By Karen Longwell
Williams Lake Tribune Staff Writer
Apr 03 2007

Breeder says SPCA harassed her over treatment of dogs.

Dog breeder Shannon Currie, a 12-year resident of Bella Coola wants to take the BC SPCA to court for defamation, harassment and slander.

She says the SPCA has already found her guilty of animal cruelty in the media before the case has come to court.

Last week the BC SPCA issued a press release stating it had seized nine Shih Tzu type dogs and one undernourished St. Bernard mix dog from a breeder in a rural location west of Williams Lake.

Currie says even though the SPCA did not disclose her name and location, because Bella Coola is such a small place, everyone in town knew it was her. Now she says her children are being harassed at school, her husband is harassed at work, and she cannot get a job in Bella Coola.

“There has been an extremely negative impact,” Currie says.

Currie has hired a lawyer and is now looking into pressing charges against the BC SPCA for harassment. She is also trying to get her dogs back, one, an 11-year-old blind Shih Tzu who has been with her since he was six weeks old.

She says she was in the process of getting the dogs treated for conditions and had taken to them to the veterinarian. Currie says she purchased the dogs from another breeder in Alberta and they were not in good condition when she bought them.

The BC SPCA’s third visit to her home on Feb. 26 was shortly after Currie had given birth to a stillborn baby, she says. It was a very stressful time. She says she had told the SPCA constable about the family’s loss before he came to visit but he went ahead with the visit.

Then on March 5 BC SPCA came with two vehicles, the RCMP and a warrant. It wasn’t long before everyone in Bella Coola knew about the seizure after the vehicles were seen at her home, she says. Currie says she has been breeding dogs for about nine years. She started with all Shih Tzu dogs and in the last year started breeding Maltese terriers.

She says she has spent thousands of dollars to give her dogs proper veterinarian care. One her dogs had an ulcer on his eye and Currie says she spent over $2,000 to transport the dog and have the eye removed in an expensive surgery.

“Does that sound like someone who neglects their dogs?” Currie says.

General Manager for Cruelty Investigations for the BC SPCA Marcie Moriarty says she feels for Currie and her personal problems but the SPCA was concerned for the health of the dogs.

“We have to put the health of the dogs first,” Moriarty says. “We feel we took appropriate action.”

Moriarty adds that no one forced Currie to become a dog breeder. She also says the SPCA gave Currie ample opportunity to rectify the situation with her dogs. The SCPA started the investigation in November of 2006.

Releasing the information to the media is the policy of the BC SPCA in situations where a large number of dogs are seized, she says. The primary purpose is public education.

The SPCA procedure is to send a press release after the initial seizure and then another when the charges are accepted. The name of the animal owner is public in the court system at that time, Moriarty says.

This procedure is similar to what the RCMP do in criminal cases, she adds.

Concerning the possible harassment and slander case, Moriarty says Currie is within her rights to take the issue to court but the SPCA stands by its actions.