Attention Concerned Animal Lovers of Delaware County:

 If you tuned in November 4th to see Jeff Cole's profile of the Delaware County SPCA on Fox29 , please tell us your comments.  Six minutes (the length of Jeff's report) is not a lot of time to cover the many issues at the DelCo SPCA, and the FOX report briefly touched on just a few.  Please tell us your stories - have you had an experience with the DelCo SPCA?  Do you think the SPCA needs improvement?  Do you think the Board of Directors is doing a good job managing the SPCA?  Do you think homeless animals in Delaware County are well-served by the DelCo SPCA?  Please click the links below; one will take you to a petition and the other will take you to a survey form.

IMPORTANT** In order to have a valid survey and petition, it is vital that we have your name and town you live in-we are not selling your information to anyone, we just need to be able to present a legitimate petition.

 

Or you may e-mail us your comments at spcasurvey@aol.com

 

 

 

 

Some facts from Jeff Cole's report on FOX:

Instead of acting like other nonprofit organization Board of Directors, the Board at the Delaware County SPCA manages the day-to-day operations of the shelter.  Here's some of the results of their management:

The euthanasia rate is over 70% for all animals - that means 7 out every 10 adoptable animals at the SPCA end up euthanized because the SPCA ran out of space or the animal was sick at the SPCA. note:  the August euthanasia rate for cats alone is over 85% - less than 2 out of every 10 cats in the SPCA end up being adopted. The August euthanasia rate for dogs is more than 62% - less than half the dogs in the SPCA's care end up being adopted
*source - 2004 SPCA records - copies of the SPCA records are available for review

Dogs were not given rabies shots (in accordance with Pennsylvania law) from January until at least August of this year.  After they were warned by the state, the Board noted in their minutes at the February 2004 meeting that they needed to train someone to give rabies shots, but as of October 2004 they still had not done so.

There is no veterinarian (or veterinary technician) on staff at the SPCA - who is diagnosing and treating illnesses at the SPCA?  Animals are adopted with illnesses caught while at the SPCA - sometimes multiple illnesses at one time.  There are instances of animals being adopted, then dying or needing urgent care at the vet - often costing the new adopter
hundreds of dollars because the animal was adopted with illness.

The building is in poor condition - falling ceiling tiles, exposed wires, water damage.

The volunteer fostering program was cancelled by the Board President on June 22, 2004, without explanation.  Winnie, the golden retriever featured in Jeff Cole's story, was saved from euthanasia (due to her age and a lack of space) by the volunteer foster program last June. 
Winnie's owner had called the SPCA repeatedly to find her dog, and was told the dog was not there (it was), or no one called her back.  It is unknown how many other dogs like Winnie did not make it out of the SPCA and back to their owners who were trying to find them.