Montreal SPCA in Crisis-CTV News Report

If anyone is interested, Todd van der Heyden is doing a five-part series on the SPCA this week on the noon news and, I believe, the 6 p.m. news as well.

P. Barnotti refused to be interviewed for the piece but they do talk to former employees/volunteers.

The first part was this afternoon and dealt with "questionable" spending.

Very interesting...:rolleyes:

P. Barnotti refused to be interviewed
The first part was this afternoon and dealt with "questionable" spending.

Very interesting...:rolleyes:

Very interesting indeed ..... :cool:

A while back I read something about their fundraising methods and where the monies were going, it all sounded really questionable. What exactly is the problem there?

I pray the animals in their care, and most of the wonderful, dedicated staff and volunteers, will not be affected by this bad press :sad:.

Chris21711, you'll find more info here http://montreal.ctv.ca/cfcf/news/cfcf#news_19312 As Diandpat stated, this is a 5 part series that began today.

I do not know why his butt has not been booted out many years ago, all he is horrible press for them=less volunteers, and less fund raising money.
So sad for the animals there

Well I saw it , it was very brief , but interesting. So much money wasted on other things than "save the animals" :sad:

Yup I watched it on broadband, and let me tell you, it has been going on for so long.
The SPCA sadly now has become all about him, and not enough about the animals they save

:offtopic: Did you see the article about four stories up from the Montreal SPCA one. Police officers in Ville Marie may be able to shoot dogs on sight if they feel are dangerous? :sorry:

:offtopic: Did you see the article about four stories up from the Montreal SPCA one. Police officers in Ville Marie may be able to shoot dogs on sight if they feel are dangerous? :sorry:

Police officers here do that now and for the instances where a dog is at large and dangerous to the public, ie chasing, biting, attacking, then I feel totally it's warrented. Likewise, if the police are trying to enter a drug house and it's being guarded by dogs, again, I think it's warrented. Just my opinion. :shrug:
Police officers are not equipped to deal with dogs at large. Most cities animal services can't respond to a call in a week let alone a few minutes.
Key here, keep you dogs from being at large and don't get involved in criminal activity.

Cindy

Police officers here do that now and for the instances where a dog is at large and dangerous to the public, ie chasing, biting, attacking, then I feel totally it's warrented. Likewise, if the police are trying to enter a drug house and it's being guarded by dogs, again, I think it's warrented. Just my opinion. :shrug:
Police officers are not equipped to deal with dogs at large. Most cities animal services can't respond to a call in a week let alone a few minutes.
Key here, keep you dogs from being at large and don't get involved in criminal activity.

Cindy
I had visions of police officers walking around shooting dogs that looked vicious.

A few months ago before buying our GSDog we decided to go check it out at the SPCA...I havent been in there for years...when i opened the door HOLY COW the smell in that place was horrible...like if your going to have a shelter at least wash the floors and get rid of the smell somehow..many years ago it wasnt dirty and smelly like it is today...then they make you fill out a form with tons of questions a teenager asks you. Why is a teenager going to determine if your fit to adopt...I have nothing against teens cause i work with them all day long...just it didnt make sense...then i looked up in the air how much the dogs are...300$ for a dog?? if they are going to charge 300bucks, they are not going to find a home for any of them...ended walking out of there...

I did read the gazette today..and that too didnt really make sense...if someone is walking dogs as a job dont expect them to walk only 2 dogs..its part of their job to walk more than 2...nothing is wrong with walking more than 2 dogs..so long they pick up after them...and police can shoot dogs if they are out of control? ok depends whats out of control to them...its more the pitt bull or the rott...but i know tons of people that have pitts and rotts...they are great dogs and friendly..they should maybe look at the owers instead and not the dog...dogs are like kids...its who raises them...why not use the tasers..seems to be a big fashion these days...even better taser the owners...OK OK just kidding!!! :sorry: but it was funny...:dog:

soon they will be telling us to walk only 2 kids at the time outside...and not more...so if you have triplets, no no keep one at home.. :pawprint:

Why is a teenager going to determine if your fit to adopt...I have nothing against teens cause i work with them all day long...just it didnt make sense...

yeah some of the people there are a bit questionable in regards to who they let take the dogs home. But who knows...maybe they do know their stuff. :shrug:

..if someone is walking dogs as a job dont expect them to walk only 2 dogs..its part of their job to walk more than 2...

That law (is it passes) won't apply to dogwalkers.

did you see the report tonight, how they are putting healthy dogs down ?

did you see the report tonight, how they are putting healthy dogs down ?

I missed it tonight , but I think it plays again at 11:00 pm ?

But someone did tell me about it and maybe I shouldn't watch it :mad:

i hope this story on the spca results in more adoptions :thumbs up

i hope this story on the spca results in more adoptions :thumbs up

I hope so too , because with this talk about them , they will loose lots of donations .... that means the animals are going to be the ones who will suffer even more than they already are. :sad:

yeah i was thinking that too. In many cases this kind of attention needs to stop being given to those who run those animal places..even pet stores...but then in the end animals suffer. :sad:

all i can say is i have rescued 3 from them, and they never contacted me back to see if i had them fixed-------------- and of corse i did !at my cost, im not to happy with them the only good thing is that i got 3 rescued min pins out of the deal and i know now that they have a good home brenda and the pins

yeah don't take it personally cos they don't call anybody about these things :shrug:

ummm i don't have much else to say about this. I'm sure he means well while also trying to make money.

....there's this one kitty now that's up for permanent foster and she has frostbitten ears. I just wanna hold her :sad:

I hate things like this. We all know how the media is, always focusing on the negative aspects of everything, yet we still (for the most part) take in their every word. In my own opinion the SPCA deserves credit just for trying, their effort alone stands for far more than many a person can say for their own self. Also, given the conditions of the laws concerning animal cruelty and such in our province what can be expected? All of the press about where the money the SPCA is given goes to will do nothing but promote the idea of not supporting rescues with good intentions.

No Frenchy there isnt any law how many dogs you can walk and you dont need a permit to walk more than 2 dogs or if its part of a job.

I dont think the media is putting too much of a bad rap cause Ive been there a few months ago and its dirty like hell in that place and if that so call president thats taking care of the spca would travel less all over the world and put that money towards the kennel maybe people would adopt more often there. I walked out cause most of the dogs looked sick and not moving much. So no thanks. You should of seen the cats there. Man oh man there were tons of them and the smell. Well you know what cats smells like if the kitty box isnt clean. The worst thing is that there was a lady there that couldnt speak french so I was the translator for the girl that worked there and the cat she wanted was infested with fleas. She was worried that if she brings it home would it infest her house. The girl that worked there said NO :confused: now who in their right mind would bring any animal that is infested with fleas to your house? Her kids really wanted that cat but I told her to look for something else if i were her. So that means if that cat is infested what is it doing with all the other cats in that same room? they are all cage to cage so for sure the neighbouring cat will get the fleas too and the one above and sides etc etc..very often fleas brings tapeworms so not so bright to buy anything there till they clean their act and animals.

the flea problem is inevitable. Whenever one cat comes in with fleas the rest of them are sure to get them. I assume all of their cats are treated for fleas with advantage or something of the likes, but at the same time it is difficult to treat kittens under a certain age. So like I said fleas in shelters are inevitable, but they are treatable. As for the smell, that is definately treatable, the air should be circulating properly and the kennels should be cleaned regularly to avoid just that.

I walked out cause most of the dogs looked sick and not moving much. So no thanks. You should of seen the cats there. Man oh man there were tons of them and the smell. Well you know what cats smells like if the kitty box isnt clean. The worst thing is that there was a lady there that couldnt speak french so I was the translator for the girl that worked there and the cat she wanted was infested with fleas.

that;s sad. I don't think it's right to punish the animals for their care takers. I'm more eager to foster for them BECAUSE they need a better living environment.

I got one of my cats from there and she had fleas. Thanks Pea :cat:

I fostered a kitten for them last year and i did my job, i returned him all healthy. He had a cold. He should've been vaccinated within a few days of me returning him. A week later they called me back to take him into permanent foster because he was sick again and they didn't think he'd get better. Ummm...how about you vaccinate him to prevent him getting sick again??:rolleyes:
I couldn't take him cos i was going away for a month :sad:

I hate things like this. We all know how the media is, always focusing on the negative aspects of everything, yet we still (for the most part) take in their every word. In my own opinion the SPCA deserves credit just for trying, their effort alone stands for far more than many a person can say for their own self. Also, given the conditions of the laws concerning animal cruelty and such in our province what can be expected? All of the press about where the money the SPCA is given goes to will do nothing but promote the idea of not supporting rescues with good intentions.

Well said. I couldn't agree more! If anything, the Quebec gov't needs to give more power to the Montreal SPCA (have similar powers to SPCA officers in Ontario) and fight the puppy mill industry. Quebecers tend to 'dispose' of pets more freely than other provinces! :yell: What's wrong here? CTV should be focusing on these issues instead. They'll only be satisfied when the SPCA's funds run dry. :sad: :pawprint:

Well said. I couldn't agree more! If anything, the Quebec gov't needs to give more power to the Montreal SPCA (have similar powers to SPCA officers in Ontario) and fight the puppy mill industry. Quebecers tend to 'dispose' of pets more freely than other provinces! :yell: What's wrong here? CTV should be focusing on these issues instead. They'll only be satisfied when the SPCA's funds run dry. :sad: :pawprint:

yeah im really heartbroken at the way people deal with their pets here.... :cry:

Oh dont get me wrong, I would of loved to buy a dog there but they just didnt have the breed we were looking for and something was wrong..you know when your gut feelings says no...i just dont know thats why i walked out...my brother bought one from Les Berger Blanc...the dog died a week later of distemper..he brought it back to the berger blanc and got his money back but the vet said the berger blanc should be putting down all of their dogs cause if one gets distemper you cant take any chances...im just saying what he said...guess you dont fool around with distemper...

Well said. I couldn't agree more! If anything, the Quebec gov't needs to give more power to the Montreal SPCA (have similar powers to SPCA officers in Ontario) and fight the puppy mill industry. Quebecers tend to 'dispose' of pets more freely than other provinces! :yell: What's wrong here? CTV should be focusing on these issues instead. They'll only be satisfied when the SPCA's funds run dry. :sad: :pawprint:

Exactly!:thumbs up

I get so disgusted when I am there and hear people dumping off their animals for the most ridiculous reasons.
One couple had a small dog that looked like a golden puppy which caught my attention. It turned out to be a spaniel mix. They had purchased her 18 months earlier from a lady who bred her dogs. It was suppose to be a spaniel but ended up being a mix with something else, so they complained to the "breeder" and she was giving them a new spaniel puppy. She didn't want the mixed one back of course so they were dumping it at the SPCA. They were telling the SPCA worker what a wonderful, friendly dog she was and all the while I want to scream, "then why are you dumping her here?" STupid, stupid people! :wall:
A vet once told me that Quebec is the worst place for people dumping their animals.

There are wonderful people who work at the SPCA and I have had the opportunity to deal with them. It must be so difficult and frustrating for them to do their job with so many problems

It looks to me as if the media is not attacking the SPCA but exposing it's director :shrug: and his questionable practices. Employees and volunteers are complaining on behalf of the animals, didn't anyone else hear that? How come much of this money raised is unaccounted for? Doesn't anyone want to know where it's really going :confused:??

I don't know about any of you, but it's still possible to support an institution and expect it's directors to be held accountable at the same time. If I'm going to make a donation of any kind, I sure as hell want to know it's going to help the animals directly, not add to pay for someone else's vacation. Just my :2cents: .

I have personally spoken to Pierre Barnotti, and as much as the media is attacking him he was extremely knowledgeable and really sounded as though he was sincere about the SPCA's plight to help the animals. If however Barnotti is replaced due to all of this slandering don't you think the next person in line will do exactly what he does?! I do agree that a lot of money is being wasted on stupidity BUT they do do a lot of good which is not being focused on.

When I spoke to Barnotti he informed me that the laws in Quebec hinder the SPCA from doing everything that they wish they could do. According to Quebec laws as long as your animal is being fed and has a roof over his head then they are being adequately provided for. Yet I know someone who has a dog in his basement that never sees the light of day, and is down there to "guard" something (pot plants more than likely) and the SPCA can do nothing because it has a roof over its head and its being fed. Ridiculous huh? As for people who dump off their animals... its sickening, no one takes pet ownership responsably anymore.

It is really sad that they are giving the SPCA a bad rap, mostly it is girls or women that work there and it is because they truly love animals, definately not for the money.
When animals arrive at our local branch, they are vaccinated, dewormed and treated with flea medication. This is not always wise as we all know you can over vaccinate, but it is done as a precaution because of the shelter environment. Ringworm is the hardest thing to eradicate in the shelter.
As for teenagers interviewing, I can't speak for Montreal, but here, they are given quite a bit of training and sometimes say no for very valid reasons.
As for price, when you consider that the animal comes spayed/neutered, all shots and microchipped, it is not such a bad deal, those places have a lot of overhead.
I hope that all of this disclosure helps fix the problem in Montreal.
Of course this is just my :2cents:

I hope that all of this disclosure helps fix the problem in Montreal.


Apparently, the problem here is that there is no disclosure :shrug:.

So in a nutshell, today they reported on erroneous euthanasia to two dogs, a lack of computers due to lack of funding despite the Director making nearly a quarter of a million in salary, bonuses, and travel perks and most interestingly the SPCA vet in Laval disclosing that the SPCA figures on their "kill rate" can be off by as much as 60%...case in point: SPCA records indicate 330ish euthanasias in July whereas the Dr's personal notes have it at 530ish. He figures there are in the neighborhood of 6000 EUTHANIZED ANIMALS.

As a side note, the lead story on the 6 p.m. news was that the same Vet had been "dismissed" after 15 yrs of service..."no reason was given" :rolleyes:

You can see the whole broadcast on the CTV website at www.montreal.ctv.ca . I personnaly think that the media is doing a great job with this disclosure. The media is thinking about the animals obviously the SPCA organisation is not!