just doesn't seem to help the animals who actually NEED help, and end up basically harrassing people. 
We have had the SPCA called on our farm three times by a bitter woman in PA who had never even BEEN to our property, and they informed us that they would be out of a job if they all looked after our animals the way that we did...
Anyways, what's sparking this is a huge controversy surrounding an elderly woman (70-something) and her husband (80-something) that our family has been friends with for a very long time. She has had SOME animal management problems, namely several years ago when her dairy farm burnt down and she lost many animals - as a result of this, she feels compelled to have her animals with her AT ALL TIMES and so has a houseful of cats and a yard full of dogs. There have been times that she has had up to and over 100 dogs on her property. She owns well over 100 acres, and what started as a good deal of "good intentions", picking up dogs that were "lost causes" and rehabilitating them, turned into blatant abuse of her kind heart ---- well over 80% of those dogs were DROPPED OFF, and she cannot turn them away.
There was an article in the paper on Friday about the SPCA seizing her cats and dogs - she has been "busted" several times, but people keep dropping dogs off. Her management has become considerably better - it seems as though the SPCA has *tried* to help her out a little, I believe they have done some pack health type things and maybe done some speutering, but they much prefer seizing her dogs as of late when folks take too much advantage. She had seven cats in her house, this time around and it was four more than she was allowed, I believe, so they seized all cats (except three kittens they couldn't catch) and 25 dogs off her property. The dogs have all manner of shelter, and many stores and friends help her out with feeding - she often gets almost-expired dog food for deeply discounted prices or free, as well as stale bread and the like to feed the dogs - they're not being neglected.
The reason they took her cats this time? They had fleas!...
As a result of this all, she has gone into a serious depression - the SPCA long ago seized her large animals and legislated the number of animals she CAN own......
I am not saying she is 100% innocent.. but here is what is wrong...
Her animals are fed and sheltered - maybe don't get all the regular maintenance they need, but no one seems to know or want to share the fact that that woman has hitchhiked a 6 hour ride more than once to get to the "big" vet facility on the Island to have her dogs with serious problems cared for, and has also hitchhiked back and forth into the city with dogs to have spays and neuters done. She tends to have a lot of pregnant bitches or litters dropped off, though, so the numbers have grown. It's not perfect, but neither is living in a kennel for the rest of a dog's life....
And this spring, we had a pregnant mare on lease (a breeding lease), and the people were STARVING her - she was due to foal in about a month and was over 300lbs underweight, and the SPCA WOULD NOT seize her.... this was a serious life or death situation, in which the leasee's also came to our home and physically threatened us (told us they would shoot us if we tried to take her away at night), because they were worried they would be "ripped off".
Just seems like the SPCA sometimes has good intentions, but gets everything wrong.
We have had the SPCA called on our farm three times by a bitter woman in PA who had never even BEEN to our property, and they informed us that they would be out of a job if they all looked after our animals the way that we did...Anyways, what's sparking this is a huge controversy surrounding an elderly woman (70-something) and her husband (80-something) that our family has been friends with for a very long time. She has had SOME animal management problems, namely several years ago when her dairy farm burnt down and she lost many animals - as a result of this, she feels compelled to have her animals with her AT ALL TIMES and so has a houseful of cats and a yard full of dogs. There have been times that she has had up to and over 100 dogs on her property. She owns well over 100 acres, and what started as a good deal of "good intentions", picking up dogs that were "lost causes" and rehabilitating them, turned into blatant abuse of her kind heart ---- well over 80% of those dogs were DROPPED OFF, and she cannot turn them away.
There was an article in the paper on Friday about the SPCA seizing her cats and dogs - she has been "busted" several times, but people keep dropping dogs off. Her management has become considerably better - it seems as though the SPCA has *tried* to help her out a little, I believe they have done some pack health type things and maybe done some speutering, but they much prefer seizing her dogs as of late when folks take too much advantage. She had seven cats in her house, this time around and it was four more than she was allowed, I believe, so they seized all cats (except three kittens they couldn't catch) and 25 dogs off her property. The dogs have all manner of shelter, and many stores and friends help her out with feeding - she often gets almost-expired dog food for deeply discounted prices or free, as well as stale bread and the like to feed the dogs - they're not being neglected.
The reason they took her cats this time? They had fleas!...
As a result of this all, she has gone into a serious depression - the SPCA long ago seized her large animals and legislated the number of animals she CAN own......
I am not saying she is 100% innocent.. but here is what is wrong...
Her animals are fed and sheltered - maybe don't get all the regular maintenance they need, but no one seems to know or want to share the fact that that woman has hitchhiked a 6 hour ride more than once to get to the "big" vet facility on the Island to have her dogs with serious problems cared for, and has also hitchhiked back and forth into the city with dogs to have spays and neuters done. She tends to have a lot of pregnant bitches or litters dropped off, though, so the numbers have grown. It's not perfect, but neither is living in a kennel for the rest of a dog's life....
And this spring, we had a pregnant mare on lease (a breeding lease), and the people were STARVING her - she was due to foal in about a month and was over 300lbs underweight, and the SPCA WOULD NOT seize her.... this was a serious life or death situation, in which the leasee's also came to our home and physically threatened us (told us they would shoot us if we tried to take her away at night), because they were worried they would be "ripped off".
Just seems like the SPCA sometimes has good intentions, but gets everything wrong.