Don Brown, the Chief Bylaw Enforcement Officer for the Capital Regional District, is right to offer the SPCA's inspection report to the public and we hope to have that full report shortly. Much good can be done with this report in the way of encouraging those who make the decisions and hold the purse-strings, those Mayors and Councils of the many municipalities that contract with the CRD to do animal control for them and the Members of the CRD Board, to provide the money for a pound that does not make them all look like heartless Scrooges who think 19th century prisons are good enough for animals.

Not long ago the average taxpayer thought 19th century prisons were perfectly acceptable; but those days are ending, in fact, just about over. The average taxpayer knows that animals have feelings and suffer horribly, both mentally and physically, from the kind of pounds shown in the photo below.

There is controversy over the content of the report that will only be resolved when the full SPCA report is published, but the couple who complained to the SPCA about the conditions at the CRD pound have posted on the Citizen Canine messageboard this list of findings in the SPCA report that they say were told to them by the SPCA:

1. That the Gas Box be removed.

2. That staff are encouraged to follow the Cat Sense Program
AAS comment: all that we have been able to find about the SPCA's Cat Sense Program on the SPCA web site is a page that does not describe the program, only how to buy a video etc of the program (see link below), but it seems to be the use in the cages that cats are kept in of hide and perch boxes and dangling mobiles. At the CRD, when there are not too many cats, cats have two cages to move around in by removing an opening in a shared wall. Cats are allowed to wander around in rotation. The CRD pound does not have a cat room, but then neither do some SPCAs.

3. That a similar recommendation be followed for the Dog Sense Program upon it's completion.
AAS comment: The SPCA is recommending a program that others ought to follow that can't be examined because it doesn't exist, but it will probably include the SPCA's test that is believed by some credible dog behaviourists to be so flawed that it can't be trusted and that it is geared to fail dogs. CRD dogs are given vet care when required, are spayed / neutered, there are dog walkers, volunteer trainers, and home checks are made for dog adoptions.

4. That staff were cautioned regarding leaving dogs alone for 15 hours a day without human contact and it's effect on an animal's well-being.
AAS comment: The Victoria SPCA's hours are:
Tuesday to Saturday
9:00 am - 5:30 pm

Animal Adoption & Viewing Times:
Tuesday to Saturday
Noon - 5:00 pm

Closed on Sundays, Mondays and Holidays.

The CRD's hours are:
Staff are at the CRD pound 7 days a week from 9:30 - 5:30.
The CRD Pound is open from 1pm to 5pm, 7 days a week, for public viewing/adoptions.

It's clear that the animals at the CRD pound spend less time alone than the animals at the Victoria SPCA. Thanks to community support in the form of volunteer programs for the animals at the CRD pound, it can be argued that dogs at least are luckier to be at the CRD pound than the Victoria SPCA. Some of these volunteer individuals and groups used to try to work with the SPCA but were driven away by SPCA attitudes and policies. CRD animals have been the beneficiaries in many ways: animals get care when needed and for whatever is needed; there are dog walkers, dog trainers, foster programs, and an active web site and fundraisers.

5. That although the facility was found to be clean, there were strong recommendations to find another facility.
AAS comment: The SPCA's mandate is animal welfare not interior decorating. Animals don't care about interior decorating. Strong recommendations to find another facility? The SPCA blames lack of money for its own decrepit facilities but acts as though the CRD has no similar excuse. Don Brown and his staff are to be congratulated by the huge improvements for animals in the last year at the CRD pound. If the SPCA report has the result of more money being made available for a better facility - cat rooms, and a puppy playground for instance - then the SPCA's report will help the CRD to keep moving forward toward better animal welfare.

Photos: clockwise from left: Burnaby SPCA; Delta SPCA killing room; Vancouver SPCA; Maple Ridge SPCA; Vancouver SPCA; Abbotsford pound