Why do donors donate to the BC SPCA? I have over $1500 in tax receipts from the BC SPCA for last year- nearly all for veterinary care of very difficult foster cats. That’s where I feel that my money should be spent. That’s in addition to the regular driving (two or three days a week) that we did for 2 ½ years at no cost to the
Society.

The answer for the vast majority of donors is abundantly clear. We all want our money to help the animals.

Here are a few things that donors definitely want their money to be spent on

* Compassionate care of animals

* Providing animals with excellent veterinary service

* Relieving chained dogs from their miserable situation

* Skillful prosecution of cruelty cases

* Fair living wages for shelter staff

* Fair and appreciative treatment for volunteers

Here are a few things where money should not be spent

* Taking money donated for animals to sue other animal groups

* Tests like the DTA4 which may condemn dogs to death unjustly

* "Raiding" (not considered a raid by the SPCA) animal groups like the excellent Forgotten Felines on the basis of anonymous complaints.
This means that the public will never know who complained or the motivation for the complaint. Three constables were involved, quite an expensive proposition for donors. The group was so good that they were sent unwanted precious animals by the SPCA itself. The group clearly trusted them for good reason.

* High salaries for those at Head Office

* Expelling or refusing membership to people who have made constructive suggestions about accountability and animal welfare issues

I feel very strongly that suing other animal groups is a totally unacceptable use of donor money. The BC SPCA takes in around $20,000,000 annually - probably about 30 times the amount that the little impecunious group that it is suing. Intelligent discussions of issues and incorporating good suggestions will work wonders at very little cost. Just how much money is the BC SPCA spending on this lawsuit? Where is the sum mentioned in the financial reports? It should be information available to donors who are footing the bill for this and to the animal-loving public.

One large international group that I work with has never sued anybody, has never declined anybody membership, has been really appreciative of volunteers, pays fair wages, has never expelled members (even when we suspect that there could be an occasional animal dealer among our members) and would never consider wasting precious donations on legal issues. I believe that our legal bills last year were $0.00. We have been sued twice, never successfully. In the last case, the lawyer for the animal dealer and the animal dealer himself were fined $25,000 each for launching a worthless lawsuit.

We must make sure that we help to keep the WatchDog barking until such time as there is no reason for the dog to bark!

Jean Martin
Lantzville, BC