Friday, November 25, 2011

A Rose by any other name .....

from this evening's Cape Breton Post
Board chair, manager step down from Cape Breton Humane Society
 SYDNEY — There’s new leadership at the top of the Cape Breton Humane Society — formerly known as the SPCA.
A letter from Sydney barrister Robert Sampson, obtained by the Cape Breton Post, indicates Michael Momberquette is the board’s new chair and that shelter manager Patsy Rose has stepped down from her current position.

Health reasons were cited for the change in the board chairmanship, while a “greater level of expertise to insure the various changes sought can be implemented” were cited as the reason for the change in the manager’s position.
The decision was made during an emergency Board meeting held by the society Thursday evening.
The letter also indicates the board is committed to address all issues that have been put forward through the recent veterinarians report as well as those from the Provincial SPCA, even though there is no longer any formal connection.
See Saturday’s Cape Breton Post for more on this story.
Well then.  Does this mean that it is all happy days ahead?   No more need to fret?   Of course not!
The renegade shelter is still being run by the disbanded board.    No doubt that tomorrow's article will make interesting reading, but will it reveal where the money went?   If, according to the 2011 Shelter Audit,  the animals :
  • were not being properly fed
  • were not receiving veterinary care
  • were not spayed or neutered and
  • were not even allowed toys, and
  • were not even given the dignity of a painless death
And if the building:
  • was not being properly maintained
  • was not being cleaned with the proper supplies for disease prevention,
  • does not have adequate space for isolation of new intakes and sick animals
  • and has woefully inadequate ventilation
And ... if the records did not properly account for :
  • intake
  • adoptions
  • the number of animals killed
  • and of course for the revenue and expenditures
Well then ... just where DID the money go?
What exactly is going to change by having the dismissed shelter manager and the president of the disbanded board of directors step down.
After all, if it was personal for the provincial board, would they not have taken action earlier?   If it was personal, would the board have patiently tried, time and time again to change cleaning protocols and sheltering practices at the Cape Breton Branch.
If it was personal, the Board would have acted on one of the numerous times when local public outrage followed the deaths of newly adopted dogs.
In other words, if it was personal, it would already be history.
Doing a two step shuffle does not change the underlying fact that the Branch board was dismissed by the only body in the province with the legal authority to do so.  
Claims that the building belongs to the people of Cape Breton are utterly ludicrous!   What ... do they think it was going to be jacked up , put on a flatbed and sent to the city?
The dismissed board should brush up on the society's governance policies which clearly state that funds stay in the locale in which they were raised!
What time is it?   It is still Friday, November 25th ... the NINTH day since the dismissed shelter manager and the disbanded branch board created the renegade shelter.

1 comment:

tammy said...

Bbut the mayor is on their side so far he left them with the animal control contracr for sydney