Yes, I am all the way back at the middle of February on THE WATCHDOG and I keep returning to this post because its contents have stunned me to the point of being in disbelief and unable to know how to respond until now. The steps taken by the BCSPCA throughout this drama seem bizarre to me.

"On January 11th the SPCA seized 28 Pit bulls from a farm in Deroche. Seven of the dogs were on a separate part of the property and were owned by Wes Norman, not to the property owners named in the complaint. Cattle, horses, chickens and 21 Pit bulls were also seized from the property owners, Stephanie Briscoe and her husband.

This time it was secretive. In fact, this time, it made the owners sign gag orders to prevent them from going to the media. The SPCA told them that if they didn't sign, their dogs would be killed."

I can think of no reason or right that the SPCA has to conduct themselves in this manner. This incident sounds like a made for TV movie, not real life!

"Wes Norman got his dogs back after paying $2400 and signing the gag order just hours before his February 4th deadline to "come up with the money or we'll put your dogs down."

I don't know the exact amount that Briscoe and her husband were ordered to pay but she is quoted as having said that she and her husband were going to have to sell their house in order to pay what the SPCA demanded.

Norman's wife said that he added the words "In protest" on his gag order, but it was whipped away, another copy put before him, and he was told to sign if he wanted his dogs back.

Four days after the seizure, Norman attended a meeting at the Vancouver SPCA with Eileen Drever, the Senior Animal Protection Officer in charge of the seizure. According to Norman, Drever had a huge Rottweiler and a huge armed officer in the room, while she read Norman his rights. She told him that most of the dogs had been checked by SPCA vets and that they found that some of the dogs had dry skin and tooth plaque. One had an old shoulder wound that was healed long ago, but they made a big deal of that, X-raying it, but weren't able to find anything wrong. Norman said that Drever told him all his dogs were very affectionate and friendly.

Eighteen days after the seizure, one of Norman's dogs mysteriously died. Norman said that Drever advised him that the dog died of some respiratory illness that caused his throat to harden so they couldn't get air tubes down him. Drever told Norman that they were going to charge him $5,000 for emergency care, but Norman objected and they backed down.

On February 4th, Norman got his six surviving dogs back.

We welcome the SPCA to contact us if any of the details in this post are substantively incorrect."

presume the SPCA never did contact AAS as that would have been reported on this board. I want to share one more item I picked up today from the Kamloops Branch of the BCSPCA written on its web site as part of a plea for filling their need for volunteer drivers. It was written as is below:

"Mature individuals interested in being on call drivers are now being sought for: running errands for supplies, picking up and taking animals for medical treatment and doing yard checks for potential adoption. Individuals must have some degree of comfort with euthanasia......"(euthanasia-their word)

In the past, invitations for recruiting volunteers for small animal and cat care or for coordinating foster homes for dogs and cats were not expected to meet the criteria regarding "euthanasia". And again I say I believe I have heard and seen all that I can rationally get a grip on coming from any branch of the BCSPCA. Small doses only will be bearable from this point into the foreseeable future.