I have spoken with several municipalities, and I got mixed reactions, probably due to the points you mentioned above.(see CYA Board comments by K.D) They too would need to think all of these things through to their conclusion, but it is possible for some cities to do it themselves. For those who cannot: perhaps the SPCA should be split into two divisions, one for pound contracts and one to be a true SPCA. However, the pound contract division must not take ANY donation money and must be fully accountable to each city. I believe that too much of the donation money has been sucked up by pound contract issues, and so the welfare work has suffered. If this means the municipalities must fork out more money for the pound contracts, then so be it. If the city had to pay more for this service, then perhaps they would be more likely to create and enforce their own bylaws on breeding,s/n, etc. This would ultimately keep the pound contracting costs down in the long run.The other division could do all of things we want them to do (cruelty investigations, education, humane work,lobbying the govt for new laws etc) and they would be the division out there working with the public and generating funds through donations. Remember: the donating public is not expecting their money to be spent on killing animals and paying salaries to those who undertake this horrible task. They could also be the "pound watchdog" to ensure things are being done humanely, at both city pounds and the SPCA-run pounds. I don't feel that the SPCA should keep their pound contracts in any other way. I even think that if there were two divisions, then the pound contracting one should not be called SPCA. Pound contracting and humane work are such opposites, that they need to be kept apart to be done effectively.