The Editor,
Shame on the Surrey Animal Resource Centre! I was disappointed to hear that the Surrey Animal Resource Centre chose to hold an adoption event at the Petland Store in South Surrey on June 28. While I do understand that adoptions are slow and showcasing the animals in the care of our shelter is important, I am sure that there could have been much better choices than Petland.
Petland has a long history of selling animals to anyone walking in off the street that has money in their pocket.
Even the shelter has a screening process.
There are many ethical pet supply stores that would be thrilled to help. Any store that sells live animals with no regard for their welfare should be ashamed of themselves, and for the City of Surrey and the Surrey Animal Resource Centre to choose to work with this kind of company is hugely disappointing.
I was thrilled when the City of Surrey chose to look at other options for its animal control contract than what we had when the BCSPCA held the contract. It has been over a year since the shelter moved to its new location with new management. I had hopes that this would be a more progressive shelter, with a more open and welcoming attitude. That has not been the case.
The Commissionaires of B.C. as a company are not qualified to run an animal shelter and their main focus appears to be money, not the welfare of the creatures in their care. There are still no volunteers allowed in to walk, exercise, clean and feed the animals in the shelter.
While the staff surely have some training, the fact that no volunteers are allowed means not only do we, the taxpayers, pay more for staff, but the animals miss out on extra socialization.
And while it may be easier to run a shelter without volunteers, it also means that there are no extra eyes watching what goes on there. I know that there are many animal lovers in Surrey and I for one am concerned with some of the choices that have been made regarding "our" shelter.
Perhaps the facts opened in this letter need to be brought into the current municipal election discussions.
Beverly Inglis, Surrey