Progress is being made, but as usual with the BC SPCA it is hard to discern because it is not honest.

Real animal welfare does not take in animals that are doomed to be killed for space or die of pound-disease. The BC SPCA did just that, for its whole one hundred plus history. It was a massive animal control agency, killing as many as fifty thousand unwanted "pest" pet animals a year. No one or agency can take every unwanted animal without killing a lot of them, in fact, killing most of them. But the SPCA was very financially successful for many decades with that policy. It called its open door policy "humane", even going so far as to tell the media that the women who wouldn't take/sell/kill, were inhumane "elitists". The media and the public bought it and, sadly, there are still many animal rescuers who defend this policy for the SPCA.

But there are too many others who are not ethically challenged, who see that faster selling is not the answer and that as long as a free dumping ground is provided by the SPCA, dumping will increase. Afterall - if the premier animal welfare agency in BC implies it's okay to dump, how could it be wrong?

The SPCA has been forced, kicking and screaming, threatening and bullying, blustering and b.s'ing, to join the 21st century and start to practice ethical limited surrender. But true to SPCA tradition, it is not doing it honestly. Its official policy is still unlimited surrender and its web sites do not mention limited surrender. Unlimited surrender is a big money-maker. It is the source of all the SPCA's free product for sale, and "shelters" full of sad eyes draw donations.

Unlimited surrender is now a discredited way of doing the animal disposal business thanks to the few who spoke out in spite of bullying threats by the SPCA and thanks to the internet, and we can only be glad each time we learn of another SPCA branch that is practicing some form of limited surrender.

But an SPCA that reacts only to threats of financial harm, instead of being the leader in animal ethics, an SPCA that has to be constantly watched and forced to stop killing, is not an SPCA that deserves to be trusted.

BC SPCA POLICY STATEMENT

Revised: November 1996, April 1997, January 1999

#23 - SHELTER ACCEPTANCE OF CATS AND DOGS

No BC SPCA Shelter shall refuse to accept a cat or dog, if after exploring acceptable options, no other humane solution is available.