2004'S TOP STORY! THE CHEECH AFFAIR, hands down winner!

Animal Advocates Watchdog

Another annus horribilis for the BC SPCA - After 50 years of having the media in its pocket, this was the year the media finally woke up, thanks to the SPCA making it impossible for anyone to still be credulous....

"Delta council decided to seek a request for proposals following a storm of controversy over an SPCA attempt to euthanize a healthy dog named Cheech. The dog was subsequently snatched by SPCA employees Amanda Muir and Kirsten McConnell."

"Cheech, you can say, was just the straw that broke the camel's back and we formed really because of incidents leading up to that," said Amber Cottle, a local dog trainer and the new group's executive director."

"We will be doing all the operations that the SPCA was doing, including cruelty investigations. We can investigate and take them to the Crown," said Cottle."

Over two hundred posts about Cheech or with Cheech mentioned and his story is not over yet. Thanks to the bizarre P.R. the SPCA kept shooting out for weeks, it may have fatally injured itself. And all for ego and uncontrollable temper from the adults who run the SPCA. The SPCA was bent on self-destruction from the minute the CEO turned down AAS's offer to foster Cheech, instead sending "enforcers" from Vancouver to make sure the kill order was carried out. (Details at http://www.animaladvocates.com/CHEECH/CheechMediaPage.htm)

That triggered the most astonishing string of events: Delta SPCA staffers Amanda Muir and Kirsten McConnell, and some volunteers, did the right and incredibly brave thing - they phoned the media and then, on camera, walked out with Cheech and drove him to safety and freedom.

A red rage consumed the SPCA and it made things so much worse that it was often jaw-dropping unbelievable. It lied, even after it was caught on TV lying. It told dozens of lies, and repeated them to all the media. It tried to make the Delta Police arrest those who had rescued Cheech, but the Delta Police had just given Amanda Muir a bravery award and knew her to be a fine person, and most police have a low opinion of the SPCA, seeing behind the scenes as they do, and so almost no effort was made.

And then AAS video-taped a real assessment test being done on Cheech in which he behaved like the friendly, trusting pup he is, called a press conference, and there was Cheech, being a sweetheart on TV and in the papers.

It was a wake-up call for Delta council too. It was inundated with complaints about the SPCA, as are all municipalities that deal with the SPCA. And when it decided to stop thirty years of contracting with the SPCA, the SPCA's P.R. machine put the icing on the cake by accusing the Mayor and Councillors of not caring if Delta's children are attacked by dangerous dogs.

The CEO not only lost the Delta contract but he put in jeopardy all the other big contracts the SPCA has to control and dispose of dogs in the lower mainland. And he may be shouldered out of cruelty enforcement too, the one thing that he prides himself on.

Add this all up and a clear picture of a very dysfunctional Society emerges. All the people responsible for this P.R. nightmare are still running things and so we can expect 2005 to be just as interesting.

Here are the titles of all the Cheech posts. If you 'Set Preferences' to 8 months and put 'Cheech' into the 'Search' bar, you can read all or any of them.

You can also go to the Cheech section of our WebMag: http://www.animaladvocates.com/CHEECH/CheechMediaPage.htm)

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