As a member of a Victoria spay/neuter society I attended the Community Consultation full of hope for the future. The feeling of hope has been replaced with distrust and despair.

The BC SPCA is still not sterilizing all animals sold in their facilities prior to sale. This is simply UNACCEPTABLE in my opinion.

At the time of the Community Consultation the Victoria SPCA operated a spay/neuter clinic, helped a few low-income pet owners who could not afford the clinic, and spayed/neutered most animals leaving the facility or provided a voucher for sterilization.

Today, there is no SPCA spay/neuter clinic in Victoria. There is no help anymore from the BC SPCA for low-income pet owners whose pets are ill or injured either.

I used to be able to phone the ex-Victoria SPCA manager, Maureen Accleton when I got a call for help to pay large life-saving vet bills for a low-income pet owner, and the Victoria SPCA would make a contribution.

No more.

Now, to receive assistance to help pay vet bills for their sick animals, low-income people must surrender the pet to the SPCA, making the SPCA its owner and legally able to dispose of the pet any way it wants to. The SPCA further traumatises low-income people in a time of crisis. The previous method of working with the rescue groups to help the animals involved was successful, but working together appears to be impossible for the BC SPCA.

The entire burden of community work has been shifted to the small groups in Victoria, heavily overtaxing their assets and abilities. The shifting of the burden was done without consultation with the groups involved. The BC SPCA just chopped programs without public notification and the small groups, who were left with the resulting collection of crises, struggle to fill the widening gaps in the front-line of animal welfare. This has created a large lack of trust and respect as can be expected.

Is any of this what was suggested in the Community Consultation? I think not.