Saskatoon SPCA to halt animal protection enforcement 'out of necessity'

The Saskatoon SPCA will relinquish their animal protection enforcement operations because of insufficient funding, it announced Monday, a result that was foreshadowed during the City of Saskatoon's budget deliberations.

The SPCA pleaded for financial assistance during the city's budget considerations in late 2021, when it said its financial reserves were running low. While the city proposed an increase in funding, there wasn't an additional source of money to fill the monthly emergency funding of $50,000 the shelter was requesting.

"It's become increasingly obvious that we can't go forward without funding to do this work," said Graham Dickson, executive director of Saskatoon SPCA. "This was a decision made strictly out of necessity."

He said the SPCA put in a formal request for an estimated $650,000 in funding to the provincial government in spring 2021, which was denied. Dickson said it would have added one or two more animal protection officers to their team, to meet the demand they're facing. 

It reported 865 investigations into alleged animal abuse or neglect in 2021.

Dickson insisted that it was the province's mandate to fund their operations, not the city's, but appreciated the city's assistance.

"We've been providing animal protection work for 40 years … without any funding from the provincial government," he said.

"It's to the point now where we're actually looking at having to close our doors if we don't make some changes."

In an email, the Ministry of Agriculture said the SPCA notified it of the decision to withdraw animal enforcement services within Saskatoon on Monday. 

The Ministry said it opted not to provide funding to the Saskatoon SPCA in November 2021. When asked why the province did not fund the SPCA, the Ministry said it is "exploring alternative enforcement models for an equitable, consistent and affordable service across the province." 

Dickson said that the terms of SPCA's contract with the City of Saskatoon for its investigative services are being renegotiated. 

The shelter said that it had a significant amount of money in its reserves, but expected to deplete them by end of the year without making changes. Dickson said they were making more changes internally.

Animal Protection Services of Saskatchewan (APSS), a non-profit organization that enforces Saskatchewan's animal protection act across most of the province, was established after the province's contract with the Saskatchewan SPCA wasn't renewed in 2015.

Dickson is frustrated with the SPCA's lack of funding compared with Animal Protection Services Saskatchewan, which has received annual funding from the province.