Surrey Now: June 23, 2004
SPCA's only way out is significant change

The Delta SPCA is in an untenable position.

On the one hand, the non-profit society is dealing with a dog on the lam that it's deemed aggressive by a standard assessment process.

On the other hand, it's got its own staff members, a reputed dog trainer, volunteers and the very weighty views of heroic former shelter staffer Amanda Muir saying Cheech, the rottweiler/Lab cross stolen and spared from euthanasia last week, is not aggressive. He can be rehabilitated, they claim.

Muir and the shelter were to meet to discuss Cheech yesterday, but one thing is for certain - the SPCA will come away looking bad.

If Cheech is euthanized, there has been enough publicity surround this case that animal lovers far and wide will condemn the organization for its actions.

If Cheech is saved, an equally large sector of the population will condemn the SPCA as irresponsible, not to mention the legal implications that could arise.

Either way, there will be negative headlines. But maybe something positive can come of all this, too. Are there problems with the shelter's assessment policy, as some claim? Are animals put down unnecessarily? Does the SPCA wield too much power when it comes to determining the fates of animals it's compelled to protect, as recent stories suggest?

Answers to these and other questions are warranted because one thing is certain: something has to change, for the sake of Cheech and others like him.