Unnatural selection not for SPCA

Times Colonist
August 20, 2005

Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't SPCA stand for the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals" not the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals That Are Worthy of Treatment and Are Deemed by That Society to be Eligible for Care?"

An injured animal is an injured animal and an animal in need of care is simply that, an animal in need of care. That is precisely what these squirrels are -- animals in need of care that the SPCA, in accordance with what it stands for, is caring for.

I agree that the grey squirrel population is not indigenous to the area and have no doubt that their population is causing problems with native species but that problem is not one for the SPCA to have to solve. Sterilizing these babies would be the best solution.

Asking a humane society to kill these animals simply because people are viewing them as problematic goes against what the SPCA stands for and what they are entrusted by the community to do. Those people who called into the SPCA telling its staff to "just kill them" or those who wrote in in such an upheaval against the SPCA doing its work should perhaps channel its frustrations and energy into delivering their complaints and concerns to those who are able to do something about it and not towards a group of people who work tirelessly to "speak for those who cannot speak for themselves."

Johanna Thomas,

Victoria.