Both the Vancouver Humane Society and the BC SPCA support "humane farming", a substitution of one form of animal-exploitation for another. So for VHS and the SPCA to say that they don't support backyard chicken-keeping, which would most likely be a vastly more humane form of farming, is beyond logic.

But that's what can happen if animal welfare policies are based on what is still acceptable to the average person. Abolition of animal-owing is still in its infancy and the average animal-lover doesn't understand that the only possible end to animal cruelty is to end the owing of animals. So, many so-called animal-welfare groups have not stated that all ownership of animals is immoral. When human slavery was abolished, "nice" methods of owning humans were't excepted. There can't legally be one form of ownership, owing pets, while other forms of ownership are abolished. What is best for animals is to stop exploiting them in any way no matter how they are treated. The abolition of the use of animals is the most effective way to end animal cruelty. In fact, the CEO of the BC SPCA recently said, regarding cruelty, “It exists in every community, and the only way we are going to put ourselves out of work is if we make people aware and they say that is not acceptable,” and it's likely that VHS would agree with him, as it has in the past agreed with SPCA actions and policies.