SPCA receives slight reprieve

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The City has given the SPCA a slight reprieve for Christmas after announcing last week their animal control contract would end on December 31st.

Leon Davis, BC SPCA’s regional manager for Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast, said the uncertainty of the situation means decisions around their 10 paid staff members and 50 volunteers hasn’t been made yet.

“It’s not a discussion that we’ve had yet because we still aren’t sure if the city will want us to continue on a month to month basis,” he said. “At the moment we’re assuming that they are not, but we’re here if they want to talk about it. For animal control officer staffing it’s not something that we’ve actually started looking at or talking about yet until we have firm direction on what the city is going to do.”

The city announced on Friday the contract for animal bylaw services would be cancelled after the SPCA refused to accept a 52% decrease in funding from $157,000 to $75,000 a year.

Then late yesterday, the city informed the SPCA it would continue their contract for another month as they set up an RFP process for open bidding to deal with stray animals, dangerous dogs, and licencing.

The SPCA would maintain the shelter, accepting animals being surrendered and investigating animal abuse complaints.