Did any one see 20/20 tonight, about the SPCA..

[bckrazy]

Wolfsoul, I'm sorry... I really don't know much about the SPCA in Canda. I was just talking about my experience with the ASPCA, I volunteered for them for 2 years and have adopted 3 animals from them. In the U.S., I consider it *way* better than 99% of animal control/city shelters (our ASPCA never euthanizes), and they would never breed dogs. That's just my experience with it...

[DogLover9501]

Originally posted by bckrazy
Wolfsoul, I'm sorry... I really don't know much about the SPCA in Canda. I was just talking about my experience with the ASPCA, I volunteered for them for 2 years and have adopted 3 animals from them. In the U.S., I consider it *way* better than 99% of animal control/city shelters (our ASPCA never euthanizes), and they would never breed dogs. That's just my experience with it...

I just wanted to point out that it's not all of Canada, as I love our SPCA

[aly]

I'm sure there are bad SPCAs and good ones, just like anything else. The point I was trying to make earlier was that there are far more GOOD SPCAs (at least in the US) and it seems like the show was going out of its way to highlight some negatives, which I'm not even believing to be true.

If someone wants to make a huge profit, the shelter business is not the way to go. Even if they did make a *small* profit on the purebreds because they only kept them a week, the profit that they did make is not near enough to cover their costs for all the other animals that they lose money on. Adoption fees never cover the complete care that the animals receive.

I have to agree with bckrazy, its SICK SICK SICK that the show supported BYBers and puppy mills. Even if you call yourself a sanctuary or a rescue, I don't think that should give immunity to having the animals taken away due to neglect. A lot of the excuses those people were using was they were "overwhelmed" and couldn't care for the animals at that point. Well, when people get overwhelmed, is that an excuse to stop feeding or paying attention to their children? They'd be snatched up by the CPA so fast. I don't think animals are any different.

(I've worked for 2 different SPCAs and have dealt with many others, including some in different states like CA, MI, and CO, and they've all been wonderful)

[bckrazy]

I *completely* agree with Aly... especially about "sanctuaries". Recently, our ASPCA found a "sanctuary" in a small local house, the woman claimed she fostered and rescued dogs, but they were all filthy, starved, and breeding. She was more of a collector than a savior ... maybe her intentions were good at first, but its completely wrong to go on like that if you know you cannot take care of 40 dogs. I'm really glad that there are good people out there that can save some of these pups.

eww... I really think 20/20 is just desperately trying to find some "scandal" to uncover.

I totally agree with Aly about ASPCA's too... all of the ASPCA's I've seen have been unbelievably awesome!! The dogs are all kept in huge rooms, with at least one big bed and a bunch of toys and kongs and hours or playtime everyday in a large yard. They even have simulated living rooms, with couches and chairs, where 3-4 dogs hang out and people get to meet them. The cat rooms are awesome, even though they have 100+ cats at any time, each gets their own room with cat trees, slats to climb for exercise and totally clean boxes. Plus they have at least 5 "cat colonies" for a small group of cat-friendly cats, which are huge rooms with tons of toys, tunnels, and cat trees. They don't euthanize anyone, socialize and evaluate temperaments, go everywhere they can to hold adoption seminars, etc. And I can't say I believe they make very much money at all. I personally know that an officer for the ASPCA makes $50,000 per year, tops. And that is nothing for California