punished and one of the best potential homes was refused because of personal pride, power seeking and a difference of opinion. Foolishly, I thought it was the animals who were the most important, and that finding suitable homes was a priority. Sadly, the SPCA also lost 2 of their long time friends and supporters. I am so incredibly discouraged with everything, but I don't give up easily. I am determined to conquer the obstacles and improve each situation. I believe the BC SPCA was trying, about 2 years ago, to do the same thing when it hired an independent group to travel to several BC cities to hold public hearings (I was present in Kelowna) on the future direction of the SPCA.After reading recently in the local paper the manager's statement that the future of 5 of the 11 remaining Beaverdell dogs was uncertain, I alerted 2 directors of the local animal charities and a professional dog trainer. Also, I told Manager Russ Forand that the dog trainer was willing to start working with those dogs immediately, and her expenses would be paid by the 2 charities. He said the money was no problem and after about a week we were invited to the shelter. I put a lot of effort into assuring the dog trainer that her help would be appreciated and that the dogs would, of course, benefit from her expertise. The dog trainer was certified in Vancouver and runs very successful classes and gives lessons in town. Well, it turned out to be another shocking and embarrassing situation. Forand didn't even greet the dog trainer. Instead, he directed both of us straight away to the young staff that looks after the dogs, saying, "Always check with them. Don't give them a rough time. Don't talk to anybody about this. Just take the dogs to the creek or wherever."We went to check a couple of the dogs in the kennels, when Forand came back, saying that some of the staff were uncomfortable with our presence. I said, "we are here to work with the dogs, not to bother staff". Still, I was most willing to talk to the staff in the office. I started talking to them in a friendly way. The office manager (Jan) didn't look at me and indicated strongly that she was not willing to talk. After a few minutes of some confusion, we were asked to leave. "After all," said the manager, "we have to keep the staff happy. You will have to go." I wanted to say very loudly, "So who IS the manager here, you or her?" but the dog trainer was already out of the door, completely shocked and bewildered. Before she left she just managed to ask, "How about the damn dogs? Does anybody care about them?" Another disaster -- The office manager has never worked with the dogs and, as she has admitted to me several times, does not know them at all. So, again, the poor dogs were punished and deprived of important social skills, human contact and compassion. It seems like a bad dream that comes much too often. The dog trainer, who has never said anything about the killings or commented on any decision of the shelter, is so upset she does not want to talk to anybody or have her name released. The next morning this same office manager referred a very upset lady who needed at least $800 for her cat’s surgery, to me. I asked Jan as well as the other staff not to give my phone number to people who need money for vet bills – I live on a pension and our small charity does not have even 10% of the money available to SPCA! Yet, it keeps happening! I have and always will refer the clients looking for a certain type of dog or cat to SPCA; animals need to find homes regardless what shelter or group they are coming from ; it would sure be nice if the staff could have a bit more consideration.I would like to ask you to remedy this situation immediately. The trainer deserves a written apology. The behavior of the office manager was rude and totally unacceptable. By now, I have just about had enough too. I would like to ask you to send me a reply to this e-mail address within 4 days, please. After that I will approach anybody from the media who will be willling to listen, as well as Animal Advocates. I hope that will not be necessary. Yours very truly, Hellena Pol (Hellena has not received a reply) |
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