Langley Advance News – April 17/03

"SPCA: Volunteer voices strong

Dear Editor,

Volunteers - wonderfully dedicated animal lovers at the SPCA Shelter in Langley - believe the animals will be better off with the SPCA doing only what they do best: the investigation of animal cruelty and the enforcement of regulations.

They believe an animal centre will function most effectively and humanely if it is run and administered by the District and City of Langley.

Such an arrangement, the volunteers believe, will ensure a convenient, more humane, and caring facility like that operating cost-efficiently in Coquitlam.

They point out that the conceptual plans of the SPCA are at least five years away, with no concrete evidence showing that Langley will have its own facility.

In the meantime, the SPCA plans for an adoptive centre in town means that almost all stray or abandoned animals will be crowded into Abbotsford, or perhaps Chilliwack.

It is also suggested that, because of the high salaries paid SPCA executives, people who are unwilling to donate to that organization might readily give to a local facility staffed mainly by unpaid volunteers.

It will be wise to listen to those hard-working insiders who give so much for animal welfare.

Mike Harvey
Cloverdale"