What to do and what happens with SPCA Animal Cruelty Investigations
Anyone can phone the BC SPCA and make a complaint about your animal(s). The caller does not have to provide their name. All complaints are investigated by a BC SPCA special provincial officer who will show up at your home or business unannounced and ask to come in.
Access
When a SPCA officer shows up, you are required to cooperate with any request that is made for the officer to have entry to your property, home and to inspect your animal(s).
If you choose not to cooperate, the Officer may then apply for a warrant.
If access is not possible (ie. you are not home), a Notice will be taped to a door or gate requesting that you contact the BC SPCA officer. Should someone see the Notice there is nothing to stop them from removing it so you wont know that an officer came by.
Search Warrant
There are three situations where a SPCA officer can apply for a search warrant:
- There was no response to a Notice that was posted somewhere on your property/home/business
- Entry was refused and an examination of your animal(s) was denied on your property/home/business
- The officer believes that your animal(s) are in 'critical' distress (no Notice is required to be provided to you then)
Warrants are easily obtained requiring no more than what a SPCA officer chooses to write in a Report that is submitted to a Judge electronically and is then issued. You have no rights to dispute or to know what has been written to obtain the warrant.
Equipped with the warrant, the BC SPCA officer can now enter the premises legally and may be accompanied by RCMP officers or others.
Distress
Distress is defined in the Definitions section 1(1) of the Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals Act:
An animal is in distress if it is
- (a)deprived of adequate food, water, shelter, ventilation, light, space, exercise, care or veterinary treatment,
- (a.1)kept in conditions that are unsanitary,
- (a.2)not protected from excessive heat or cold,
- (b)injured, sick, in pain or suffering, or
- (c)abused or neglected.
An animal in critical distress is defined in section 14(1) of the Act as:
14 (1)In this section, "critical distress" means distress in an animal of such a nature that
- (a)immediate veterinary treatment cannot prolong the animal's life,
- (b)prolonging the animal's life would result in the animal suffering unduly, or
- (c)immediate veterinary intervention is necessary to prevent the imminent death of the animal.
Investigation actions
Depending on what the SPCA officer decides, and the information that you provide, you may either be
- issued with instructions necessary in the opinion of the officer to relieve your animal of distress and expected to comply within a prescribed period of time
- your pet or animals may be seized
- the SPCA officer finds no animal in distress or abandonment which ends the investigation
The BC SPCA cannot remove animals from private property without a search warrant unless those animals would not survive without immediate medical intervention.
Animal And Pet Seizure
An SPCA officer may choose to seize your pet(s) or animal(s). Should you try to interfere with a seizure, the RCMP can put you in handcuffs and even charge you with obstruction. Animals can be seized whether you are in attendance or not.
The animal(s) will be taken to a location which will not be disclosed to you. You will have no visitation rights. You will not know how your animal is treated, being fed or even taken care of. The animal will then be examined (if that hasn't been done already) by a veterinarian hired by the BC SPCA. Treatment, if needed, may be done accordingly. If the animal is determined to be in 'critical distress' after a veterinary examination the animal can be euthanized.
Guardian Recourse (Reviews and Appeals)
Depending on what the BC SPCA officer decides, you may either be charged under section 24(1) of the Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals Act which is very serious and can land you a fine up to $75.000.00 and up to 2 years in jail, as well as a justice may, in addition to any other penalty that may be imposed for the offence, prohibit you from owning or having custody or control of an animal for a period of time specified by the justice.
If you receive a Summons to appeal in the provincial court, you may have to hire a lawyer or you may qualify for Pro Bono services.
A BC SPCA officer can choose to issue you with a Notice Of Disposition under section 10.1 or 11 of the Act. You can request a review of the animal custody seizure to the BC SPCA (the information will be on the Notice Of Disposition the BC SPCA officer gives to you) and appeal the Review outcome to the BCFIRB Tribunal if you don't agree.
Appeals:
- Appeal a BC SPCA review that you don't agree with to the BC Farm Industry Review Board (BCFIRB) Tribunal
- Appeal directly to the B.C. Supreme Court (in some situations)
- Appeal a decision of BCFIRB (called a judicial review) to the B.C. Supreme court if the Tribunal decided against you
- Appeal a judgment from the B.C. Supreme court to the B.C. Court Of Appeal (with permission of a judge)
Below is a brief description of the above review and appeal processes. All of the appeal processes above involve additional costs.
BC SPCA review
If your animal(s) is still alive you can request a review in writing within 14 days to dispute the seizure. The Chief Prevention and Enforcement Officer, Marcie Moriarity (a lawyer by profession) who is Head of the BC SPCA Prevention and Enforcement Department will provide you with a letter in response that will include the number of days (ie 7 days) that you will have to make your submission. You may also receive some or all of the materials that the BC SPCA determines are relevant which may not include all the evidence or documents in the BC SPCA's possession to the BC SPCA seizure of your animal(s).
Your submission with your reasons for disputing the seizure can include documents, photos, vet treatment(s) information and any evidence that you believe is relevant (ie statements from witnesses and friends, photographs, videos, etc).
There can be lawyers and an administrator as well as other staff working for the BC SPCA on the review. Unlike most pet owners, the BC SPCA know that any review or materials could be subject to legal action or consideration and they prepare accordingly while the pet owner has often no idea what lies ahead
Marcie Moriarity will have 28 days to provide you with a letter of her reasons to keep your animal(s) or to return the animal(s) to you. If the animal(s) are returned to you, you may have to agree to sign an Agreement (see an example of a redacted BC SPCA Agreement) which is a contract written solely by the BC SPCA (usually Marcie Moriarity due her legal knowledge and sometimes with another lawyer, Andrea Greenwood) that outlines specific care/other conditions that must be done moving forward. You will have no opportunity to have input in the Agreement provided to you and no independent authority reviews the terms of the Agreement. The Agreement, if you sign, becomes effective after you pay the costs that the BC SPCA determines have to be paid to the Society. If you cannot afford the costs upfront you can dispute them by filing an appeal with the BC Farm Industry Review Board (see below). The BC SPCA will likely make follow up visits on their terms to ensure compliance. The animal(s) may be seized again if compliance is not being met causing you more extensive and expensive overlay of costs once again.
If the decision is to return your pet to you and you can't afford to pay the required costs, the pet will be theirs unless you appeal the costs to the BC Farm Industry Review Board (BCFIRB) and are successful on appeal. During the many days that pass you will incur even higher costs before the BCFIRB Tribunal has considered the matter on an appeal hearing.You will be responsible for the costs that the BC SPCA requires to you to pay and those costs are usually in the thousands of dollars whether a BC SPCA seized animal(s) is returned to you or not.
If you can't afford to pay the costs upfront, your animal(s) will not be returned to you and the BC SPCA can initiate action to collect the money that you owe by any lawful means and thereby take possession of items like for example your car, boat, putting a lien on your property, etc.
BC Farm Industry Review Board (BCFIRB) Animal Custody Appeals
If the animal(s) are not returned to you and if you disagree with the BC SPCA for taking your animals because of distress or abandonment, you can file an appeal with the BC Farm Industry Review Board (BCFIRB).
The BCFIRB hears appeals about certain animal custody and related cost decisions of the BC SPCA:
- I asked the BC SPCA to return my animal(s). The BC SPCA told me they will not return my animal(s).
- I asked the BC SPCA to return my animal(s). The BC SPCA has not replied.
- I don’t agree with the amount of money the BC SPCA told me I must pay.
Appeals must be made in writing and include a filing fee. Both must be received by BCFIRB within a specified deadline or you will lose your right to appeal.
Be sure to check the BCFIRB web site for important deadline information.
You can read some BCFIRB appeal outcomes before deciding on next steps.
Read more about BCFIRB on our web site including a brief summary of outcomes from BCFIRB animal custody appeals.
Supreme Court Judicial Review of BCFIRB Appeal Decisions
If the BCFIRB panel did not decide in your favor, you can file for a Judicial Review in the BC Supreme Court. This includes both decisions that come after hearings, and decisions to summarily dismiss appeals without a hearing. To start a judicial review of a BCFIRB appeal decision, you need to file a petition (a court form) and a fee with the B.C. Supreme Court within sixty (60) days of a BC FIRB panel decision. On the petition you have to show that BCFIRB:
- made unreasonable findings of fact or law or exercise of discretion;
- acted in a procedurally unfair manner; or
- made an incorrect jurisdictional decision.
B.C. Court Of Appeal
If you wish to appeal a decision of the B.C. Supreme Court, you can appeal to the Court of Appeal if you are granted permission from a justice of the Court of Appeal.
You can read some B.C. Supreme Court and B.C. Court Of Appeal judgments (outcomes) on Canlii.org (a search under British Columbia with search terms such as "SPCA" or "Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals") before deciding on next steps.
At any stage of any of the above appeal processes (BC SPCA review, BCFIRB appeal, Supreme Court or Court Of Appeal) you can hire a lawyer to represent you at your own cost.
Now that you know the processes described in brief above, you can find out how the BC SPGA is advocating BC SPCA reform in support of animal and pet guardians.
Georgia Baker Reply
All of the BC SPCA claims are far-fetched and exxagerated because of the money they stand to gain from taking a pet. They already know that the indidual or family can't afford to buy the pet back who has a few extra thousand dollars to spare these days?? It's a business that only cares about the bottom line. They kill animals that they can't resell because they don't want to pay to keep a special needs pet alive. The healthy animals they keep so they can make money selling them and they need the animals to fill their cages. It's a corruupt place.