I am writing this from Calgary where we are visiting our daughter. I'll be off to China to a primate conference, but I'd like to take a moment to say that the Nanaimo SPCA really does an excellent job.

I have adopted or fostered five of their cats since we moved to the Nanaimo area- some of them really difficult-to-place animals, including a 14-16 year old CRF Himalayan and three quite disturbed cats, that many shelters would have euthanised. Some of the cats there have been there for at least a year. My husband and I visit the animals at least once a week and the staff seem to be friendly and pleasant to visitors. I have only known one cat to be euthanized and a desperate attempt was made to find him a home with another feleuk cat. Sadly, he became ill.

The staff seem to work as a team and many of the staff voluntarily attended the two Council Meetings, where a successful appeal was made for a $25 000 grant, which will help considerably with the horrendous homeless cat problem here. They also work with the Nanaimo Feral Cat Rescue Society and Catnap. There isn't any of the frequent bickering that so often plagues animal groups. At least I don't know of any!

I wish that all the SPCA s were as good as this one. I also wish that they could be totally independent policy -wise, so they could set their own priorities. I know that there are no $100 000 salaries in Nanaimo. I think the top salary is in the mid- thirties. Lorrain and her staff deserve the very best- like 100% salary raises. The work they do is invaluable. In the SPCA, the wrong people make the big money, IMHO!