Build a better future for animals and their guardians

Advocating For Provincial Government Animal Policing in BC

On July 14, 2019, the Ontario Superior court declared that the Ontario government had a year to re-write the legislation governing the Ontario SPCA. The animal cruelty legislation is simillar in British Columbia.

Justice Timothy Minnema observed that some sections were not compliant with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He noted 21 sections of the OSPCA Act that are “of no force and effect” and suggested that the act might have to be re-written from scratch.

The SPCA legislation in British Columbia is similarly ineffective because the legislation provides no rights or protection for the animai guardians despite the fact that under the laws of British Columbia their animals are their "property." The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals Act in British Columbia (PCA Act) has through a succession of revisions stripped the animal guardian of any rights or protection, ensured that the BC SPCA animal enforcement unit "can do no wrong" and pushed an already financially stuggling BC population further into debt with animal seizure expenses.

Poor little animal guardian and their pets have become puppets and pawns in the hands of the BC SPCA animal policing. Even those with veterinarians are helpless against a determined BC SPCA animal enforcement officer who is quick to hire an independent vet to differ with another colleague in the profession.

No legislation to protect animal custodians in BC

There is no legislation which provides protection or rights for animal guardians to counter the loose language of the PCA Act. Since the PCA Act was written for the BC SPCA it confers laws and unlimited protections on the animal police enforcement section. This has resulted in the BC SPCA animal enforcement officers using hired veterinarians to override the animal guardian's treating vet in order to seize animals.

A recent BC SPCA animal seizure and euthanization of animal claim in point

Recently the BC SPCA was also successful in the BC Supreme court maintaining that the Society did not have to follow review or appeal procedures under the PCA Act if they killed the seized animal. The case was interesting in that a recently graduated veterinarian, Dr. Jane Westendorf, reported to the BC SPCA that an animal was in distress sight unseen. Her employer, a licensed and noted equine specialist was the animal's treating veterinarian and was unaware of Dr. Westendorf's BC SPCA actions.

The animal (a miniature pony) was investigated as a result of Dr. Westendorf's complaint while in the care of a medical team consisting of three equine experts (two consulted equine veterinary surgeons and the equine specialist, Dr. Westendorf's employer). The BC SPCA investigating officer was determined to seize the animal and hired an independent vet, Dr. Gilliland (a past intern of Burwash Equine Services), who had the animal transported to the BC SPCA barn and killed the animal while refusing to confer with the animal's treating veterinarian specialist. Dr. Gilliland and Dr. Westerdorf had become friends in the veterinary college which they had both attended. Although Dr. Gilliland is required to let the animal's treating veterinarian also examine the animal's corpse she also refused that request by the animal's treating veterinarian.

The BC SPCA maintained in the Supreme court claim that since the animal was seized and killed the PCA Act review and appeal provisions were 'moot'. The presiding judge agreed. This is a classic case demonstrating how the BC SPCA behaves and the lengths that they will go to to use public donations and government grants to fight self-represented animal guardians.

Dr. Westendorf and Dr. Gilliland were also both hired by the BC SPCA in another investigation involving two horses and their distraught owner was never returned the beloved animals again although she tried relentlessly to comply and pacify the BC SPCA enforcement officers.

Since the BC SPCA does not abide by the Freedom Of Privacy and Information Act (unlike the RCMP) there is no method in which animal guardians can obtain the investigation information which led to their pets being euthanized unless starting provincial or supreme court action.

Goodbye to family, goodbye.

Who runs the BC SPCA animal enforcement unit?

Marcie Moriarity is a lawyer with no prior animal policing education or administration/management experience prior to being hired by the BC SPCA in 2005 as the animal cruelty investigations general manager. Since 2012 Ms. Moriarity is currently the head of the BC SPCA’s Chief Protection and Outreach Services leading a department that combines cruelty investigations, outreach programs, science and policy and government relations.

Working in Ms. Moriarity's department is a wife and husband team, Eileen Drever Eccles and Sean Eccles, both respectively employed as the Senior Officer of Protection and Stakeholders Relations, and the Director, Animal Protection Services. Neither had any policing work experience prior to being hired by the BC SPCA. The wife and husband team oversee 30 full time BC SPCA constables who, like Eileen and Shawn, have more police powers than the RCMP in that they police human beings and animals under the BC Police Act and the PCA Act. No one is required to attend police academy training which is standard with police officers in Canada. The BC SPCA enforcement officers also decide to prosecute animal guardians in both the animal appeals Tribunal and the provincial court under the Criminal Code Of Canada where animal guardians may be subject to a fine of up to $75,000.00 and two years of imprisonment.

In comparison, an RCMP officer has completed a three to six month police training program. The training includes applied police sciences, handling and use of firearms, defensive training, police driving, and physical fitness. Once accepted as a cadet, there is an extensive 26 week training program at the RCMP Academy in Regina, Saskatchewan to become an RCMP officer.

Ordinary British Columbians are subject to the actions and conduct of the BC SPCA enforcement officers with no protections and no rights. Complainants do not have to identify who they are and one complaint can easily lead to a warrant being issued electronically and entry into a guardian's home by a BC SPCA officer. From thereon the animal(s) face seizure and the animal guardian the BC SPCA costs (without a say in anything or knowledge of what the animal is experiencing or put through), criminal court where guardians end up in prison or more debt in fines, or the Tribunal that relies on enforcing the PCA Act which only serves the BC SPCA actions and conduct, or both.

Since there is no legislation to protect animal guardians the majority of animal seizures end in trauma, seperation, fright and grief for the animals and their families. The animals are the innocent victims who are removed from their loved ones and either killed or re-sold for profit if they are not returned at very high costs to the already struggling animal guardian to meet basic necessities in a province that is increasingly expensive to live in and is short of accommodation.

The solution is simple.

The BC SPCA is a registered charity and its endeavours must be charitable in nature. Policing and charity are direct opposites.

In Ontario, animal enforcement has been turned over to the provincial government which in itself leads to accountability and transparency. The Ontario government has well-trained inspectors who conduct investigations. The aim is to keep wanted animals with their families and loved ones.

British Columbia would benefit greatly from including animal enforcement provincially for similar reasons of accountability and transparency. The BC SPGA also promotes the inclusion of legislation that protects animal guardians who want to keep their pets and animals by requiring in part that the BC SPCA acts charitably with assistance such as vet treatment and education to financially struggling guardians so that their animals can remain with them.

The same arrangement is working well in Ontario where the OSPCA is now free to use its charitable resources for the exclusive betterment of animals and not to prosecute the animal guardian public in various courts.

The BC SPCA has profited spectacularly with its animal enforcement tactics. Seized animals are exploited and used to manipulate the public into thinking that the BC SPCA need their donations to care for the animals when in fact the PCA Act ensures that the animal's guardian is responsible for all of the costs whether the animal is returned, or sold for more profit or euthanized. This has led to the $104 million surplus sitting in the BC SPCA's funding reserves instead of being used to care for animals who are in a crisis in British Columbia.

The BC SPCA had accumulated a huge surplus of over $86 million according to its 2022 fiscal year statements by soliciting the public for donations claiming that the donations would be used for the care of animals and the surplus grew to over $100 million according to its fiscal year 2023 financial statements.

The BC SPCA does not have to be responsible to anyone and therein lies part of the problem. There is no independent oversight of any of its conduct or actions on the public or on animals. Self-policing is a dangerous undertaking when enforced on the public.

Fight For Justice for animals and their guardians

The laws have forsaken the importance of animals and their loved ones being together. Animals are routinely seized and many will never see their loved ones again.

The British Columbia Farm Industry Review Board (BCFIRB) reviews BC SPCA animal seizures if the animals haven't been killed by the BC SPCA when they were seized. Our research from the years 2020 to 2023 shows that over 80% of the tribunal hearings ruled that the BC SPCA keep the animals for either their destruction or sale. As per the existing laws, the BCFIRB Tribunal awards the costs to the BC SPCA.

The BCFIRB appeals tribunal does little more than enforce the BC SPCA's actions and conduct operating like a 2nd tier of policing because the Tribunal has to enforce the legislation written for the BC SPCA animal enforcers.

RCMP officers who accompany BC SPCA officers are used by the BC SPCA against the animal guardian in tribunal and court hearings although the RCMP officers intended purpose was to "keep the peace".

The conduct of the animal guardian who may be screaming in grief or trying to stop the seizure of the animal during an animal seizure has no bearing under the laws that govern animal cruelty seizures. Having RCMP officers testify for the BC SPCA in animal seizure legal proceedings against the guardian is a potential and unnecessary misuse of public funds and may unfairly sway the presiding adjudicators.

RCMP officers, who are present on the guardian's property or home to 'keep the peace' are used to testify against animal guardians by the BC SPCA in their animal investigation proceedings suggesting a further misuse of public spending and an unfair advantage in animal seizure proceedings against the guardian?

Animal guardians are the loosers and so are their pets

The vast majority of Tribunal and Court hearings are not about those who run puppy mills or do the unthinkable to animals. The hearings involve ordinary BCers or rescues that the BC SPCA have raided and blamed for the condition of their surrendered animals. Ordinary animal guardians are outnumbered in hearings and courts by people who are hired to be witnesses by the BC SPCA.

Tribunal members are swayed overwhelmingly by the people on the BC SPCA's payroll which include veterinarians, animal constables, haulers and lawyers. In comparison, the animal guardian and their animal(s) have none of the financial resources accessible to the BC SPCA to hire a multitude of people and professionals. Many guardians cannot even afford a lawyer and the PRO BONO legal services are not available to them for the animal's return in tribunal hearings while the BC SPCA always has legal representation.

The guardian's animal is a by-product who will in the great majority of cases never see their animal and human families again. Even in hearings where a Tribunal member observes that the animal guardian "loves" and "cares" about the animal(s), the BC SPCA's entourage ensures that the animal is not returned to the guardian in almost all of the legal forums.

"I can tell you from nearly fifty years of rescuing animals that an abuser does not fight for the return of an animal in any forum. An abuser moves on to the next animal. So a lot of what you see in the BCFIRB tribunal, Supreme Court or Criminal court are not the real animal abusers or criminals, they are guardians who are willing to loose everything just for the return of their beloved animals, an outcome which is historically and statistically a rarity."
Felicia Allen, Animal Rescuer and Activist

Ordinary BCers who do not have a history of criminality are treated the same way under the law as those who do the unthinkable to animals or run animal mills. The BC SPCA can file with both the Tribunal to keep animals and get their costs and the courts for criminal charges (by refering the guardian's file to a crown prosecutor). There are extremely few claims of severe animal abuse and many claims that are prosecuted on ignorant or financially struggling animal guardians who could have kept their wanted animals with assistance such as veterinary treatments for their animals or education on animal care.

Statistically, guardians who have legal representation rarely beats the odds of permanently loosing the wanted animals to the BC SPCA. Courts and Tribunals have not defined the best interests of a wanted animal as being with its loved ones because there are no laws that can be referred to for guardians and animal cruelty laws advocate the loss of the animals for the guardian. The wanted animals irrevocably suffer for it as do their helpless guardians.

We haven't seen one outcome of a tribunal or court hearing where the BC SPCA was ordered to use their abundant resources to help the animal guardian keep and care for their pet.
BC SPGA

If the tribunal and courts are going to consider animal custodies fairly there must also be legislation that protects the rights of the animal guardian that the adjudicators can refer to. The only laws that exist are loose and subjective favoring the BC SPCA.

"We doubt very much that if animals did have a say, that they would agree to be seperated from their loved ones forever. We doubt that the animals would agree to have their lives ended. We doubt that the animals would agree to be kept like prisoners in cages until sold like slaves to somebody else. BC SPGA

Loosing a wanted pet to the BC SPCA is too costly for the average BC household

Having an animal with animal policing as it exists in British Columbia means that an animal guardian can loose everything including their assets, car, boat, or savings to the BC SPCA when trying to fight for the return of their pet(s). Since the animals are almost never returned to their guardian the BC SPCA also legally places lien(s) on property to get their costs.

"Unfortunately, even animal guardians who are successful in any legal forum are burdened with such huge costs that they simply cannot manage to pay the costs required upfront to be paid to the BC SPCA for the return of their animals. The average Tribunal and Court costs easily run in the many thousands of dollars. As a result the BC SPCA keep the animals to either destroy them or sell them to strangers. The BC SPCA benefit from laws that enable them to collect all their costs which includes placing a lien on an animal guardian's property and seizing the animal guardians assets."

The loved ones are left with lasting trauma, depression, deep debt and are forever seperated from their wanted furry family members.

Wanted and Seized Animals Have No Rights

There is no fairness for the animal guardian and their poor animals are the biggest victims as they have no say and are cruelly taken from their famillies to be sold or may face imminent death by the BC SPCA. The animals are traumatized by the seperation from their loving and caring families for life.

Are public donations intended for animal care used instead against animal guardians?

If a corporation had solicited the public for millions of dollars of donations for a specified purpose and placed those funds into reserves instead on such a large scale by misrepresenting a need where there was none it is likely the funds would have to be returned back to the public.

"You have a very moneyed goliath using public donations obtained with assurances that the funds will be used for the care of animals. Are your donations used for fighting animal guardians which may be yourself one day or for the care of animals? Considering animal guardians pay the costs whether their seized animals are returned or not, the public's donations are certainly being tucked away into funding reserves which grew to a $104 million surplus as of September, 2023.
Let's face it, $104 million or even half of that could have saved a lot of animals and kept them in the arms of people who love them." .
BC SPGA

If the BC SPCA return the seized animals to their guardians they can continue the intrusion into the animal guardian's life with Agreements that include terms that may infringe on privacy laws or charter rights. The lack of oversight is incredible for an organization that polices itself.

In 2024 the BC SPCA had no shame in accepting $12 million from the provincial government's public purse although its most recent financial audited statements showed a surplus of over $86 million and the BC public were struggling with the basic necessities such as food and transporation and a crisis situation in housing.

The BC SPGA advocates that the smaller no-kill rescues and sanctuaries deserve the public's donations. Some of these serve as dumping grounds for seized animals to spare the BC SPCA the cost of the animals ongoing care. We are hearing more and more from donors that they want to to fund organizations that place animals wellbeing as their priority.
BC SPGA

The BC SPGA has a list of no-kill rescues and sanctuaries who need the BC public's support to continue with their fine care of animals and tireless work to re-home many to forever, loving people.