July 27/01

The Morning Star,
Vernon

It is with great interest that I have been following the media coverage of the recent turmoil within the BC SPCA. Your article "SPCA Sinks Teeth Into Concerns", July 15, 2001 reveals yet more interesting truths about the only organization in our province legally appointed to prevent cruelty to animals.

This is the first time I've heard the BC SPCA publicly call itself what it is--a business: "Brimacombe is concerned that over the course of the SPCA's 106 years in operation, many of the 32 branches have begun to act more like independent businesses, rather than one legal entity".

This is true. So why then is it so difficult for Brimacombe and his cohorts to figure out what is wrong with their society? They began 106 years ago as a "Society For the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals". They are now government funded animal control.

The BC SPCA holds many millions of dollars of pound contracts in our province. What is a pound contract? It is a contractual obligation to round up and dispose of (sell or kill) excess dogs for money. Isn't being the dogcatcher a direct moral contradiction to being an animal welfare society? You bet it is. No one who truly loves animals would ever be the poundkeeper, not for any amount of money. Pound contracts are lucrative- definitely lucrative enough to keep provincial staff members' salaries in the upper echelon (while glossy pamphlets are mailed out to the public begging for donations to help the animals).

Yes, it is a business. Finally Brimacombe has admitted it. Furthermore, pound contracting could explain why a pound contractor doesn't actively support legislation to control the breeding of dogs and cats: without excess animals, there would be no need for a poundkeeper.  To incorporate any kind of spay-neuter legislation would be to put itself out of business. In fact thousands of dogs and cats are "adopted" out of SPCA's every year without having been spayed or neutered, all on the good faith that the new owner will do so. It doesn't always happen.

The SPCA's role should be as inspector of municipal pounds, making sure they are run humanely, not as the paid dog-killer itself. Their role should also be crusading for spay -neuter legislation as a method to control the surplus companion animal population, rather than being paid to kill unwanted dogs and cats.

So, Mr. Brimacombe, until I see changes made in these two directions, I will continue to view your society as a business, and these "community consultations" you have called for as a plain old fashioned whitewashing attempt to placate the growing numbers of critics in your midst.

I urge anyone with concerns about the welfare of animals in their community to  take advantage of the BC SPCA's invitation to voice them. I know there are a lot of you, and now is our chance to make a difference.

Jennifer Dickson