All the outrage in the world will change nothing unless those who abhor certain pet store practices do something constructive to change what they are so enraged about.

The District of North Vancouver has the best pet store regulations in the province, perhaps in Canada. You can find them on the AAS web page (link below). It would be useful if someone transcribed them into a Word doc so that they could be more easily used and then post the document on this site.

Join forces. Choose a municipality where one of these stores does business to approach. Document your concerns. Sign statements of your observations. Take photos. Put together a letter to the mayor and council and ask for the same regulations that the DNV has. Get on council agenda. Attend the council meeting when your request is being discussed (there may be several unless the council votes to adopt the DNV bylaw right off the bat.) Be sure that you keep in touch with the clerk's office so that you understand how to be allowed to make a presentation or appear as a delegation.

Post on this board, CYA, and AAS boards when you are on the agenda and invite all interested persons to attend. (Give directions on how to get to City Hall.)

Use AAS photos if you want, and any material from our web site, that's what it's for. Get out the troops. It can be done.

AAS will build a web page recounting your efforts. Everything you do can be in one place. You can name the councillors that are supportive and those that aren't. All your investigation material can be posted with any photos you take. Be sure to always have two people investigate and be sure to include dates and times.

Email us at the above address if you feel we can offer any advice or be of any service. We've been through this, but our tied dog work took all our time and we had to put this on hold. It would be wonderful if others took over and carried on this fight. We would also write a story for our newsletter. AAS will also write to City Hall in support of your request when you have chosen the municipality and got your presentation together. In our many presentations, we projected our photos on the overhead projector to great effect. No one, not even the most business-oriented councillor, liked to look at those pictures. We would have been successful in 1999 if the SPCA had supported these bylaws instead of telling councillors that there really was no problem and they were handling everything. But I believe that with energy and resolve that you can do this job with or without the SPCA.

Judy Stone