We are (with many reservations) hopeful that the SPCA's "New Direction" will result in a more honest, proactive organization that will truly protect animals from cruelty instead of its benefiting from society's huge number of cast-off animals. We think the process of reform at the SPCA may take another five years, but we think we can see it feeling its way. We have criticized its leader, CEO Douglas Brimacombe, for some decisions that cast doubt on his suitability and so we are reserving judgement on whether we think he is the right person to reform the SPCA, but Mr Brimacombe has a board of directors who are actually involved in decision-making (unlike previous compliant boards), and Mr Brimacombe can learn from his mistakes if he is open. One hopeful sign is that the person who was largely repsonsible for the BC SPCA's pound contracting empire and the cult of secrecy has been "moved sideways". (We will be writing more on reform at the SPCA soon and you can read more at: http://www.animaladvocates.com/spca-open-ltr.htm or just go to the alphabetical list of web pages here: http://www.animaladvocates.com/aas-alphabetical-listing.htm )
Judy Stone