ANIMAL ADVOCATES SOCIETY OF BC - SPCAs KILL FOR CASH

KILL-FOR-CASH

The SPCA will kill your pet for you for a payment. It is a side-line of their "sheltering" business. It is one of the "services" the SPCA's union employees are fiercely defending. (Read more, click here)

Yes, the SPCA will kill your perfectly healthy pet for you, no questions asked, no suggestions made as to how you might be able to keep your pet or rehome it rather than kill it. We can confirm this statement: AAS phoned every one of the Vancouver SPCA's ten "shelters", pretending to want to bring our dog in to be killed (we did the same with a cat), and asked the fee. We were told $50 for a dog, $35 for a cat. We were not asked anything about the pet, it's age, health, or temperament. Not one employee sounded the least bit interested in trying to save the life of our pet. Not once were we urged to reconsider, to find a home for our dog or cat, or made an offer that we surrender the dog or cat to them so that they could find a new home for it.

We were not offered any counseling on how to find a home for our pet. The SPCA should have had adoption counseling in place decades ago., but it was easier and more lucrative to just take the animals and then kill them.

This makes perfect business sense: the SPCA has the staff trained to euthanize and it has the euthanol; in other words it had the tools of the trade and the tradesmen to do the job, so putting this to good use earning money makes sense. But would anyone who loves animals kill healthy animals for payment and a paycheque? We know that the employees who can't accept that this is part of the job, quit - those who accept it as part of the job, stay.

The situation described in the letter following has been described to us many times:

August 16/00

To whom it may concern,

There are many things about the SPCA that I wish more people knew. I have volunteered there for many years. Here are only a few of the things I have witnessed:

- An older poodle mix scheduled to be killed; she limped for unknown reasons, but was not in pain. I offered to take her; they insisted that I pay for a hip operation at their clinic and boarding. (My impression was that their decision being challenged was not appreciated.) It cost $350 to get her out. She still limped after, but found a happy home through me.

- An older be-barked dog, scheduled to die, terribly matted but other than needing dental work, healthy. I had to pay over $200 which included boarding to get him out.

- Older dogs and cats are routinely killed. They usually need no more than dental work to make them healthy. They "take up space" longer than more quickly adopted young pets.

- People who bring in sick or injured pets, and can't afford all the costs to treat the animal at once, are most often advised to surrender the animal to the SPCA (it will most likely be killed). If they are reluctant, they are referred to small non-profit groups as a source of funds.

- Animals brought in by owners to be killed sit in cages for hours and sometimes days. I have seen a frightened dog that was brought in on a Friday and was still waiting to die on Sunday.

-Animals are put up for adoption before being spayed or neutered. The reason given is that it would be a waste to neuter them if they didn't get adopted and were killed. How many of those adopted intact went on to produce litters?

Volunteers are often treated with disdain and suspicion. Turnover of volunteers is very high. It is only those with a thick skin and determination to help the animals that stay.

M. Taylor,
Vancouver

SPCA volunteer Ron Polly made this statement at the April 20, 2000 meeting at District of North Vancouver Animal Cruelty committee. (To read the rest of Mr Polly's statement, click here)

"The NV SPCA will and does kill on demand without proof of ownership. I strongly believe we should not support this practice. Vets will not put down animals at an owner’s request without proof of ownership and the medical condition warranting it. Secondly, how do we not know that some of these animals have not been taken down to the shelter by annoyed neighbors or just plain creeps and had them destroyed just so they would not return."

It has become too easy for the SPCA to kill, it has become too used to it. It should simply refuse to kill pets for cash. This is another form of enabling the irresponsible pet ownership that it blames on the public. But the SPCA makes it easy to be irresponsible - in fact it has managed to capitalize on irresponsible pet ownership - and make money from it.

UPDATE

Earlier this year (2003) the then Chief Operating Officer (Ms. Kim Capri) directed through her Regional Managers that all shelters were to stop euthanizing animals upon an owner's request. This was to bring their procedures in line with the Companion Animal Management Program's (CAMP) policy. Shelters are now to encourage the owner to seek veterinary input regarding their decision to euthanize. If the owner refuses they may surrender the animal to us but not for euthanasia. We will assess the animal for adoption and from that decide on what we feel is the best course of action.

To answer your question directly - it is no longer the policy of the BC SPCA to euthanize owned pets on payment of a fee.

Sincerely - Dr. Jamie Lawson