Being a volunteer doesn't mean you don't matter
Things got really ugly this week in the world of animal shelters.
It started on Monday when Brigitta MacMillan, a longtime animal activist in our community, blasted the Maple Ridge SPCA before council. She questioned everything from SPCA policies on euthanasia to how it spends money to how it treats its volunteers.
This was on our deadline day and reporter Amy Steele attempted to get a hold of somebody from the local shelter before our deadline, but nobody got back to us in time.
We have since done a follow up story, with the SPCA firing back, refuting MacMillan’s many assertions.
If the SPCA had simply responded to MacMillan’s criticisms, I would have had no problem with that. They have every right to answer back if they think the claims are untrue. And I’m sure they are worried because they are in the middle of trying to raise money for a new shelter.
Readers can check out both stories and make up their own minds.
But that wasn’t good enough for the SPCA. I received an e-mail from their head office in Vancouver that attacked MacMillan herself. The same personal attacks were shared with our reporter as well during a phone interview.
The SPCA says MacMillan has a vendetta against the SPCA and is a disgruntled former volunteer.
But the e-mail I received contained a comment that really riled me up. It said that MacMillan was “just” a volunteer with Katie’s Place, the cat shelter that has a facility on the same property but which operates mainly independently from the SPCA.
This was coming from a paid SPCA staff member. As though being paid somehow made somebody more credible than “just” being a volunteer.
I don’t really know MacMillan personally. But to say she is “just” a volunteer is missing the point. And besides, everybody at Katie’s Place is a volunteer. So what?
I think her being a volunteer gives her a lot of credibility. She is committed to the cause. She has volunteered for more than a decade locally, first with the SPCA and then with Katie’s Place. She isn’t just somebody who was treated rude during one SPCA visit and decided to complain. She is a watchdog of the SPCA, monitoring how they conduct their visit.
The SPCA tried to make it sound like MacMillan is just one person and Katie’s Place doesn’t feel the same way. MacMillan, up until recently, was a Katie’s Place board member who stepped down to take on the SPCA with her concerns. For years she has written all the Katie’s Place press releases. And last year, MacMillan also wrote a fundraising book of stories about Katie’s Place animals.
She is as much a representative of the cat shelter as anyone.
I received a letter from a Katie’s Place board member, who doesn’t want a name used, stating that this person and many others with the cat shelter support MacMillan and her complaints. They agree with her.
But the reason this person and others don’t want to use their names is because they fear retribution from the SPCA. This backs up one of MacMillan’s main contentions – that if you speak up you will face the wrath of the SPCA.
MacMillan herself is a former SPCA volunteer who says she was cut loose because she expressed concerns about shelter policies.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard such complaints.
SPCA representatives should be ashamed if they are creating an atmosphere that makes volunteers afraid to express themselves. They can ignore it all they like, but I hear repeatedly that volunteers are scared of opening their mouths. They should reassure their volunteers and Katie’s Place volunteers that they aren’t afraid of alternative opinions.