The people who make sure animals in Alberta are not abused will be getting a badly needed financial boost, says the executive director of the Alberta SPCA.
A joint venture to look after Alberta livestock has been created between the Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Alberta Foundation for Animal Care and the provincial government.
“It’s a major new endeavor. It’s new funding for us and a new co-operative approach,” said Neil McDonald, who had to lay off investigation officers because of lack of money.
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For 10 years the SPCA’s operating grant from the province has been frozen at $351,000. It has been forced to hold dog jogs, sell t-shirts and hold raffles to raise another $480,000 each year to help pay for the investigations.
Through the new joint venture, called the Alberta Livestock Protection System, the SPCA will now receive $831,800 annually for three years to fund livestock investigations. About $80,000 of that money will go to ALPS and the rest will be used for rural livestock enforcement.
Susan Church, manager of the AFAC, said it was unreasonable to expect the SPCA to fund-raise to support government legislation.
“It’s a public act, public legislation. Why should industry rely on fund-raising capability to enforce a public act,” asked Church.
Recently the SPCA has been forced to lay off two of its six investigating officers because it had no money. The new funding will allow the group to rehire the two officers, create a seventh position and reopen its northern Alberta office in Fairview.
Each year the Alberta SPCA investigates about 1,800 complaints of animal abuse. Despite the mild winter, McDonald expects that number to be higher this year.
Church said having the three partners managing the new livestock protection system will help dispel myths among livestock producers that the SPCA is an animal rights group and not an animal welfare group.
