Another common complaint is this one...
A dog gets out of the yard, is picked up by an SPCA dog-catcher, is incarcerated, and when the owner phones the SPCA, they are told the dog isn't there.
Sometimes the dog has ID on its collar. No one has bothered to even read it. Tattoos and microchips are not checked. You see, the longer the dog is kept by the dog-catcher, the more the dog-catcher can charge for board.
Sometimes the dog is sold to a customer because its real family trusted the SPCA, thinking that they were there to help animals, when they are really there to help themselves.
One incident...
An unusually marked, small, purebred dog got picked up as a stray and taken to the North Vancouver SPCA. The frantic owners phoned immediately, described the dog in detail and were told that it wasn't there. This went on for days, until someone told the owners that the SPCA can't be trusted and they went in person....just as their dog was being sold.
The SPCA said, Too bad, you didn't claim your dog in time. This family had to get a lawyer to get their dog back.
Is this animal welfare or the used-pet business?