Category: News/Blog

Nicholas Read has been supporting the Vancouver Humane Society for more than 20 years.

As a journalist with the Vancouver Sun in the 1980s through to the early 2000s, Nicholas had a popular animal rights column and wrote many stories about animal issues. This included coverage of some of VHS’s campaigns. Nicholas was the reporter who broke the story of the Greater Vancouver Zoo’s plan to sell long-suffering Tina the Elephant to another zoo in 2003, which sparked a successful VHS campaign to have her sent to a sanctuary.

Nicholas also founded VHS’s McVitie Fund, named after his cat McVitie, who he rescued while on holiday in Portugal. When McVitie died in 2003, Nicholas realized that not every animal guardian has the financial security to provide for their animal when they get sick or injured. “People have enough to worry about when their animal gets sick, without having to think about using their rent money to pay for veterinary bills.” The McVitie Fund offers a safety net for vulnerable individuals on low income.

As well as working as a journalist, Nicholas is a prolific writer, having authored 11 books ranging from novels for young adults that address farmed animal issues, to exploratory books on the Great Bear Rainforest.

Nicholas’s most recent book, A Home Away from Home, details true stories of wild and exotic animals that were once kept as pets or used for entertainment and have since been rehomed in wild animal sanctuaries. This book is an eye-opening read for us all.

“There is no defence for wild animals being kept as pets or in captivity. My hope from this book is that people will think twice about adopting an exotic as a pet, going to the circus, or going to SeaWorld.” A Home Away from Home is available to purchase through the Greyhaven Bird Sanctuary website.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Nicholas for his ongoing generous support of VHS.

Last year, VHS drew attention to the trade in wild and exotic animals with two campaigns, one urging the federal government to ban the international trade and the other asking the B.C. government to strengthen regulation of exotic animal ownership in the province. Nearly 7000 people signed our petitions and we had four opinion editorials published in the media on the issue.

Despite calls from experts to take action against the global wildlife trade, which scientists believe is a likely source of COVID-19, there has been no response from Canada. You can still sign the petition urging the federal government to take action.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of changes in food production and consumption toward fewer animal-based products and more plant-based food production and consumption. Experts have warned that the unnatural and unhealthy conditions of intensive animal farming could lead to the rise of new diseases that threaten public health.

VHS’s work to support diet and food system change that benefits animals, people and the planet has continued in the midst of the pandemic. We’ve participated in two important food-related government consultations recently – the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s proposed changes to guidelines for meat alternative products and the Vancouver Park Board’s Local Food Action Plan. In our submissions to both consultations, we reiterated the importance of government support in improving public education and access to plant-based food.

We’ve also been hard at work on a cost-benefit analysis that demonstrates the impact of enacting a food purchasing policy for municipalities that replaces 20 percent of animal-based products with plant-based foods. This report allows us to engage with municipal decision-makers and encourage a transition toward policies in favour of more plant-based foods.

Over the holidays, we compiled an animal-free shopping guide to share humane gift ideas and promote local products and businesses in a time when many are struggling due to the pandemic. The list includes restaurants, food, beverage and dessert companies, as well as pet, beauty, cleaning, bedding and clothing products.

2021 got off to an exciting start for our farmed animal programming, with the addition of a new staff person joining the VHS team! Julia McCann joins us as a Program Coordinator for the Go Veg and Plant-Based Plates programs. From Ontario, Julia moved to B.C in 2019 and is thrilled to be living on the West Coast. She completed a Masters of Environmental Studies from Queen’s University and is passionate about developing sustainable food systems. Her background includes work and volunteering with non-profits in food security/justice, emergency food distribution, community gardens, sustainable and local agriculture and community development. We look forward to Julia’s help in expanding the reach of our farmed animal programs.

VHS has been taking action against the cruel and dangerous mink farming industry.

Mink farming not only compromises animal welfare, but also creates potential risks to public health, as the spread of COVID-19 on B.C. mink farms has shown. Mink are confined in small, wire cages for the duration of their lives, denying them the opportunity to engage in the natural behaviours that they would exhibit in the wild. This can cause stress, leading to stereotypic behaviour and self-mutilation.

The transmission of COVID-19 to mink has caused mutation of the virus in other countries. This has raised concern about risks of increased transmissibility, vaccine efficacy and the potential for farmed mink to infect wild populations, leading to virus reservoirs outside of direct human control.

We have written to B.C.’s minister of agriculture to call for an end to fur farming in the province and made a submission to the National Farm Animal Care Council’s review of the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farmed Mink.

In November, proposed changes to Canada’s pig farming standards prompted VHS to launch a new advocacy campaign focused on pig welfare. The National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC), composed mostly of representatives from the animal agriculture industry, creates ‘codes of practice’ that serve as standards for the industry.

In 2014, NFACC’s update to the pig code of practice included a commitment to end the continuous use of gestation stalls for pregnant pigs and to transition to open housing by 2024. Gestation stalls are individual stalls that are so small that pigs are unable to turn around or engage in any natural behaviours. Animal welfare scientists, veterinarians and other experts have described gestation stalls as one of the cruelest forms of animal confinement and the equivalent to living in an airline seat. Meanwhile, the Retail Council of Canada, which represents grocery retailers, promised a similar move, through product sourcing, away from gestation stalls and toward alternative housing by the end of 2022.

Now, NFACC is attempting to extend their gestation stall deadline until 2029, leaving thousands of pregnant pigs to continue suffering in gestation stalls. VHS’s campaign called on the industry and Retail Council to keep their original housing transition commitments. To date, more than 4100 VHS supporters have joined us in speaking up for pigs. VHS will continue to monitor this important welfare issue moving forward.

Taking your companion animal to the clinic can be a stressful experience for anyone—between trying to make difficult decisions and pets struggling in a new environment. For people living on a low income who access veterinary services during COVID-19, the stress of accessing care can be amplified beyond belief.

“I still have the fear if you can’t pay for the bill, they may ask you to surrender the animal,” explained one animal guardian living on a low income. “I didn’t want to surrender the animal. I can feed her. She’s loved.”

VHS examines the unique set of barriers low-income individuals face when accessing veterinary care during COVID-19 in a new research article. The article, entitled “Barriers to Care in Veterinary Services: Lessons Learned From Low-Income Pet Guardians’ Experiences at Private Clinics and Hospitals During COVID-19”, details the lived experiences and recommendations of twelve animal guardians who accessed financial support for emergency veterinary services from VHS’s McVitie Fund in 2020.

“I still have the fear if you can’t pay for the bill, they may ask you to surrender the animal. I didn’t want to surrender the animal. I can feed her. She’s loved.”

The article affirms what anyone who shares their heart and home with a pet already knows: that the bond between an animal and their guardian is unique and valuable. Sharing a life with a companion animal has countless emotional and mental health benefits. In fact, evidence suggests that animals positively impact how people react, cope, and recover from disaster situations.

People living on a low income, who have often faced other barriers in their life due to oppression, trauma, disability, or mental illness, benefit strongly from sharing this bond with their animal loved ones. Providing people with the support to keep their animals healthy and at home is not only the humane thing to do; it is a key part of building a just and equitable society.

The research article raises suggestions for improving access to services, including:

Animals and guardians would also benefit from services using a trauma-informed approach—which is highlighted in a recent report from VHS.

Reducing the financial strain and relieving the mental stress of low-income animal guardians would have far-reaching impacts. These measures would:

1. Improve the lives of animals their guardians.

Animals would be able to receive the care they need and stay in their loving homes.

2. Reduce burnout in animal services staff.

Animal services staff experience high rates of burnout and compassion fatigue from interacting with anxious animal guardians and facing seemingly hopeless situations in the face of financial barriers. Offering more options for low-income animal guardians would empower animal services staff to have more positive interactions with their clients.

3. Encourage animal guardians to seek veterinary care more often.

In one study, one in four animal guardians could not afford to seek preventative veterinary care. Having more financial options and positive experiences with veterinary care would motivate animal guardians to seek care for their animal before their health concern becomes a health crisis.

4. Remove the need for financially motivated euthanasia.

When guardians cannot afford preventative care or treatment for a health crisis, often the only other option is euthanizing their beloved animal to end their pain. Financially motivated euthanasia needlessly takes animal lives and takes a severe mental toll on both guardians and veterinarians. Improved services for low-income animal guardians would quite literally save lives.

The research article was written in collaboration with Dalhousie University Professor Haorui Wu and was made possible through the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). You can access and review the article using the button below.

How can you help?

Vancouver Humane Society continues to advocate for structural change that would ensure all companion animals can get the care they need. Until that dream becomes a reality, generous animal advocates like you make it possible to provide emergency financial assistance to animals and their guardians in need through VHS’s McVitie Fund.

Urgent care for pets

All donations toward VHS’s McVitie Fund are currently being matched by an anonymous donor. Can you give today to make double the difference in the lives of companion animals?

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What’s the best way to support people and their pets in need? Grateful for funding we received from the Vancouver Foundation, we explored this question from a few different perspectives. The outcome? A report and a webinar (both available here).

This new report, which has been translated into French and was sent to nearly 1000 animal service agencies across the country, highlights how important it is to provide care from a trauma-informed and ‘One Welfare’ perspective. This means providing services that recognize the experiences of marginalized people and giving them time and space to tell their story and express their needs. It also includes, at times, serving as a translator between the veterinarian and the client. We all know that in a time of stress it can be difficult to remember the instructions from a veterinarian. This can be even more intense for low-income individuals who are experiencing other stressors in their lives.

Do pets experience trauma? Research suggests that they do, particularly from grief around the loss of a loved one. We knew that people suffered when they had to give up their loyal animal companions because they couldn’t afford to pay for veterinary care. Now, we’ve learned that we must consider the experience of the animal, too.

We also learned about the importance of building trusting relationships with the clients we serve and finding out all of the barriers they experience to accessing care. Some marginalized folks have been discriminated against, such as being asked to pay for a veterinary visit up front while privileged folks at the same clinic are invoiced at the end of the visit. We learned about people being told that they couldn’t have their pet back until they paid in full (which is not a legal practice, but they weren’t aware of their rights).

We know this is just the beginning of this work. By the end of 2021, we aim to have a training program launched for animal service agencies across the country to apply a trauma-informed lens when they are serving marginalized clients. It will mean better outcomes for both people and animals.

When 16-year-old Bubble began having trouble urinating, her loving guardian Hailey made multiple trips to different veterinary clinics. They were all unsuccessful at diagnosing the issue. Bubble’s symptoms started recurring at a frequent and concerning rate, so Hailey reached out to the McVitie Fund for assistance.

“Bubble is suspected to have chronic feline idiopathic cystitis … vets that I visited recommended doing an abdominal ultrasound/x-ray as a final diagnosis to rule out cancer or tumours,” said Hailey. “Seeing your own fur-baby in excruciating pain while knowing you don’t have the means to provide treatment is one of the most heart-wrenching feelings in the world.”

Bubble has since had an ultrasound, which identified a small amount of abdominal tissue in her bladder. This will be monitored over the coming months in case surgery is required. Hailey told VHS that otherwise Bubble is doing well and only showing a few signs of her age!