This months' dogs at the cb branch

Meet shadow, Madelaine, cleo, Jimmie , jingles, Fly , Mcgruff and Baby Doll. I can't tell you much about them, other than the fact that they were listed today on the Petfinder site for the Cape Breton SPCA Branch shelter. None of their listings even include the basic information about whether they are housetrained, vaccinated and/or altered. I can tell you that they are the new group of dogs listed for the next month. The next month? Well.... it was over a month ago that the last group of dogs was listed on their site.

I do understand that Cape Breton has its own set of problems. Every year the population shrinks roughly four percent as their young people chase the better paying jobs out west. Worse, the problems with the auto industry have a direct effect on Cape Breton, with North Sydney taking a hit just this week. In the current financial climate, there are no signs of prosperity on the horizon.

The Cape Breton SPCA Branch has a well deserved reputation for being the black sheep of all NS rescue. What makes them so different? Other branches of the society are located in rural areas without a strong economic infrastructure.

Is it the location? The CB Branch is located in the most populated area of the island. But it is also at least twice the distance from the city as every other branch besides Yarmouth.

Are their resources overtaxed? Is the shelter too small to meet both the society and their contractual AC obligations?

Is it the resentment of being told what to do by folks from 'away' who haven't worked at the shelter, been part of the family?

Do they not feel like they actually belong to the provincial society in any fashion? Since the society BOD meetings have been posted this year, the branch president, Mel Neville has not attended one meeting.

Did they just harden their heart to take the high kill revolving door approach and never thaw them out again? If that's the case, there is never going to be any respect, understanding or acceptance of the goals the society are working towards.

We are so impatient for change that sometimes we don't see the forest for the trees. Any effective change with the Cape Breton branch should come from a fully elected Board with a strong mandate from the membership. Nothing else is going to work. Nothing.

Now is the time to get those memberships in, so that the society gains the support needed to really effect the changes we need to see.

What time is it? For the eight great dogs listed, and the heaven only knows how many that aren't, its a very short time before they get blended in the fudge of the creative accounting called the CB annual Branch stats.

PS - If you really want to save any of these dogs.... this is not the time to dawdle.