At 7:19 this morning [May 2] I received a phone call from a woman named Joyce who delivers the Globe & Mail in Vernon. At 4 a.m. she'd found a horribly injured cat lying in a pool of blood. One eye was hanging from its socket, the jaw was very obviously shattered but he was conscious and yowling pitiously. She wrapped him in a blanket, placed him in her vehicle and called the Vernon SPCA. The SPCA staff member upbraided Joyce for getting her out of bed and refused to do anything to help until 8 a.m. Unfortunately, the SPCA staffer did not take the time to tell Joyce that she could get through to a vet clinic in an emergency like this, so, not knowing what to do, Joyce put the poor fellow in her car while she did the rest of her deliveries. When she dropped papers at Hunter's Store the manager told her to call The Vernon & District Animal Care Society. I rushed the cat to the Vernon Veterinary Clinic where he was sedated and x-rayed. Sadly, Dr. Herbert Mehl phoned me at 10:44 to recommend that the cat be euthanised.

What a way for the SPCA to celebrate the first day of Be Kind To Animals Month!