From a
document re the SPCA's insistence on using machines called eloctrothanators to kill
dogs. (AAS has all the reports and letters.) Here is an excerpt...
...'the
report from Clint Davy, a director of the Vancouver Regional SPCA, who was voted off the
board of the Vancouver SPCA for being too humane (along with five other directors who only
asked that the Vancouver SPCA stop using the electrothanator and the gas box), and a UBC
engineer, describes how every electrothanator in all Vancouver Regional shelters was
haywired and uncalibrated and how none of the staff were trained in its proper use; how
the dogs burned because of improper use of the electrodes; how instead of using the
rear-leg electrode which draws the current from the ears to the back leg thus going
through the heart and resulting in a quick death, the employees made the dogs stand in
water, often resulting in the current going from the ears through the front legs, not
killing the dog, and so that the procedure had to be repeated sometimes five to six times. Davy also reports incidents of terrified and
injured dogs being forcefully dragged into the machines which stank of burned hair and the
feces of terrified dying dogs.' |
The Vancouver Sun, March 13, 1981
The Vancouver Sun, June 1981
The SPCA only stopped using the
electrothanator when Davy held a demonstration outside its offices and the media paid
attention.
And even then it was several years before the last one was phased out. |
The Sun Tues., June
19, 1984
Cruel SPCA dog electrocutions cited
By KIM BOLAN
Stray dogs around the Lower Mainland are being
subjected to painful electrocution with out-dated equipment, a former director of the
Vancouver branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals claims.
Clint Davy, an SPCA director for four years, said
electrocution equipment found inhumane by the Vancouver SPCA is still being used by some
B.C. shelters, including the Langley SPCA.
Vancouver discontinued electrocutions last
July, but nine B.C. shelters are still using the machines, even though our study showed
them to be inhumane, Davy said.
He said electrodes are placed on a dogs ears
and two electrical shocks are given before the animal is killed.
The problem is that theres no way of
telling if the animals is unconscious after the first shock because its paralyzed, Davey said.
He said a report on the ineffectiveness of
electrocution was submitted to the BCSPCAs annual meeting last April, but that the
method is still being used to destroy strays.
The machines were built several years ago without a
Canadian standard in existence and they
have not been repaired or maintained, Davy said.
Clint Frearson, a spokesman for the Langley SPCA,
said dogs are electrocuted because it is cheaper than other methods of euthanasia.
We use the box (electrocution). Its a
100-per-cent improvement over what some of the pounds are using, Frearson said.
He said the Langley SPCA runs on donations alone,
without funds from a municipal government, unlike other SPCAs.
Davy said he couldnt estimate the cost
difference, but that it costs considerably more for a vet to come in and give a
lethal injection, which is the method now being used by the Vancouver SPCA.
Meanwhile, in North Vancouver, 25 concerned
residents approached city council Monday to request an investigation into the practices of
the SPCA there.
Joy Gilmore said her group wants to take over
control of the animal shelter because they believe animals are not being properly
attended.
Most
of the animals coming out of there are not in good shape, Gilmore said. She said her
group has veterinarians backing them, though she wouldnt name any.
North Vancouver city council agreed to investigate
the SPCA, which has a contract to run the animal shelter funded jointly by North
Vancouvers city and district councils.
Provincial SPCA director Al Hickey could not be reached
for comment.
INFORMATION BULLETIN
ELECTROTHANATOR
DIRECTORS PRESS RELEASE OF JUNE 1984
CAROL DARBY- Director,
Vancouver Regional Branch, BC SPCA
The B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals is not living up to its name!
This protest is focusing
on the continued use of the inhumane and unsafe electrocution boxes employed for killing
dogs in many BC SPCA shelters throughout the Province, even though the Vancouver SPCA
halted their use immediately in July of last year as a result of their own investigation.
Despite irrefutable
proof, which has been known to BC SPCA management for 9 months (and some of it since
1974), that the machines used by the BC SPCA do not conform to established human criteria,
and could be causing an excruciatingly painful death
to thousands of dogs, the Directors of the BC SPCA are allowing them to be used for up to
a further two years.
This is not acceptable!
The Vancouver
investigation also showed that there was a prevalent sloppy attitude by SPCA Management
towards all euthanasia methods. Contrary to the guidelines of the BC SPCA, staff training
was pitifully inadequate, equipment was poorly designed and maintenance was deplorable!
The competence of the BC
SPCA Directors and Management to ensure the humane destruction of unwanted animals is open
to severe criticism, and this appalling situation demands immediate investigation and
rectification.
This, and other serious
deficiencies in the priorities of the BC SPCA, should be of grave concern to all animal
lovers.
Help us reform the SPCA!
Ms. Carol Darby
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From the AAS web page
THE
SPCA TRIES TO SILENCE AAS WITH A THREAT OF LIBEL
"From a document re the SPCA's insistence on
using machines called eloctrothanators to kill dogs.
...'the
report from Clint Davy, a director of the Vancouver Regional SPCA, who was voted off the
board of the Vancouver SPCA for being too humane (along with five other directors who only
asked that the Vancouver SPCA stop using the electrothanator and the gas box), and from a
UBC engineer, describes how every electrothanator in all Vancouver Regional shelters was
haywired and uncalibrated and how none of the staff were trained it its proper use; how
the dogs burned because of improper use of the electrodes; how instead of using the
rear-leg electrode which draws the current from the ears to the back leg thus going
through the heart and resulting in a quick death, the employees made the dogs stand in
water, often resulting in the current going from the ears through the front legs, not
killing the dog, and so that the procedure had to be repeated sometimes five to six times. Davy also reports incidents of terrified and
injured dogs being forcefully dragged into the machines which stank of burned hair and the
feces of terrified dying dogs.'
We also have a signed
statement from an ex-employee of the Vancouver SPCA clinic. This is an excerpt from
that employee's statement...
..."One
incident I recall was about a female dog who came in for spaying. She was supposed to
recover in a kennel up front where people could watch her and make sure she didn't lick
her stitches etc. She was a barker and annoyed the person on duty, so they put her way in
the back in a concrete run alone. They obviously forgot about her, so it wasn't until
later that night when I got an urgent phone call from a worker to come to the hospital
right away, as there was a dog who would not get up off the floor. When I arrived, I
discovered that her entire spay incision had opened up, the blood had dried and was stuck
to the floor so she couldn't move, and her insides were hanging out. Amazingly she licked
my hand, wagged her tail, and gave me a pleading look with her eyes to help. I phoned the
vet and asked him to come down and stitch this poor dog back together again, since I could
see she was ok otherwise. The vet refused, gave a short laugh and said "tell the dog
I'm sorry", and told me to euthanize her on the spot. Grudgingly, I did as I was
told. It was really sad."
God help you if you're no
longer wanted by your "owner". The SPCA will kill you if your owner pays.
See "Killing for Cash". (Note: after
several years of exposure of this policy by AAS, in 2003, the BC SPCA changed its policy
and no longer kills for cash, another AAS victory for animals)
It is clear that the SPCA cannot cope with so many animals in its
"care". And yet it will not stop taking owner-surrendered animals when it is
full, and it still has pound contracts which also fill it up. Those two
policies are why the SPCA has so many animals in its "shelters" (what a
corruption of a good, kind, decent word) and why it must kill thousands and neglect even
more.
(Read more about the business of sheltering, click
here)
The SPCA has pound contracts and a pound cannot say it has no room,
so all the animals suffer from lack of care and attention, and when it takes another
animal in, another animal is going to have to die or all the animals are going to get less
care and attention than they deserve.
This has been confirmed to us over and over, but Brigitta MacMillan
has described in detail how cats fare at the Maple Ridge SPCA: see photo, click here
HEALTH: New animals were not routinely checked for health and animals are adopted out
with fleas, ear mites and worms. Cats are not consistently given inoculations; some are
and some are not, for no better reason than that staff didn't have time when the cat was
received. Cats frequently sit in a cage for hours without food and water because staff
don't get around to them. Surely this should be their top priority. Last summer and this
summer the shelter ran completely out of canned cat food and rather than buy more, as we
had been assured they could do by SPCA Executive after bringing it to their attention,
they fed all the cats, from tiny kittens to elderly cats, donated dry food that was stale
dated by several months. Pet supply stores have told us they have donations for the SPCA
but that no one comes to pick it up.
Upper respiratory infections (URI) - a cat flu - are very common in shelters. In a home
a cat can recover fairly quickly. In the stress of shelter life, URI can be serious. It's
highly contagious among cats though it cannot affect other animals or humans. Young
kittens die from it and their death takes days. The SPCA adheres rigidly to a rule that
all strays must be held for a number of days (varies from shelter to shelter) in case an
owner comes forward to claim the cat. Only 2% of cats are ever reclaimed by an owner. But
nearly every cat will contract URI before the waiting period is over. Yet staff put tiny
kittens and terrified older cats into a room full of sick cats knowing that they will
contract the illness and knowing some will die from it. Staff have rejected volunteer's
suggestions for protecting healthy cats from sick ones by setting up a makeshift isolation
ward or by fostering them over the mandatory holding period. Everything is done for the
convenience of the bureaucracy at the cost of the animals.
Brigitta MacMillan
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