A federation of "humane" societies that will not support an end to some of the most flagrant cruelty on earth may be puzzling to those who do not understand that much of the animal welfare movement is just business. The "supporters" referred to are people who give money to the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and without access to a donors list it is not possible to know who gives big donations to the CFHS.

The BC SPCA is a member of the Canadian A federation of "humane" societies that will not support an end to some of the most flagrant cruelty on earth may be puzzling to those who do not understand that much of the animal welfare movement is just business.

The BC SPCA is a member of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and for years BC SPCA Directors have also been on CFHS boards, in fact, one BC SPCA Director still is.

In BC, the SPCA has attended Vancouver Aquarium gala fundraisers even though the offspring of the aquarium's acts keep dying. World-wide expert opinion proves that aquariums cause distress to those animals. Offspring of the Greater Vancouver Zoo's animals don't keep dying and yet the SPCA had charges brought against the zoo.

And only after years of "activists" criticizing the Cloverdale rodeo did the SPCA finally criticize it. Since the suffering of the animals at the Cloverdale rodeo has not changed substantially, a sudden change in SPCA policy can lead to the perception that the BC SPCA could be being influenced by something other than the gross suffering at the Cloverdale rodeo that it witnessed decade after decade. With no access to SPCA records through FOI, it is not possible at this time to know if the SPCA was ever paid by the rodeo to supervise the treatment of the animals. We know that some complaints by donors were made to the SPCA, but without access to the SPCA's donor lists, there is no way at this time to know how many threats were made to withhold donations because of its refusal to criticize the Cloverdale rodeo. It would be instructive to know this because if the SPCA has not been threatened with the withholding of substantial amounts of money, then its motives may be purely altruistic and an altruistic SPCA is an SPCA worthy of trust and a trustworthy SPCA is what AAS has been hoping for for years.

Criticizing businesses that cause animals to be in distress is not "activism" as the CFHS so sneeringly implies (as has the BC SPCA) - it is real animal welfare. In BC, it is actually the SPCA's job to end the distress of animals. (Unfortunately, it frequently does this by killing the animal.)

In March this year the BC SPCA says it made an unequivocal statement ageist the seal hunt (we haven't found it on the SPCA site yet), so perhaps it is at last time for the BC SPCA to end its conflicted membership in the CFHS. And while they're at it, perhaps to start to consider charges against the Aquarium if one more baby cetacean dies while in its care.