Hopefully the day will come when we will see the SPCA become more proactive about animal welfare. The more we hammer it to do so, the greater the chance that it will. It seems that at the moment the SPCA still only practices limited animal welfare, and for its own sake, when it really should be practicing much broader animal welfare, for animal welfare's sake.

Instead of picking and choosing individual topics to spend PR time on, the same way it seems to pick individual animals to rescue and publicize while it ignores others, it's high time the SPCA found its roots and reason for being - simple animal welfare. This doesn't have to be expensive or politically risky, but it does have to be consistent and sincere. It could be as simple as not taking rabbits and hamsters in cages into classrooms full of children, thus teaching them that it is okay to imprison little animals for our amusement. It is as simple as offering vegetarian food at fundraisers. It is as simple as refusing to partner with pet stores that sell live and exotic animals, like Petcetera, and in the interior of BC, Total Pet.

Animal welfare is about making kind choices, not choices that are convenient or lucrative. If the SPCA can begin at the beginning, all else will follow. We define ourselves by the choices we make. It's time for the SPCA to start making kind choices.