This may be good news for the BC SPCA employees but it's certainly not good news for the animals whose services were cut to help balance the budget. Andrew Peebles,an ex RCMP officer who works at the Vernon detachment, has said that more than a year ago the SPCA phoned the detachment to say that calls about injured dogs were to be directed to the private dog control operator in Vernon and calls about injured cats were to be forwarded to the Vernon Animal Care Society (of which I am a founding member). The BC SPCA boasts of having halved the operating deficit at the Vernon Branch between 2003 and the present.
Their fundraising efforts have been pitiful and they admit that their donations continue to plummet. The deficit has been improved by denying care to animals and, although they have cut staff, it's the staff who work directly with the animals whose jobs have been eliminated.
If you care about homeless animals, there is absolutely no cause for celebration at the Vernon Branch.