I applaud Gail Peterson's views and would like to present my own concerns about the current state of the BCSPCA. This is a copy of an email I sent to The BOD and CEO of the BCSPCA a month ago. I spoke to a couple of former BOD members who are also very upset about the state of so-called animal welfare within the SPCA.

To the CEO and the Board of Directors of the BC SPCA:
I would like express my concern about the unnecessary killing of animals which seems to be escalating at the SPCA shelters in the Lower Mainland. I was a volunteer and volunteer Coordinator at the Burnaby SPCA for two years. From August 1st 2002 until August 1st 2004 I volunteered between one to four days a week and became very involved in rescuing and working with other volunteers to find homes for dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs and other small animals. When I started, I believed the shelter to be no-kill. For the first little while this seemed plausible. I was able to take a German Shepherd into rescue in November of that year and I really felt as if I was making a difference. During the two years, I encountered some pleasant staff members who seemed to be there to help the animals and others who were very rude and unhelpful. However, the purpose of this email is not to complain about staff at the SPCA. What I am very concerned about is the killing of more and more dogs for no good reason!

A change in management came to the SPCA in the Spring of 2003. I believe many of the new Branch Managers come from out of the province. This in itself is a huge concern to me as we in British Columbia are different in many ways than the rest of the country. Am I to believe that there were no suitable candidates for these positions within B.C. or better yet within the BCSPCA? My other concern about these out of province managers is that they appear to be quite frightened of dogs. There have been several dogs killed under many of these new Branch Managers within the past few months who were not only very well behaved with my four year old son, but were adoptable and had applications. Many even had rescues to go to.

With the Cheech incident in Delta and the bad publicity the BCSPCA has recently had in the paper from many rescue groups including Big Heart Rescue who tried to save dogs from the Surrey SPCA only to have the dogs killed for Kennel Cough and the recent article in The Vancouver Sun from the founder of Richmond Homeless Cats slamming the Delta SPCA for killing cats she is willing to take, the BCSPCA's popularity is at an all time low! What is going to be done? I know of dogs killed for GROWLING in their kennels! Anybody who has lived with a dog will agree that this is a ridiculous reason for killing! Does the SPCA want to lose all public support and all volunteers? What is it going to take for changes to be made?

I would be very interested in talking to you more about this. I am very concerned about the fate of the animals at the BCSPCA and the fate of the BCSPCA in general. I have specific examples of dogs who had been approved for rescue and were killed anyway. If things continue the way they are, there will be no BCSPCA. I am concerned that other municipalities will follow the example of North Vancouver and what Delta and Surrey are threatening. The Vancouver and Coquitlam Pounds have shown how great shelters can be. If the BCSPCA wants to save itself, I believe it must cull the management and stop culling good dogs. It must also try to work with rescues as there are many just begging to help.

I had to leave the Burnaby SPCA when several dogs who played with my four year old son were killed for very dubious reasons. I am hearing similar reports from volunteers at many other shelters. Please do something before the BCSPCA gets more bad publicity. I feel that volunteers are getting ready to talk. Please be ready to listen.

Sincerely,
Joanna Schofer
Former Volunteer Coordinator
Burnaby SPCA