Only a few weeks after volunteering at the Burnaby SPCA and seeing them kill an 8 year old German shepherd for having a mild case of diarrhea, I met many dedicated volunteers there.

I met Lisa Hutcheon, who worked very, very hard on behalf of the animals there. She told me a story about a rottweiler who she suspected had some troubles with his hind legs. She mentioned this to the then manager, Jeff Lawson, who took a look at the dog and told her, 'OH, that is just the way rottweilers walk.'

It was later found out the rottie had torn cruciate ligaments in both his hind legs, and then later still, he was killed for unknown reasons.

This story completely saddened and sickened me. I thought of my own dog who also had torn cruciate ligaments. It was very painful and he was operated on right away and lovingly taken care of.

How could the SPCA not have ensured the same for this dog? This poor, poor dog. He sat in a cold 'jail' cell in pain and then was killed. How in any way shape or form is this animal welfare?

Further, I once told Lisa, I would never contribute to the SPCA financially as I was way too worried about where the money would go, and that I had donated some bags of food from time to time.

She told me to reconsider even that as she had seen an employee walk out with a 'top of the line' donated bag of food at the SPCA .
I am sure not all staff are this cold-hearted, but how does this go on? How does the SPCA allow these kinds of people to work there?
I am not sure what happened...this person could very well no longer be employed with the SPCA, although Jeff Lawson is apparently working at the Coquitlam SPCA now.

It certainly makes me worry that animals at the Coquitlam SPCA may not get the medical attention they need as Mr Lawson, in spite of several decades of employment by the SPCA, does not appear to recognize common health problems in dogs.