Maple Ridge News
SPCA slammed by volunteer

Published: March 16, 2010 4:00 PM
Updated: March 16, 2010 4:45 PM

A former volunteer with the SPCA blasted her former group for “hostility” towards Katie’s Place, a cat shelter where she now helps out, for “thinly disguised” acrimony and a lack of accountability.

And in the mix of Brigitta MacMillan’s complaints were Ralph and Martini, two cats euthanized by the SPCA last year that she says could have lived.

MacMillan made her case to Maple Ridge council Monday, claiming the society has a “repressive atmosphere in which people fear speaking up.”

She also called for re-starting the animal services committee so the two groups could talk and also questions the biosecurity measures in place that require volunteers moving from Katie’s Place to the SPCA, or vice versa, to shower first and change clothes, to prevent spread of disease.

But the latter is an established biosecurity standard, said SPCA spokesman Lorie Chortyk, who said her group gets along with Katie’s Place, located next to the SPCA shelter.

“We move cats back and forth ... We deal with them all the time,” she added.

“If our volunteers were in our cat room, they would need to shower and change to go to any rescue group.”

Chortyk said she addressed the issues with MacMillan last October and wonders why she’s raising the issue now.

But MacMillan said none of the issues have been resolved.

She says there could have been an alternative to euthanizing the two cats if they were in Katie’s Place, where they would have had more time and space to recover.

“There have not been a whole lot of euthanasias, but the thing is, there don’t need to be any.”

Chortyk said both cats were sick and killed because there was nothing more that could be done for them.

One cat was under direct foster care, another under a vet’s care.

“To keep an animal alive who’s suffering, is not humane at all,” Chortyk said. “We put every resource possible into every animal.”

However, “We have to go with what our vets tell us.”

MacMillan also said one volunteer was fired for speaking out, but Chortyk said that wasn’t the case.

The volunteer was let go for violating a series of protocols, “not because they spoke out. They have every opportunity to speak out.”

She explained that the SPCA has a coordinator of volunteers who will listen to issues raised by the helpers. A complaint can first be discussed with the coordinator, then the branch manager, she said.

“That happens all the time.”

MacMillan said she was speaking only for herself and not Katie’s Place.

For Evelyn Baillie, one of the directors of Katie’s Place, the relationship with the SPCA is “back on track.

“I think we have a good relationship.”

The shelter is now receiving animals again after not being referred any from March to December of last year. That could be because the new shelter manager was getting used to the system, she said.

Chortyk, though, pointed out that it’s common in rescue societies that some animals brought in who are severely ill or hurt will not survive..

In 2009, the local SPCA took in 250 cats, and of those, with 29 were euthanized for medical or aggression reasons.

As for the lack of referrals from SPCA to Katie’s Place in the past nine months, that’s a result of an expanded foster program and satellite adoption network, as part of which the SPCA places adoptable cats into pet stores. Other rescue groups can also take different cats for different reasons, she pointed out.

“It’s not a particular issue with Katie’s Place,” Chortyk said.

But the SPCA didn’t give an explanation when they stopped referring cats or when they resumed, MacMillan said.

“They don’t explain anything, ever, to my experience.”

The district and the B.C. SPCA are about to announce the start of construction for the new SPCA building, a $2.5-million project.

Chortyk said she wasn’t sure why the MacMillan is critical of the SPCA.

“We haven’t known for a decade why she does this.”

MacMillan, though, maintains the SPCA still isn’t accountable, even though it reports regularly to the district.

Brigitta MacMillan of Katie's Place, pets a cat Tuesday afternoon.