AAS knows that this illegal dog rescue goes on daily in BC and we also hear from women all over North America. In almost every case the SPCA has been called first yet nothing or little changes. Sometimes the owner is made to provide a dog house, sometimes to provide a longer chain. And then nothing more is done. The dog remains isolated and alone in a yard, or a pen, or a porch, or in a garage. So the witness to the suffering, almost always a neighbour, takes the only action that will end the dog's suffering. She (it is almost always a woman) removes the dog and finds it a new home, often paying a lot of money for vet attention for the dog's ears, skin, hips, etc, that have been left painfully untreated for so many years. This is certainly illegal, but to leave a suffering creature to go on suffering is immoral. People who make the decision to break the law do not do this easily, but in the end, it is the only thing that they can live with. They wouldn't have to break the law, if the law acted.

There is an added dilemma: sometimes pressuring the SPCA to seize a dog or have it surrendered is a death sentence for the dog the witness has come to love and care greatly for. And sometimes the dog on the chain was sold to the chainer by the SPCA itself. (See "Bubba" below.)

At this point in time women feel they have no choice but to break the law. The women are lawyers, teachers, doctors, psychologists, vets, wealthy society matrons, single mothers on welfare, 80 year old grandmothers, and teenagers. Rescuers also include some off-duty police and pound staff, and even some SPCA staff.

But until the SPCA seizes yard dogs and rehabilitates them instead of killing them, illegal rescue will go on.