SPCA dropping ball on caring for injured animals, vet fumes

Trail Daily Times, Wednesday, July 30, 2003, Page: 1, by Kate Skye

When Tippy got hit by a car in Montrose recently, her life -- and her left leg -- was dangling with uncertainty.

"SPCA staff brought her to our office and said they didn't know what to do with her," said vet Brian Gresley-Jones.

With an SPCA policy to stabilize or euthanize injured animals, Gresley-Jones said he was left without direction on the fate of the cat.

"If it had been a dirty, old, rotten, miserable Tom with these same injuries I would have euthanized it," he said. "But this was a really nice, sweet cat. She never struggled once. She was very cooperative, and started purring and rubbing up against me as soon as I handled her."

The cat, a shorthaired black female, arrived at the vet's office Monday.

Gresley-Jones said he didn't hear anything further from the SPCA until Friday. By then he had made the decision to fix her leg which had been broken in three places.

"We called her Tippy as she had to figure out how to stand on three legs and kept tipping over until she figured it out."

Knowing that he was likely donating his time and expertise, Gresley-Jones said he is disillusioned that the SPCA does not have funds set aside for injured animals.

"This is an organization that speaks for animals who can't speak for themselves," he said.

"Animals who are injured like this are falling through the cracks and the SPCA is unable or unwilling to put their resources there and I don't think that's right."

Trail branch manager Patti Ward said it's not that the SPCA is unwilling to put its resources towards injured animals. The problem, she said, is there are just not enough resources to go around.

"We had a total of $50 donated last week," she said. "I can't pull magic money out of the air. It all costs money and the SPCA isn't a bottomless pit."

Ward said the SPCA can spend up to $200 on injured animals but in the case of Tippy, the vet was instructed to stabilize and euthanize only while the SPCA looked for the cat's owner.

"That means giving fluid and pain medication," she said. "After the four-day holding period, the decision would have been made, and in this case I would have decided to euthanize."

"There is all sorts of different kinds of suffering. We try to address them all. Should the cat who is hit by a car take precedent over an abandoned dog?"

Ward, who currently has 170 animals in her care at the Trail shelter, said they demand huge resources.

"They have to be fed, vaccinated, spayed and neutered. If I put a lot of money into one cat, others may be turned away."

But Gresley-Jones wonders why the SPCA is putting funds into pediatric spaying and neutering if funds are so limited.

"It's a huge operation for a young animal and if the SPCA is adopting animals to responsible owners, that is something they will take responsibility for."

He questioned why the SPCA doesn't set up a special fund for injured animals.

"If the SPCA won't do it, I'm prepared to do it myself. This is a perfectly good reason to spend the public's money."

The vet was also disillusioned that the SPCA has not replaced its animal crematory after it caught fire last year and staff at head office refused to give permission to have it repaired or replaced.

"This was a necessary and valuable service to our community," he said. "Like people, animals also need to be taken care of when they die."

But Ward said the SPCA does not want to be involved in running a crematory.

"It has nothing to do with animal welfare," she said. "It has to do with providing the public a service. Our management has determined that a crematory is not in line with our mission."

But Gresley-Jones said the revenue made from having a crematory would help the SPCA.

Ward, however, said the time involved in running a crematory takes away valuable staff time from dealing with the animals.

"You don't go and pick up your baby from a funeral home," she said, by way of explaining why she feels adopting pets and cremating them in the same place doesn't work.

But Gresley-Jones said for animal owners who love their pets, sending their bodies to the Okanagan to be cremated is not the right answer.

"People have the option to bury them, but what if you live in an apartment or you are a senior?" he said. "Or they can take their bodies to the landfill. Otherwise the only option is to courier them to the Okanagan."

This community needs a pet crematory, he reiterated.

"This was a good community service that the SPCA provided and it did raise revenue."

As for Tippy, who is getting stronger and healthier every day, Gresley-Jones said as he has put $900 worth of vet care into her, he will make sure she finds a loving home.

"I don't plan on giving her back to the SPCA. I knew when I went ahead with the surgery that I would likely not be compensated. But as a vet, my job is to run a business. The job of the SPCA is to take care of these animals and use public funds to do so."

Ward, however, said the real problem is irresponsible animal ownership.

"No one came forward for the cat. If the cat had had a tattoo or microchip we would have been able to identify the owners but even then, they might have been on limited means and chose to have the cat euthanized."

For Tippy, who has used up one of her nine lives, Gresley-Jones said he is committed to finding the right family for her.

"After what she's been through, she definitely deserves it."