CYA is an unpaid, volunteer group that hopes to inspire more participation and to act as a vessel for animal lovers' voices about animal welfare in British Columbia. Animal welfare funds are important which means the BC SPCA is too. The SPCA idea is one that has captured hearts for more than a century. Loving animals, and all that means in terms of policy, practice and humanity, is the heart of the idea.

The volunteers on the CYA Board of Directors are the personification of the SPCA idea, all have dedicated their lives to animals' well being in one active way or another. Two directors are still SPCA volunteers; others resigned in protest and with the conviction that the 'SPCA whole' has forsaken the heart of too many of its parts. All have a broken heart because the SPCA is struggling, and many have friends among its staff and volunteers with whom they empathize during this time of change and controversy. CYA members know that changing a culture is only possible when pressure is applied both from within and without. We value and admire our many dedicated friends in the SPCA who continue to actively advocate for SPCA animals.

Still, too much SPCA spending on political machinations and administrative staff, when animals' primary need is for direct service delivery and placement in forever homes, eclipses the SPCA idea. It means that staff and volunteers who deliver the direct services to the animals and the community are unable to perform their jobs to potential. It is the animals that suffer most. The SPCA keeps promising to be accountable and transparent, but evidence continues to mount, showing that it does not consistently answer questions, letters and complaints from a donating public demanding inclusion, accountability and transparency. That is not good enough in a context of questions about spending priorities. All proponents of the SPCA idea stand in solidarity that the animals are the stars while the rest of us form the supporting cast.

This is why CYA formed, and we need your involvement through membership, donations and volunteerism. Please actively support CYA and its cause to protect the 20 million animal welfare dollars that constitute the annual BC SPCA budget and ensure that the bulk of those funds are spent on direct animal care and welfare.