My experience with the BCSPCA goes back to approximately 1986, when I became involved with the Horse Protection Society of BC. This group was born out of the frustration experienced by many people within BC’s horse community, specifically because the BCSPCA had a track record of doing nothing about the various cases of neglect and cruelty toward horses that were reported to them. Melva MacLean was the founder of the HPS, and she has since passed away, but time and again she would tell me about suffering horses that the BCSPCA refused to help, and time and again these horses would be found lying dead in a field or would have to be destroyed because help never came. Melva consistently complained to politicians that the BCSPCA was not enforcing our provincial PCA Act, but nothing changed.

During this same period of time I worked as a veterinary assistant at a local clinic. We had an agreement with the Coquitlam SPCA, that they collected the dead bodies from our freezer and incinerated them for us. We also dealt with the staff at Coquitlam SPCA by phone when trying to match lost dogs/cats with owners, and this proved to be an impossible task. The SPCA staff was rude, unhelpful and indifferent to the animals we were trying to help, so there were many times we didn’t bother contacting them, and simply did things ourselves from the clinic. We occasionally took owner surrendered dogs and cats, when we were made aware of them, and begged owners not to take their pet to the SPCA. It was common knowledge within our clinic that the animals at Coquitlam SPCA were kept in horrible conditions and had a very high chance of being killed, so we simply re-homed them ourselves. While the staff at this clinic were sympathetic towards the animals at the Coquitlam SPCA, and some even volunteered as dog walkers on weekends, they spoke openly amongst themselves that they wouldn’t give money to the SPCA, and only gave blankets, dog toys and things the animals would directly benefit from. While working at this clinic, I saw numerous times when people had pets in need of expensive life-saving surgery and couldn’t afford it. Our vets were very accommodating and took personal items as collateral and allowed people to make no-interest payments until the surgery was paid in full. I don’t recall any instance where an animal was forced to wait or was put to sleep due to financial constraints.

Over the years I made complaints to the SPCA about various neglected animals, but I was always told there was nothing they could do. Then in the summer of 2000 my family took a day trip to Whonnock Lake Park. While visiting, we became aware of approximately 30 rabbits who were living along the edge of the park, but they did not appear to be wild and they allowed people to come very close to them. We were horrified to discover than many of these bunnies were mutilated with ripped, bleeding ears and noses, so we immediately phoned the Maple Ridge SPCA when we got home. I suspected that a human was doing this to the rabbits, due to the nature of their injuries and I told this to the SPCA. But the SPCA gave me several excuses as to why it wouldn’t do anything about these rabbits, including: Whonnock was not in their area, they didn’t handle wild animals, and no staff member was going to drive all the way out there to look. I explained that these bunnies were not wild, but appeared to be domestic ones that had been set free and were breeding in the park. It made no difference what I said, the SPCA would not help or offer any advice about the situation, their staff just told me to call a Conservation Officer. Of course when I called the Conservation Officer I was told the SPCA was supposed to handle my complaint. Round and round we go………………………

Several months after this rabbit incident, I discovered Animal Advocates Society when I saw their chained dog ad in my local paper. When I initially read their web site I was pretty alarmed at the incidents described about the SPCA, but based on my own experiences with them I was not really too surprised. Nonetheless, I didn’t know anything about AAS so I decided it would be prudent to ask people some questions about their own experiences with the BCSPCA, before jumping on any bandwagon. The results were shocking. During my spare time over several days, I went to a few public places in my local area, and asked people if they could share any experiences they’d had with the SPCA. Intentionally, I did not ask for bad experiences because I honestly wanted to hear the good stories too, and then I’d weigh everything and make my own decision as to whether I wanted to get involved with AAS or not. Without exception, every single person I spoke with got really angry and said something unflattering about the SPCA, most commonly about how some poor animal was suffering but when they called the SPCA to complain, nothing was done. Several times I prompted people and said there must be SOMETHING positive they could share about the SPCA, but none could. I even had staff from local pet stores tell me they refused to save left-over food for the local SPCA, and gave it instead to private rescues. The defining moment came for me when I was standing in a store line-up talking with a woman about her SPCA experience, and a man waiting behind me overheard our conversation. He said, “It’s about time somebody started asking questions and investigating the SPCA. I worked with them for a number of years and it was so corrupt you wouldn’t believe it. You keep going with this, you’re on the right track.” I asked him for his name but he replied, “I can’t get involved, I’m an RCMP officer now.”

On that day nearly five years ago, I made the decision that I would join Animal Advocates and others in the local animal welfare community, to help the BCSPCA reform into what everyone wanted and expected them to be. Honest, accountable and animal serving. For an entire year I was privy to the majority of correspondence that the public sent Animal Advocates regarding how the BCSPCA had failed them or an animal they knew, but it just made me more determined than ever to see change happen.

Then in 2001, due to public pressure, the SPCA announced its Community Consultation Process. I was so excited that things were going to change that despite all the questionable things I knew the SPCA had done for all these years, and despite all the horrors I’d heard about animal cruelty and suffering, I was still optimistic and willing to be a productive part of the reform process. I corresponded numerous times with then SPCA head office employee Cindy Soules, and we shared ideas about what direction the SPCA could go and how these changes needed to be brought to the attention of the Consultation Panel. I wrote a letter outlining some of my concerns and ideas, and gave it to then SPCA Community Relations Manager Stephen Huddart along with the Panel. I was excited when the process was over and the Panel echoed so many of the concerns I’d been hearing about, and I truly believed things would start to get better for the animals who were in the BCSPCA’s care. After all, why would it go to all the trouble of holding public meetings and gathering submissions and writing recommendations, if it had no intention of taking corrective action? But in the months that followed, it became clear to me that this entire process was merely a publicity stunt. Cindy Soules, who was very supportive of the changes and cared deeply for the animals, was fired by the BCSPCA. She had been in charge of getting a task force going between the SPCA and private rescue groups that would help maximize adoptions and get animals out of the SPCA more quickly, but after Cindy was fired the project died on the table and sat idle for the next few years. There was some letter writing on my part, where I tried desperately to get through to some of the SPCA Board Members, but it fell on deaf ears and I recall only one reply from one individual member who essentially told me that the CEO held all the power due to some new bylaws that were passed. All the while, I continued to get a daily dose of negative SPCA experiences as more people gathered the courage to come forward. This process of daily negative, compounded by an SPCA Executive who continued to ignore everyone’s concerns, and by an SPCA CEO who continued to carry on business as usual that was contrary to the Panel’s recommendations, became the consistent tone for the next three years. On top of all that, there seemed to be frequent negative media coverage about the SPCA, which served to constantly remind me that things had not changed. Then in June 2004 it all suddenly came to a head for me when Cheech, an innocent pup who’d never bitten anyone, was scheduled to die, and SPCA staff and volunteers were forced to steal him to save his life. When CTV News proved that Cheech was not dangerous and they proved the SPCA was lying about Cheech’s test results in front of the entire viewing audience, I completely lost it emotionally. Five years’ worth of frustration came out in an angry and tearful letter that I sent to the latest SPCA Board Members. The SPCA is now suing me for writing that letter. But what happened with the Cheech incident was simply beyond comprehension to me, and I felt like five years’ of time and energy that I’d spent away from my family and at huge personal sacrifice, was all for nothing.

Emma Vandewetering
Defendant
Port Moody