Victoria has always been a great source of legacies for the SPCA but I think this is changing, and changing rapidly.

The little old ladies are not stupid and many have families, friends, and acquaintances who have reason to call the SPCA for any number of reasons. The response to most of these phone calls is " We cannot help with that".

For example, there is no longer any help to the public with spay and neuter.
The Victoria Branch only takes in owner surrendered dogs and cats sporadically even though the SPCA's official policy is still "unlimited surrender" and that is being noticed by many, especially by those who still believe the official policy and arrive at the SPCA's door with a pet to surrender and are turned away or told to make a donation it they want to surrender their pet.
The Victoria branch does not help with stray animals at all.
The Victoria Branch does not take in animals found abandoned in apartments.
The Victoria Branch no longer has a community outreach program for low-income pet owners' vet bills. The SPCA and our Society and VOCAL, Nana Foundation, and Cat Rescue Corps, used to share these expenses. That ended about two years ago.

The Victoria Branch does not help feral cats. It used to kill feral cats. And now it simply does nothing.

I answer the phone line for a respected spay and neuter society in Victoria and am often asked " What does the Victoria SPCA do?" This has become a rhetorical question.

The little old ladies also contributed in many cases to the now defunct "Spay and Neuter Clinic" and the now mortgaged Victoria SPCA building in many cases. The ones that hear this and that call are angry that the building was mortgaged and the clinic closed with no community input.

Are these little old ladies going to be fooled forever? Personally I doubt it.