THE SPCA JUSTIFIES ITS POUND CONTRACTS BY CLAIMING IT IS MORE HUMANE THAN PRIVATE CONTRACTORS...

From a document re the SPCA's insistence on using machines called eloctrothanators to kill dogs. (AAS has all the reports and letters.) Here is an excerpt...

...'the report from Clint Davy, a director of the Vancouver Regional SPCA, who was voted off the board of the Vancouver SPCA for being too humane (along with five other directors who only asked that the Vancouver SPCA stop using the electrothanator and the gas box), and a UBC engineer, describes how every electrothanator in all Vancouver Regional shelters was haywired and uncalibrated and how none of the staff were trained it its proper use; how the dogs burned because of improper use of the electrodes; how instead of using the rear-leg electrode which draws the current from the ears to the back leg thus going through the heart and resulting in a quick death, the employees made the dogs stand in water, often resulting in the current going from the ears through the front legs, not killing the dog, and so that the procedure had to be repeated sometimes five to six times. Davy also reports incidents of terrified and injured dogs being forcefully dragged into the machines which stank of burned hair and the feces of terrified dying dogs.'

The Vancouver Sun, June 1981

The SPCA only stopped using the electrothanator when Davy held a demonstration outside its offices and the media paid attention. And even then it was several years before the last one was phased out.

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The Sun Tues., June 19, 1984
Cruel SPCA dog electrocutions cited
By KIM BOLAN
Stray dogs around the Lower Mainland are being subjected to painful electrocution with out-dated equipment, a former director of the Vancouver branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals claims.

Clint Davy, an SPCA director for four years, said electrocution equipment found inhumane by the Vancouver SPCA is still being used by some B.C. shelters, including the Langley SPCA.

“Vancouver discontinued electrocutions last July, but nine B.C. shelters are still using the machines, even though our study showed them to be inhumane,” Davy said.

He said electrodes are placed on a dog’s ears and two electrical shocks are given before the animal is killed.

“ The problem is that there’s no way of telling if the animals is unconscious after the first shock because its paralyzed,” Davy said.

He said a report on the ineffectiveness of electrocution was submitted to the BCSPCA’s annual meeting last April, but that the method is still being used to destroy strays.

The machines were built several years ago without a Canadian standard in existence and they have not been repaired or maintained, Davy said.

Clint Frearson, a spokesman for the Langley SPCA, said dogs are electrocuted because it is cheaper than other methods of euthanasia.

“We use the box (electrocution). It’s a 100-per-cent improvement over what some of the pounds are using,” Frearson said.

He said the Langley SPCA runs on donations alone, without funds from a municipal government, unlike other SPCAs.

Davy said he couldn’t estimate the cost difference, but that “it costs considerably more for a vet to come in and give a lethal injection,” which is the method now being used by the Vancouver SPCA.

Meanwhile, in North Vancouver, 25 concerned residents approached city council Monday to request an investigation into the practices of the SPCA there.

Joy Gilmore said her group wants to take over control of the animal shelter because they believe animals are not being properly attended.

“Most of the animals coming out of there are not in good shape,” Gilmore said. She said her group has veterinarians backing them, though she wouldn’t name any.

North Vancouver city council agreed to investigate the SPCA, which has a contract to run the animal shelter funded jointly by North Vancouver’s city and district councils.

Provincial SPCA director Al Hickey could not be reached for comment.

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INFORMATION BULLETIN
ELECTROTHANATOR – DIRECTOR’S LETTER OF JUNE 1984

From CAROL DARBY- Director, Vancouver Regional Branch, BC SPCA
The B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is not living up to its name!

This protest is focusing on the continued use of the inhumane and unsafe electrocution boxes employed for killing dogs in many BC SPCA shelters throughout the Province, even though the Vancouver SPCA halted their use immediately in July of last year as a result of their own investigation.

Despite irrefutable proof, which has been known to BC SPCA management for 9 months (and some of it since 1974), that the machines used by the BC SPCA do not conform to established human criteria, and could be causing an excruciatingly painful death to thousands of dogs, the Directors of the BC SPCA are allowing them to be used for up to a further two years.

This is not acceptable!

The Vancouver investigation also showed that there was a prevalent sloppy attitude by SPCA Management towards all euthanasia methods. Contrary to the guidelines of the BC SPCA, staff training was pitifully inadequate, equipment was poorly designed and maintenance was deplorable!

The competence of the BC SPCA Directors and Management to ensure the humane destruction of unwanted animals is open to severe criticism, and this appalling situation demands immediate investigation and rectification.

This, and other serious deficiencies in the priorities of the BC SPCA, should be of grave concern to all animal lovers.

Help us reform the SPCA!

Ms.Carol Darby