The contradictions at the Board of Directors level cause a lot of contradictory statements by SPCA staff. A case in point...

The Prince Rupert branch of the BC SPCA planned, for the second year, to boil live crabs to raise funds for its "animal welfare". When international outrage resulted, Head Office staff claimed that fundraising decisions were up to the branches, giving the false impression that Head Office can't impose rules on the branches. (See: SPCA's 'crab boil' questioned by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society http://animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/13748). Head Office staff also initially claimed that it was not cruel to boil crabs because crabs don't feel pain.

Yet one Prince Rupert SPCA staff member is quoted in the Sun saying if it were up to her, the event would be cancelled. "I don't eat crab," she said. "I know a lot of people are upset about it. If it's a concern, it's upsetting to me too because I don't want people to think we're hurting animals because we're definitely not."

A plain statement of animal welfare by the Board of Directors that includes doing no harm to animals and acknowledges the important roles of animal rights and animal activism should have been adopted many years ago. If that had been done, crabs could not have been boiled and none of the controversy that swirls around the SPCA would exist.