I don't believe the SPCA's mandate originally included being a dumping spot for lazy pet owners.

The name is specific - Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. There is very little that an open surrender policy can do to protect animals from cruelty as the people that inflict cruelty are most definitely not the ones that would bother going through the effort of taking their pet into an SPCA. The people that dump their pets in an SPCA are simply taking the easiest way out. It's human nature to take the easiest way out and the SPCA open surrender policy most definitely offers the easiest solution to dispose of an inconvenient or unwanted pet.

While the people who are willing to go through the effort of taking this animal to an SPCA are looking for an easy way out, they are not the people who abandon animals on old logging roads or drown them or shoot them. These people are very different. Last spring I found the 3 survivors of a litter of 7 (4 week old) kittens who were dumped in a cemetery. The person who dumped these kittens obviously didn't bother taking them to the SPCA. You see, there are very different types of people out there, and the ones that are going to abandon animals have no intention of surrendering them to the SPCA, so that argument is based on a misconception. On the other hand, a family who is having a new baby and finds their cat or dog inconvenient (the most common excuse is that they don't have enough time for it or there is too much hair), is not going to drive out to a rural area and leave their animal at the roadside while they drive away. If given other options at the SPCA for finding a new home for their pet, they will. They just need the help and direction. If someone is going to abandon their animal, they will. If someone is going to bother trying to surrender their animal to a shelter, they will bother trying to re-home it if they are given the resources.

In Tofino, when the younger hippies (be free man) are done enjoying their summer and decide to hitchhike back to Montreal, they catch a ride and just leave the dog on the side of the road, running after the car trying to catch up. These people also have no intention of finding the animal a new home.

The open surrender policy of the SPCA does not save animals, it only enables people with a conscience to unload their animals quicker and easier. These people often just need a little help, which the current SPCA policy does not support. The animals suffer from this. Those same animals that the rest of us hate to see rotting away in a shelter, lonely, confused and of course, heartbroken. This doesn't have to happen, but will continue as long as the open surrender policy is in place.

The other animals are doomed regardless of any SPCA policies. In fact, if the SPCA moved it's resources from accepting and housing the thousands of unwanted animals, it could focus on prevention of cruelty, which includes abandonment and abuse. It would be a much better solution for the majority of animals.