Vernon SPCA "Petarama": more PR and hypocrisy

Posted By: Jennifer Dickson <eight-dogs-later@shaw.ca>
Date: Monday, 7 October 2002, at 6:34 p.m.

Yesterday was Vernon SPCA's 3rd annual "Petarama". Billed as a family fun day, I knew it would be mostly PR and feelgood fluff, but I had to go in the hopes that I would find something there that had anything to do with the prevention of cruelty to animals.
What I found though, was what I had expected. I scanned the SPCA's display table for any scrap of educational info, anything about spaying and neutering, or responsible pet care, or even pictures of animals available for adoption. All I saw on the table was merchandise and a price list for all the things for sale. Oh yes, and the lunch menu and prices- I made a point of asking, and no, there were no veggie dogs available. No cruelty free alternative to a hot dog was offered.
I did, however, spy one piece of educational material- a piece of poster board with some pictures of animals on it, and the heading "Help us help them...animal cruelty is a crime". Alas though, I couldn't read any of the small print or see what the pictures were of because this board was shoved into a plastic bin , the bottom half obscured by bags and supplies, and stuck behind the staff who were working the table so you barely saw it at all, except when someone moved. I never saw it move from there.
Right next to the SPCA table, only 2 feet away, was the table for "Scales N Things" reptile zoo and sanctuary". There you could see a four foot python stuffed into a tupperware container (to keep it warm, the reptile person said). Occasionally she would open the container so various onlookers could touch the snake. There was also a monitor lizard in the top half of a two-tiered display container, and something unidentifiable on the bottom (I could barely see through the unclear "windows").
Well I was horrified that the SPCA obviously thought it was fine to stuff a four foot snake into a roughly 8"x12"x5" tupperware container and call it education, but guess what else? That snake lady also had her litter of Jack Russell Terrier puppies with her! So I guess the SPCA endorses keeping exotics in captivity and breeding dogs. Incidentally, someone had a pup from the same mother there and all the dogs were visiting- this pup was 11 months old, and the current litter looked to be about 3-4 months old- same mother, therefore this poor dog must have been bred on consecutive heats. AND, the 11 month old son still was not neutered.
As a matter of fact, I saw a lot of unneutered dogs out there that day because the local kennel club was invited out to stage a mini dog show. How nice. A bunch of breeders get invited to promote their product while only one SPCA shelter dog for adoption was present. How many people are going to buy a purebred dog now instead of adopting one of the many dogs currently at the Vernon shelter? Maybe none, but this hypocrisy on the part of the SPCA is inexcusable. And the really neat finishing touch to the whole hypocritical breeder promotion was seeing an SPCA staff person "judging" the dog show. What a strange juxtaposition THAT was.
But on to some of the other displays that the SPCA chose to invite- two pet shops, both of which regularly sell puppies and kittens, one of which I happen to know for a fact has sold puppies from an atrocious puppy mill for at least 12 years now. But the SPCA has been partners in crime with them before- they held a fundraiser right in front of this pet shop a few months ago. At that time I informed the volunteers of what I knew about this pet shop, but I guess the SPCA really doesn't care, as they invited them back to Petarama. More money for everyone right? More PR for them both, more sales, more donations...and more suffering dogs in puppy mills.
Oh the pony rides were done in a humane enough fashion I guess, and the wagon rides, and the petting farms...but no one can ask the animals whether they'd have preferred just not to be there... But the humane presentation of a pony ride or petting farm is no excuse for their existence, and the SPCA SHOULD KNOW THAT. What goes on behind the scenes of these operations is often anything but humane. Chickadee Ridge was there with its miniature horses- they have over 200 of them back at the ranch. They also have two Japanese snow monkeys and 2 coatamundi that live in dark chain link cells back at the ranch. I am not the only person who has complained to the SPCA about the misery these animals endure as exhibits at Chickadee Ridge. But I don't believe the SPCA when they told me a while back that they wished there was something they could do to help these poor caged souls- if the SPCA cared even one tiny bit, they certainly would not have helped promote the operation that exploits them by inviting them to their family fun day.
So in a nutshell, Petarama was a whole pile of PR, and a huge exercise in SPCA hypocrisy. The SPCA should have taken the opportunity to educate the public about animal cruelty and to promote spay neuter awareness- instead, they invited and thus promoted a bunch of people and businesses who profit from breeding and exploiting animals.
So when are they going to "move forward in a new direction"?

Link to photos...

Photos of the Vernon Petarama