Will law, order, and justice be brought to the SPCA in 2005?

This will be the over-riding issue for the BC SPCA in 2005.

Very serious errors have been made by the SPCA for fifty years. Fifty years ago it saw that there was money to be made in municipal dog control and disposal contracting, and the end of its image as caring animal welfarists, and the beginning of its image as heartless killers, began.

It began massive killing for these contracts, but mostly for its other pet disposal business - the sale of used pets. It began to be hated and distrusted by thousands of animal lovers. The proof is in the media, especially in newspapers, and the proof is in many submissions to the SPCA's own Community Consultation Panel.

There are many other egregious errors made by the SPCA, but they are all rooted in its decision to operate as a pet disposal business rather than an animal welfare society. Every one of the complaints against the SPCA, from the huge salaries, to the ruthless employees, the secrecy and lies, the run-down, diseased facilities and the massive killing, stem from that decision, made fifty years ago.

These past mistakes pale in comparison with the "seizures" disaster that may be coming. In January last year, AAS warned then BC SPCA President Rick Sargent, that the way the SPCA was making seizures under Craig Daniell may be what finally destroys the SPCA. We warned Mr Sargent because we did not want the SPCA to destroy itself. We never have. Since we first created the web site we said that we wanted a financially strong, open, and accountable SPCA doing real animal welfare. We withstood two attacks from SPCA lawyers by sticking to what we had proved and we will survive this latest attack from the SPCA (using helpless animals' money), the same way.

We only ask that the SPCA do honest animal welfare. It almost did after AAS would not back down in 2001. It said it would reform and it held Community Consultations, releasing its Report in November 2001 - the only time that the SPCA was open and honest and showed it understood what real animal welfare is. And then it reverted to manipulating the media, secrecy and self-serving again.

It dodged and ducked and bobbed and weaved and did everything but reform. It fought for its dog control and disposal contracts, even though its Community Consultation Report recommended getting out of that vile business. It spent animals' money on itself and staff, while its facilities remained diseased hell-holes for animals. It defended staff that were shown to be ruthless and cruel. It got rid of staff who cared about animals.

And it decided to make money by making grandstanding seizures from dog breeders which somehow, mysteriously, the media always knew about, so that the SPCA's heroics made the nightly newscasts. The SPCA told these breeders for decades that they were breaking no law. It protected their breeding businesses. It even profited from their businesses by sometimes selling unwanted stock.

And then it suddenly, without warning, without any standards known to anyone, swooped in and seized dogs from breeders whose businesses it had protected for years, and sold their property - without any charges being laid, and at least once, with no warrant.

It tried them in the media and made monsters of them. Then it tried them in courts and made criminals of them. It destroyed their lives and their livelihoods - even though some of these breeders treated their animals better than the SPCA treated them.

This is exactly how third world law operates. No one, not even the most sincere animal-lover, who understands that the only thing that protects us all from the law itself, is the rule of law, ought to defend what the SPCA has done. The SPCA proved by its raid on a wonderful cat shelter, that anyone is fair game.

By refusing to respond to the BC and Interior Dog Breeders Association's request to publish standards, it proved that it was not interested in raising standards, but rather, in making money by seizures from breeders who had no SPCA standards to operate by.

The victims are beginning to organize. Why doesn't the Board of BC SPCA Directors get legal advice about the ramifications of CEO Craig Daniell's leadership before the SPCA is further injured and even more donations are lost? They are the ultimate bosses; they are ultimately responsible for choosing what we believe are all the wrong people, year after year.

They seem incapable or unwilling to just be honest, do honest animal welfare, and honest prevention of cruelty.