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This Week Apal-4, 1990.- Page lV

TOP STORY _

* 11 years of life are

DISPOSABLE |
COMPANIONS

he Victoria SPCA staff call it

“body day.” It’s the day when

the cooler is full, and the cat,

=. dog and other carcasses are

tossed into a truck for the journey

north to Duncan. There, the bodies

are burned in the Koksilah Road
incinerator.

It’s a day nobody likes — even the
incinerator staff want the carcasses
well covered — but that doesn’t stop it
from arriving about once a week,
often twice a week in the summer.
Despite significant strides in reducing
this grim annual statistic, the local
branch of the British Columbia Socie-
ty for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals still puts

executive director Lynn West says.

‘This dog demands too much attention.’ ~

But dogs are hike that. Dogs are very
social, theyre pack animals. And they
look to their humans as the leaders of
the pack. They want that-attention,
they thrive on it.”

Dogs have a 60 per cent chance of
life after the SPCA — 2,293 came
through the shelter’s doors last year,
and 916 of them headed north in.
green garbage bags.

The large majority of those that
died, 742, were brought in for euthan-
asia. But only about 10 per cent of
those were old or sick. Most were no
longer wanted and were unadoptable.

Of the 476 dogs slated for adoption,
however, the SPCA was successful
440 times.

Of the 1,075 strays brought in, 740
made it home. Another 197 were
adopted. The remaining 138 strays
spent at least 96 hours in the shelter
before ending up in the cooler, where
they were stored at 38 degrees F until
body day.

Stray cats don’t fare nearly as well.
“Is an attitude problem more than
anything,” says Lynn West (she and
Rick are married). “There doesn’t
seem to be the same kind of responsi-
bility towards cats as there is towards
dogs.” :

down some 50 tons
of animals a year.
Most are unwanted
cats and dogs.
Seventy pounds of
1990’s total will be
Buddy, a black lab
brought in for eu-
thanasia because his

getting the best of
him. “You don’t mind
as much when

for it,” says chief in-
spector Rick West
from a small room at
the back of the
SPCA kennels. In
this room are the
cooler, a cabinet for
gassing small ani-
mals, and even a se-
cond freezer for pre-
serving small wild
animal carcasses for
people who need
specimens . “It's bet-
ter than them going
out and killing
them,” West says.
Buddy's brown
eyes are watery; he’s
been. tranquilized,
but even so West and
kennelmaster Bull
Frost wrap a strap

People spend more money on their
dogs. They are more likely to spay or
neuter their dogs, more likely to get
them shots, more likely to get them
medical attention, even more likely to

check the shelter when they go miss-

ing.

And the SPCA is often where pet
cats will die. “The last thing you do
before you go to bed is throw the cat
out,” West says. The cat gets in the
habit of wandering for two or three
days, then coming home.

“So people don’t start to worry
about it for five days. But by that time
it’s too late. The cat’s probably been in
here and served its time, and it’s
gone.” :

Of the 3,256 that
served time in 1989,
nearly two thirds
were put down.
Strays accounted for
1,361 of the cats the
SPCA handled. A
mere 12 per cent,
172 of them, were
claimed by owners.
The adoption pro-
gram found homes
for 213 of the strays,
and 976 strays were
put down.

were euthanized,
779 of those brought
-in by owners for eu-
thanasia. As with
dogs, only about 10
per cent of those
were old or sick.
Miles Drew, chief
bylaw enforcement

tal Regional District,
concurs that cat ow-
ners are less respon-
sible than dog ow-
ners. In 1989 the

CRD impounded 731
dogs, and 50 to 60
per cent were
claimed by owners.
Drew estimates
about half of the un-

around his muzzle.
It’s one of the things West hates about
putting dogs down: they seem to know
what’s happening. “They can really
put up a fight.”

It isn’t so with Buddy. Although a

. little confused, he’s almost placid as

his handlers prepare him for the
needle.

He’s a dog someone loved and cared
for. But many of the animals that
meet their fate at the SPCA haven't
had such charmed lives. They are the
disposable pets. They are strays no
one claims, or they are cats that shed,
or they are dogs that commit the
capital sins of growing up or needing
attention.

“We get a lot of that,” VictoriaSPCA —

gives SPCA executive di-
rector Lynn West a friend-
ly sniff Gop), but a little
less content with his situ-
ation is a yowling Ger-
man shepherd cross.
They re just a small sam-
pling of the thousands of
animals a year the SPCA
handles, from injured
wildlife to stray mutts.

Story and photos
by George Lee

A LOP-EARED rabbit.

claimed dogs are put
down.
_ The claim rate with cats is “a
different story,” Drew says. “We have,
unfortunately, the same poor success
at reuniting cats with their owners as

the SPCA does.” Cats are lumped into.

the “other animals” category, but they
accounted for most of the 689 other
animals in 1989. They, like all the
animals the CRD rounds up, are
impounded at a private kennel under
contract.

The euthanasia rate is higher for
cats largely because, Drew says, most
people won’t even bother putting
identification tags on their cats. Also,

Continued on Page 14

In all, 2,050 cats

officer for the Capi--

Bit EE A RUNES ee aN TR:

FRONT PAGE: Giving the lens the old sad-eye treatment. collie cross Lad or Duke
(he’s been called both names) shows off his home — and seems to be asking if
there’s any other accommodation out there. It tums out there was. But many
others arent as lucky.

Photo by Danny Riedlhuber

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