The B.C. SPCA does a fantastic job of rehabilitating and uniting abused or neglected animals with pet owners who will love them.
The Nanaimo SPCA branch is closed under quarantine to deal with multiple ringworm infections in animals under SPCA care. This is a surprise expense the branch has no budget to deal with.
It has an annual budget of approximately $700,000 and is expected to pay for special SPCA constables who investigate allegations of animal abuse and neglect.
So far this year, the Nanaimo SPCA constable has investigated more than 1,000 allegations of animal abuse or neglect. That's expensive, but so is waiting to testify in court. The SPCA has no choice. By provincial mandate, it must investigate these allegations, yet SPCA branches must rely on private donations.
This begs the question that if the province is forcing the SPCA to investigate allegations of animal abuse or neglect, why isn't it helping the organization by funding these numerous allegations?
Nobody can deny the SPCA provides a needed service to people. Just ask anyone who has loved a pet they or their parents retrieved from an SPCA shelter.
The organization is mandated to work with the provincial government when it comes to investigations of animal cruelty or neglect, but the province refuses to pay for the constables needed to investigate these claims.
There's a reason the government mandates local SPCAs to investigate animal-abuse allegations. There's no reason it can't help pay for it.
