Animal shelters upset with Montreal SPCA

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=8c3a0176-7c42-47e3-b1ac-e412999c8920&k=12516

Animal shelters upset with Montreal SPCA


Montreal Gazette


Wednesday, November 08, 2006


Montreal’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is drawing fire from animal shelters in other provinces for its fundraising practices.


For the past seven years, the SPCA has been sending out letters pleading for donations from people in other provinces. Animal shelters say these letters make it unclear the money is going to Quebec and not to their local shelter.


The SPCA's executive director, Pierre Barnoti, remained defiant Wednesday, saying he will continue to send out these letters despite complaints from other shelters.


"It clearly states our address in Quebec in the letter, it says in red letters at the bottom 'Proudly serving the animals of Quebec since 1869' and we also say, ‘We encourage you to donate to your local shelter.' How much more clear could we be?" said Barnoti.


Barnoti said there should be no boundaries or politics between shelters when it comes to their common goal of saving animals.


Still, many Canadian shelters had notices on their websites Wednesday advising donors to read any letters they receive carefully to make sure they're not donating to Quebec while thinking they were sending funds to their local shelter.

It's coming... The bad things are coming.:fingerscr

"How much more clear could we be?"

Try calling yourselves the MONTREAL SPCA instead of the CANADIAN SPCA. :mad:

heh heh, sorry this seems to be only for me for some reason...:o


I'm so angry right now. Barnoti was on the radio telling people LOADS of garbage, like how his SPCA has the lowest euthanasia rate of any SPCA in Canada. WHAT?!?!!? As opposed to the no kill shelter in Monteregie? :mad: And then he went on to say of course he's legit because becoming a charity in the US is very hard because you get checked out by the FBI and yadda yadda, but he's in CANADA! And then he went on to say the ASPCA is establishing a sort of "doctors without borders" for animals with vets, but HIS SPCA IS INDEPENDENT OF THE ASPCA! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Prin,feeling kind of lonely??
This is not the first time I hear this about Barnoti:frustrated:
I give monthly to the SPCA and some to our local HS off and on.
Barnoti though always seemed kind of shifty to me:confused:

It's coming... The bad things are coming.:fingerscr

What exactly do you mean?? :pawprint: What are you wishing for?

lol I'm wishing for karma to step in is all. :shrug:

heh heh- let me be clearer- I don't wish any harm on anybody. But the idea of the press FINALLY looking at things objectively in this case gives me the warm fuzzies. I don't doubt that the volunteers, fosters and employees of the SPCA are well-meaning individuals who care for animals. I just want the truth, whatever it may be to come out. And with the presses' "Barnoti can do no wrong" rose-colored glasses off, the gloves come off too.

When the press turns on a public figure... well... we all know how that goes.;)

Unfortunately, I'd like to point out that this comes up every year. I read it in the papers every year (ok, at least for the last 3 years). Doesn't look like anything changes... :(

I haven't read it in our paper here... Maybe it was there, but I never saw it... So I'm naively optimistic.;)

Yes I heard it before too :sad:

What exactly do you mean?? :pawprint: What are you wishing for?Do you reallllly want to know :evil: I'm glad the Gazette keeps printing this story, he is afterall sending out the same letter year and year. Newfoundland caught him one year :thumbs up

I got this letter on Thursday in the mail. It is deceptive-it asks for you to donate to the Canadian SPCA, but all the addresses are for Qc.

And maybe I'm just picky, but I hate seeing fundraising stuff that seems overly expensive and wasteful. It kinda offends me. It's like, how much of my donation will actually go to what it's supposed to when you waste money on huge pieces of heavy, glossy paper that are mostly blank? There was 2 smaller letters with virtually the same info on them, an oversized glossy postcard petition that you are supposed to send to the Quebec assembly and the post-paid return envelope for it, and of course your donation form and postage-paid envelope.

I understand that the point of this piece of paper is to show how small the cage they found some dogs in is, but I still find it wasteful. :shrug: To give you an idea, it's opened on my computer chair and takes up the entire seat.

Wow, that is wasteful! I saw an SPCA ad in a bus shelter, and I'm thinking, "What a waste of money!" I understand advertising, but a non-profit organization wasting money on prime location ads is just absurd.:rolleyes:

OOh, those horribly, stupid ads in bus shelters?? I have never seen such a waste of a non-profit organizations money! Those ads cost thousands of dollars each. They could have sent such a great message with all that space, instead all it says is 'Give animals a voice' with their teeny tiny little logo on the bottom........who has he hired to do his marketing?..........What a waste..

Canadian SPCA, I didn't know there was such a thing? Is it to a P.O. Box too :p I'm wondering is this fundraising still about the Blainville dogs as it sure looks like a familiar seizure from way back? :shrug:

What wasted paper. Your suppose to support Mr. Barnoti by signing a petition so he can get the status he wants plus donate $ for dogs that are already being taking care of by volunteers footing the bill? Also I'm sure the people willing to donate wouldn't mind paying the postage seeing it's for a worthy cause - a non profit association - or is it?

Can it get any more deceptive?

The story is about fox terriers north of Montreal....it's funny that it's all CSPCA through the letter, but it says "Proudly serving the animals of Quebec since 1869" in small letters at the bottom.

Last time I checked, Canada included more than just Quebec...:rolleyes:

Wow, I get stuff from the "Canadian SPCA" all the time and I live in BC. We had a recent battle here where the local rescues kicked up such a fuss about the SPCA that the city/district had to step in and take over the facility.

How come I never get anything from the Canadian SPCA in the mail? What am I not gullible enough to be worth a $5 ad? :shrug:

I always assumed it was because I had adopted a cat from the SPCA and so was on their mailing list.

You adopted a cat from the Montreal SPCA?

Yes, flew all the way out there to get my pyscho torti female cat! :D

Assumed that local shelter shared/sold my name to the "national aka Montreal" chapter.

No, I think they're all independent and the Montreal one just got your name from some other list. They don't even have my name and I adopted directly from them... Must be a regular telemarketer's list.

In tiny print on the donation form:

"From time to time, the SCPCA exchanges the names of our donors with other like-minded organizations. Check here if you would prefer not to have your name exchanged."

Notice you have to check to not have your name exchanged. :frustrated:

Yeah, but that's them (we already know they're capable of that). I don't know what other SPCA's policies are...

Yeah, true. But I wonder if you're right about the CSPCA buying direct marketing lists. 'Cause I have donated to the local SPCA, but only in straight cash and Canadian Tire Money, so I wouldn't be on their list.