Since 1999 Happy Cat Haven in Sechelt has been systematically cleaning up feral cat colonies using the proven method of rap/neuter/release and maintain. And now there are very few feral cats in Sechelt.
For many decades the BC SPCA killed every single feral cat brought to it. It had actual written policy that said that is what it does, and it used the tried-and-true justification that killing is humane; that killing healthy animals is euthanasia; that killing is real animal welfare. It's no such thing of course - it's pest control plain and simple, just like killing raccoons (which it did too) and rats and squirrels.
One of the SPCA's Board Members actually justified killing feral cats that had already been rescued by a Prince George cat rescue group called the cats a "nuisance". (Read more at http://animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/13394 ) Up-front pest control companies also kill "nuisance" animals like rats, racoons and squirrels. Killing unwanted animals is pest control, not animal welfare.
The SPCA also killed lost domesticated cats who acted scared, whose owners were trying to find them. It even killed cats with ear tattoos. It stuffed them into gas boxes by the thousands every year. And it called that compassionate animal welfare.
It has been stopped from gassing cats. It has been stopped from gassing racoons. It has had to change its feral cat policy.
But in every case where the BC SPCA has changed inhumane practices and policies the change has followed from the media or the internet publicizing its inhumane policies and practices. The most recent example of this is the SPCA's practice of selling live-boiled crabs. (Read more at http://animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/14136 )
Recently the Sechelt SPCA was in the news when many staff and volunteers quit and went to the newspapers with their accounts of policies and practices that were not animal welfare. (Read more at http://animaladvocates.com/cgi-bin/newsroom.pl/read/13934 )
People who go to the media when they know that something is wrong are true heroes. It takes guts to blow the whistle and put your name to it. But it is the only way that what is wrong is ever made right.