“Why serve meat at SPCA events?”

By Mike Cornell

The Kamloops Daily News

August 26, 2006

Animal rights activists are on a roll.

Last week, they convinced the Prince Rupert SPCA to cancel a fundraiser that had boiled live crabs on the menu. Now the Responsible Animal Care Society, a group based in the Okanagan, has set its sights on a bigger prize -- it wants the B.C. SPCA to stop serving meat at all its fundraisers.

Their argument makes a lot of sense, really.

Here's an organization that is dedicated to guarding the welfare of animals, yet it appears to have no problems grilling up steaks, charbroiling chicken or cooking up a big roast beef for its generous patrons.

Is that not a contradiction of the most basic kind?

Sinikka Crosland, president of the animal care society, told CanWest News Service recently that it's not only a contradiction, it's hypocritical.

"The SPCA does a lot of good work," she said. "However, I think they need to go beyond that. This is not just about dogs and cats; it's about factory farmed animals, too."

Indeed it is.

If an organization has set out to protect the interests of animals, it must be concerned about the fate of all living creatures, from the cattle on Canada's farms to chickens raised in what some groups have described as deplorable conditions.

Pamela Anderson, the Canadian actress who has become an outspoken advocate for animal rights through People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), makes a compelling case against factory farming of chickens.

Craig Naherniak, general manager of humane education for the B.C. SPCA, says the organization is moving toward vegetarian menus at fundraisers, but it now offers no direction to its branches to stop serving meat.

Obviously, people who care about animals don't have to be vegetarians, but in the absence of proof that meat products served at its fundraisers are prepared in a humane fashion, it would be a symbolic measure to steer clear of meat.

Said Crosland: "This is prime time to ask the SPCA to revisit their own policies to do with fundraisers, and to roll out a new policy that would work toward events that would not involve the killing of animals."

For the sake of credibility, the SPCA should focus on the welfare of all animals. A good start would be to stop serving factory-farmed meat at its fundraisers and truly walk the walk, not just talk the talk.