A scrutiny of the BC SPCA by an outside authority is long overdue. Animal welfarists and rescuers have been sounding the alarm for decades.

By sealing lips, the SPCA suppresses public scrutiny.

What possible purpose can a law enforcement agency have for silencing anyone it is investigating? We cannot conceive of a reason that is in the public good.

The SPCA has been protected from scrutiny, even through Freedom of Information. It takes in $20 million a year and does not have to say exactly what it does with it. It has enormous powers under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and it is - so far - not being asked any hard questions by government. And CEO Craig Daniell wants even more powers.

How the SPCA is using its powers must be investigated. AAS knows of so many seizures of healthy animals that are then either returned to their owners if its huge "seizure costs" are paid, or sold if they can't be paid. We know of many cases where seized healthy animals have been made sick by SPCA neglect, even have died of SPCA neglect. We hear this, not only from distraught owners, but from lawyers and vets too.

It is using its enormous powers to terrify rescue organizations, most famously, by its raid on Forgotten Felines Cat Shelter, where the shelter was actually being given cats by an SPCA branch that were scheduled to be killed. This is a portent of worse to come in our opinion, if the SPCA's power is not more carefully defined and if there continues to be no independant oversight.
http://www.animaladvocates.com/Watchdog/ForgottenFelines.htm

AAS has been asking, and will continue to ask, the government of BC, to investigate the SPCA.