The Victoria SPCA has closed it doors to cats for approximately the last 2 months. I have been told staff are telling callers that they have over 200 cats in the building, more in foster care, and a 70 cat wait-list which is unable to be added to. The fact people have been told this has been confirmed by veternarians who have been asked to euthanise 9 month old kittens that people cannot keep and who have been turned away by the SPCA. These veterinarians then phoned the Victoria SPCA to confirm what their clients were being told.

So now the question that must be answered is, where do these cats now go?

There are a few possibilities:

a) they get left behind in an apartment or house when people move and they end up in the pound

b) they get dumped outside somewhere to survive, or not

c) a lucky few get taken in by veterinarians for rehoming

d) another lucky few will fill the few foster homes the little, chronically broke cat rescue groups have to past the point of sanity

The SPCA Victoria Branch has a Mission Statement and Charter that reads:

The BC SPCA is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing the quality of life for domestic, farm and wild animals in British Columbia. Through its 37 branches located around BC and its provincial office in Vancouver, the BC SPCA provides a wide range of services for more than 53,000 homeless, abused, and abandoned animals around the province. The BC SPCA was created under the auspices of the provincial Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, and is the only animal welfare organization in BC which has the authority to enforce laws relating to animal cruelty and to prepare cases for Crown Counsel for the prosecution of individuals who inflict suffering on animals.

Our Charter:
The BC SPCA Charter is the foundation that guides the work we do:

Whereas:
The world is inhabited by many species sharing a common ecosystem of air, earth, and water. We recognize and value our interconnectedness with all animals.

Therefore:
The BC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the quality of life for the animals of the world we share.

We pledge our energies to inspire and mobilize society to create a world in which all animals, who depend on humans for their well-being, experience, as a minimum, five essential freedoms:

Freedom from hunger and thirst
Freedom from pain, injury, and disease
Freedom from distress
Freedom from discomfort
Freedom to express behaviours that promote well-being.

I am certainly not inspired by the work that is being done by the Victoria SPCA.

I might accept the fact the Victoria Branch can only help a limited number of cats if alternatives were presented to those that are turned away, but there is no handout on how to rehome your pet. There is no rehoming information on the Victoria SPCA web site and I have been told on numerous occasions that SPCA staff on the phone give no suggestions on how to rehome an unwanted cat either.

Does this mean I expect the Victoria SPCA to take in more cats than they can handle and to kill the ones that have been there a while? Not a chance.

However I do suggest the following:

a) the BCSPCA implement a feral cat asisstance program supporting trap/neuter/and release and funds to go along with the program as well as running its own volounteer feral cat trapping program and discussions with animal control and municipalities facilitating this

b) pro-active discussions with the other cat rescue groups in the community

c) a community spay and neuter plan rather than just an internal shelter plan

d) start up the spay/neuter clinic again It is my understanding that the Victoria SPCA branch has been mortgaged to pay for the spay/neuter clinic in Prince George and yet there is no money to re-open the Victoria spay/neuter clinic that was closed in 2003

e) honestly detailing to the donating public what the actual plan and agenda of the BC SPCA is:
If the plan is to get out of animal control and owner surrendered animals and simply deal with cruelty then it is imperative that public consultation be sought and the general public made aware that the Victoria SPCA is no longer practising unlimited surrender.