Letter to the editor

A7

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Speak Up

The SPCA shelter door opens many times during the day for variety of reasons. People come to adopt a pet, or bring in donations of pet food and many other things. They stop in to spend time playing with cats or walking the dogs. They come to volunteer time helping with the endless tasks. And sometimes they bring in an abandoned animal and surrender it responsibly because they believe in doing the right thing.

But there's one thing the shelter door never opens for, and that's kitten dumping. Those are the people we never see — people too irresponsible to have their own cat spayed, people who decide it's okay to toss their cat's babies into a box and toss them in the parking lot at the shelter when no one is looking.

As a volunteer at the SPCA, it always gives me a sinking feeling to see one of those boxes. Not only because it means more kittens in an already crowded shelter, but because I know that whoever did it probably doesn't think what they did was really that bad. They might even believe they did a good thing making sure the kittens would be taken care of. And I'd really like to be able to tell them the truth.

The first truth is financial reality. Many people think that the SPCA is government funded but it isn't. Not at all! The shelter depends entirely on adoption and surrender fees and donations. Every animal that comes through the door must be fed and housed. All appropriate medical treatment such as de-worming, vaccinations and medications for illness must be paid for. Cat litter alone costs the shelter in the neighbourhood of $5,000 a year! We struggle to stay open month by month and animals that come in without so much as a surrender fee just add to the financial strain.

The next truth is that, unlike the owner, we cannot and will not turn our backs on animals that are dumped on the property. We will work to save their lives if they're ill and to help them trust again if they're frightened — and they're always frightened. But that doesn't necessarily mean a happy ending. It might mean that the numbers have reached a place where hard decisions have to be made. While these kittens get their chance at life, time and space may be running out for other, older cats.

The last truth is the hardest one. This is it: a simple operation is all it would have taken to prevent the birth of these unwanted kittens. An ounce of prevention...Please be responsible and have your pet spayed or neutered.

We'd love to have you visit our new blogf http://miramichispca.blogspot.com/

Valerie Sherrard