Money, service issues for Coquitlam SPCA
CRAIG HODGE/THE TRI-CITY NEWS
Dogs are no longer housed at the SPCA shelter located in Coquitlam because of noise concerns. Stray dogs picked up in Port Coquitlam - where animal control services are provided - are driven around in the truck until their owners are found or are taken to other shelters where space is available, says manager Hugh Nichols.
By Diane Strandberg The Tri-City News
Jun 20 2007
Hugh Nichols has four words for Port Coquitlam dog owners: Get your dog licensed.
That's his advice now that the SPCA is prohibited from holding dogs at its shelter in Coquitlam because of noise concerns.
Last month, the city of Coquitlam threatened to issue $150 fines to the animal welfare organization after noise concerns couldn't be resolved. (The city of Coquitlam has its own bylaw officers to pick up stray dogs.)
To comply, the SPCA stopped taking surrendered dogs and it won't keep PoCo stray dogs at the shelter either.
Instead, animal control officers drive around with the dog until they find the owner. Dog licenses speed that process up.
"In some ways, it's a better service for a dog owner but not if you don't have a licence," said Hugh Nichols, SPCA manager for the Coquitlam and Maple Ridge shelters.
It costs $32 a year for a licence if a dog is spayed, $80 if it's not. But Nichols says the investment is worth it if dog owners want to get their pet back quickly. If there is no ID, the dog has to be taken to Maple Ridge or to Vancouver - wherever there's room - delaying the reunion.
ID tags with a name and phone number are also helpful while a microchip can be missed by the scanner and an ear tattoo might not be up to date.
Owners still have to pay a $75 fine but they'll get their pet back as soon as a meeting can be arranged.
In the meantime, the SPCA is looking for a solution that will enable it to continue to provide animal control services for Port Coquitlam. Nichols said the organization is looking for a vet who can board the dogs.
But a longer-term solution is needed to enable the SPCA to renew its five-year contract next year. Currently, PoCo pays the SPCA $13,000 a month for a variety of services and the contract expires Dec. 31, 2008.
"We are trying to figure out what to do," said SPCA spokesperson Lorie Chortyk, adding dog adoption fees helped with the budget. "To financially pay the bills with cat adoptions is not viable for us," she said.
There is no place for the SPCA to relocate to Port Coquitlam to serve its clients there.
The SPCA recently opened a cat and small dog shelter and education centre in Richmond, where the dogs are adopted out to foster homes each night and returned to the shelter each morning to comply with city regulations.
"That might be the model that we look at," Chortyk said.
People wishing to surrender their dogs, often for legitimate reasons, now must look elsewhere and the Coquitlam city shelter on Mariner Way is not an option. Coquitlam's shelter manager, Andrea McDonald, said the shelter doesn't accept surrendered dogs.