Myth Busting at the HBSPCA: Four Things People Get Wrong About Us

At the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA, we hear a lot of questions about how we work. Some of them come from genuine curiosity, and others come from assumptions that have been passed around for years. To help clear things up, our President and CEO, John Gerrard, walked through four of the most common myths we run into in our community.

Myth 1: "The HBSPCA euthanizes animals when the shelter reaches it's capacity."

This is a big misconception, and it isn't true. Sometimes we reach capacity and have to say no to an intake, but a full shelter has never meant a healthy animal loses their life. Instead, we've grown our foster program and lean on fosters, adopters, and our own staff to find every animal a good home. "We never euthanize a healthy animal in any case, shape, or form," said John.

End-of-life care, a humane euthanasia decided by the owner and our vets, is very different from euthanizing for space. "We are not a kill shelter here at the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA," John said.

Myth 2: "We only provide veterinary care to animals that we care for in our shelter."

Most of our vet care actually happens outside the shelter walls. Our Community Cat Program provides spay and neuter services to help reduce feral cat populations, and Remote Community Vet Services sends our team north to address dog overpopulation. Our Pet Health Outreach clinics connect low-income families with veterinary care, supporting roughly 4,000 animals in our area. As John explained, it happens "through a one-on-one engagement with a veterinarian."

Myth 3: "The HBSPCA is funded by the government."

We are not funded by the government for our day-to-day operations. We partner with the government on a few fee-for-service programs and receive project funding for specific initiatives, like student summer programs. But the daily work of caring for animals is powered almost entirely by donations from individuals and businesses, along with our fee-for-service health programs. In other words, the support of our community is what keeps our doors open.

Myth 4: "The HBSPCA doesn't support Hamilton Animal Services."

Nothing could be further from the truth. We're two separate organizations, and we work as partners.

We collaborate on medical programs and emergency care, and we support each other wherever we can. We also divide responsibilities, with us handling surrendered animals and providing programs to keep pets and people together, and the City handling lost and found, wildlife, and enforcement.

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"Both organizations have a working arrangement that divides the different programs so that we can serve more animals and more people within our community," John said.  

Behind every myth is a community that cares deeply about animals, and that care is exactly what moves our work forward.

Now that you know the truth, we'd love for you to be part of it.