1998
Letter to the Vancouver SPCA CEO
I am very passionate about promoting the proper of animals and every day I fight for a better understanding of our irreplaceable animal companions, in the hope that one day they may receive the respect they deserve. An animal in need will receive the same attention and care from me as would a human being. No matter how different they are in appearance and behavior, they are as alive as much as we are, and it doesn’t take much to see and respect that! At first the SPCA seemed like a wonderful opportunity for me: I could reach the public and help make a difference alongside all the others fighting for animal rights and help to strengthen the bond between human and animal.
Working for six months as a volunteer in cat adoptions at the Vancouver SPCA has given me a very different picture, however. To me this branch was a factory for the collection, distribution and euthanasia of animals. The term “Auschwitz for animals” is commonly used by volunteers and staff to describe the SPCA. People are filled with sadness, depression, frustration, helplessness, and anger; feeling unappreciated, and burned out …myself included perhaps, by writing this letter I can make a difference after all.
My involvement with the Vancouver SPCA has to some extent included my husband. Although he has not volunteered as an adoptions councilor, he has met with several members of the staff and has “stuck around” on several occasions. He has also been my sympathetic ear when I return from a day at adoptions which has left him just as frustrated as I.
Neither of us approve of making a complaint without providing a possible solution to the problem. Most of the problems we have both seen at the Vancouver SPCA require a fundamental change in the attitude with respect to the current procedures. The required course of action may not always be an easy one, but “taking a stand” is essential.
Attached please find a list of problems we have encountered and their possible solutions. These comprise things that have been observed by ourselves, other volunteers, and patrons. As the list will outline some of these issues are appalling. We feel we can not continue to work in an environment where such things make the performance of one’s duties impossible to accomplish.
One begins to wonder if healthy animals are better off staying on the street than being assigned to the shelter.
I, at least can not continue to work for an organization that can not even meet its own code of Ethics.
Mistreatment and/or neglect of animals by humans is rooted by a fundamental lack of respect for the animal in question. The SPCA should be the leading example for the public of proper animal care, both in word and in deed. The Vancouver SPCA has completely failed in this regard.