Wednesday, April 16, 2008

SPCA Squabble


Tonight on Global News they did a short news piece about a letter that was circulated by Janet Chernin today - it's posted in the comments section of the post previous to this one - you can check it out by clicking - here - you can watch the video below. As a happy ending I'm also including a short video of my little dog Jack that I took while I was waiting for the news to begin tonight. In amongst all the melee going on, there is some good that's happened.

One thing that Pam Keddy said in the video was that - "when you're dealing with animals, you're going to have passionate people involved, which you want! Those are the people who are going to be putting their heart and soul into the animals".

It's funny that she says that - because it seems that the only people who are allowed to have passion are the ones who believe in her ideas of passion. She owns a Yahoo group called "Maritime Animal Rescue" which is a wonderful group that has saved hundreds and hundreds of animals over the years - and I was a proud member of it since 2004 - as were a lot of other people - but since the whole Celtic Pet fiasco has come down - we have all been summarily booted out - with no explanation or reason. We are all the exact same people we were in January - except that now we are just not good enough to be part of Pam Keddy's pretty much - dead - group. Oh well.

As for the NS Rescue Crusade - in the comments to this previous post - someone was wanting to get more information about that group - I can't help you there either - I'm not a member of that group - they won't let me be a member as I said in that post - I'm only good for things when things are wanted...




1 comment:

  1. Anonymous8:45 PM

    Joan,

    I thought the global story was incredibly disappointing and tawdry. So much so I wrote them..and this is what I wrote:

    To whom it may concern,

    I am not sure which reporter did this story but I just want to say I am very
    disappointed in the "take" global took on the interviews with Janet
    Chernin and Pamela Keddy regarding the SPCANS tonight.

    The concerns of certain members are not a "witch hunt" and as a
    member of the SPCA my criticisms are not personal. I don't believe
    Janet Chernin's are either. Janet has been a long time activist in
    this area and is considered very knowledgeable on the local and
    provincial issues because of her involvement over decades in this
    area.

    What Global should have been having the two ladies comment on is
    their differences in the perceived effectiveness of the current Board
    of Directors and their supporting comments. This would have been much
    more worthwhile reporting instead of trying to provoke a bit
    of "sensationalistic" air time.

    My theory is where there is smoke there is fire. Can you not see
    the smoke piles around the SPCA at this time? Why wouldn't you want
    to investigate the "fire"?

    This is beyond the concerns over the time it took to rescue the
    animals from the Celtic Pets Shelter...or even the ability to gag
    members who criticize the board by using an unconventional by-law
    (12a in the society's by-laws).

    Was there a board presence in the formation of the recent Cat By-Law?
    You really think the SPCA would and should have sunk their proverbial
    claws into that one. Let alone their position on Bills 203 and S373 -
    did they have any? Did they actively pursue avenues to have their
    views represented? Where do the stand on "Ban the Breed" legislation
    and have they put in place an effective education program to
    counteract this.

    Why do they not deal with the controversy surrounding the dismissal
    of Jessica Hunt? How do they justify the fact that the Province has
    had no Chief Provincial Cruelty Officer for the past 18 months? The
    Provincial Cruelty Officer now in place as I understand it was
    initially hired as a handyman and does not meet the basic
    requirements as per the job description.

    This is not personal. This is not "tit for tat". This is about a
    Board that refuses to be accountable to it's members and the public
    in its effectiveness at pursuing and achieving the mandate of the
    society. If members cant get answers from the board or are in fear of
    questioning and losing their memberships for appearing adversarial
    under by-law 12a then what is the members alternative for seeking
    answers? This is why this has come to the public domain of the press.

    As a member of the society and of course the general public who holds
    a stake in this issue, I come to you to do your jobs and get the
    facts and answers for us. Not dally in the sordid netherland of
    personal issues.

    Please take the time to review your network's "take" on this story
    and please try to take it much more seriously than a childhood
    playground spat for the sake of the animals that could presently be
    experiencing undue cruelty and abuse.

    respectfully

    ReplyDelete