http://www.thenownews.com/issues06/104206/news/104206nn6.html

SPCA seeking overnight homes for dogs

By Leneen Robb - Staff Reporter

The Coquitlam SPCA is "urgently" seeking volunteers willing to provide overnight foster care for shelter dogs.

Foster parents would be asked to pick up the dogs in the evening and return them to the shelter the following morning.

"Housing in the area surrounding the shelter has grown in recent years and some residents in the immediate neighbourhood have expressed concerns about noise at the shelter," Craig Daniell, CEO of the B.C. SPCA, said in a news release.

"We have taken several steps to abate the noise and are actively seeking a long-term solution in consultation with residents and the city. In the meantime, we have made a commitment to try and find overnight homes for the shelter dogs to address the concerns expressed by our neighbours."

Coquitlam/Maple Ridge branch manager Hugh Nichols said in an interview that staff have tried just about everything to appease neighbouring residents.

They've hung sound-absorbing panels in the kennels, limited the number of dogs at the shelter, moved the animals to the back of the facility so they don't get excited when they see people approaching and even taken to playing a CD that's designed to keep canines calm. The CD consists of nursery rhymes with the heartbeat of a dog played overtop.

"So not only do you get to listen to 'London Bridge is Falling Down'," Nichols said, "it's London Bridge with a thump."

He said it's too early to tell if the CD, which is being played around the clock, is working.

But he added that the issue of barking dogs disturbing residents is not new.

"It's been going on for a long time," he said, adding that one resident SPCA staff met with at City Hall has been living in the area for 14 years.

Nichols said staff have been trying for the same amount of time to get the money together to build a better facility, but face the difficult situation of finding a location where neighbours won't be disturbed. The shelter almost relocated to Pitt Meadows a few years ago, he said, but the move was stopped after neighbours there complained.

Another approach - which the SPCA spent "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on at its Victoria shelter - involves soundproofing. Nichols said that approach won't work in Coquitlam, however, because the facility is not worth keeping open.

He said the SPCA plans to put its 1.5-acre Pipeline Road site on the market soon, and is currently in talks with the city, real estate agents and surveyors.

He did not have an exact date for when the for-sale sign might go up.

Although there is a common misconception that the SPCA competes with the municipally run animal shelter on Mariner Way, Nichols said both are needed, since the municipal shelter only takes in strays, not animals surrendered by their owners. The municipal shelter also does not do cruelty investigations or pick up injured animals.

Until the SPCA relocates, however, Nichols is hoping volunteers will come forward to house large dogs - the small ones are adopted quickly - for overnight stays.

While it's not a long-term solution, Nichols said, it would work well for the animals and would allow the SPCA to house up to 20 dogs, instead of the 10 staff have cut back to.

Nichols is looking for people who can pick up the animals around 5 or 5:30 p.m. and drop them off the next day after 8 a.m. so they'll be available for viewing by potential new owners.

He said the city has not given the shelter - which has been at its current location since 1965 - an ultimatum, and did not know how many noise complaints have been received, since they are registered at City Hall, not the shelter.

Lisa Parkes, acting city solicitor, said the city hasn't kept an exact record of how many people have complained about the barking dogs, but said that some residents have been "consistently unhappy" about the situation.

Earlier this year, she said, the city began working with two residents, from separate households, who have indicated that they represent a larger group of disgruntled neighbours.

The residents send e-mails to the city and have even brought in tapes of barking dogs.

Parkes emphasized that all parties - the residents, the SPCA and the city - are working together to solve the problem.

She said the city just recently learned of the SPCA's plan to sell the site.

"This plan to sell the land is a fairly recent development for them, I think, and they've just advised the city recently."

Anyone interested in providing overnight homes for dogs is asked to call the Coquitlam SPCA at 604-942-4510 or e-mail Nichols at hnichols@spca.bc.ca.

published on 10/27/2006