July 26, 2002

The Vancouver Sun
Letters to the Editor
1-200 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC
V6C 3N3

Dear Editor,
While it's good to news to hear that former rancher Mark Sudweeks has been convicted of animal abuse and has been adequately sentenced (Rancher Forbidden to Own Animals, July 23,2002), I think that the Vancouver Sun should have given more details about how the case came to the attention of the Crown Counsel in the first place.

Did the SPCA themselves take the initiative in bringing the case forward or did the RCMP do this after many frustrating, futile attempts to get the SPCA to act?

I hope that by excluding this information Nick Read isn't suggesting to your readers that the SPCA gets to take all the credit for rescuing so many neglected and damaged horses. Because the SPCA has such a well-documented history of not responding to phone calls and letters from concerned individuals about animal neglect and abuse, I think the Vancouver Sun has a duty to tell the full story.

If the SPCA did act on their own initiative, that's good news although as a compassionate society we should still ask why they took so long to rescue these animals. And if the SPCA acted mostly to quell public or law enforcement pressure, don't you think people have a right to know that as well?

Sincerely,

Jeri-Lyn Ratzlaff