Delta Councillor Robert Campbell must be commended for his intent to ask that the Delta SPCA become "no-kill". But no person or agency that is paid to do dog control can possibly run a "no-kill" facility.

Dog control requires rounding up and dealing with all stray or dangerous dogs in the contracted area. There is not unlimited space or money to store all stray dogs indefinitely, and some dogs that dog control must deal with are truly dangerous. Therefore, part of dog control does involve killing, and no dog pound can possibly call itself "no kill".

We hope that the municipality of Delta will not renew its dog control contract with the SPCA. We hope that Delta will instead opt for a municipal pound that is humanely run, and as near to no-kill as it can possibly be. The district of North Vancouver has such a pound, and other districts like Coquitlam have followed suit.

Without its pound contract, the Delta SPCA could concentrate on animal welfare, and cease muddying its ethical waters by dipping its toes into the often dirty job of animal control.