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she Tre eine a HEM ee Bee Te graye!

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EN open

TERR Ty pagent Bg

WEATHER:

“Suany and cool weather
Sunday and Menday.

LONSDALE: 21

Merchants on Lonsdale are
studying the possibility of
opening Sundays.

STARS: 22
New head coach Bob Moss

promises personal attention
to Mt. Seymour soccer club.

3- Sunday, March 31, 1985 - North Shore News

Business..........25
Entertainment ..... 36
Food.............49
Mailbox...........7
Travel............50
TW... cee Al
WGO............ 26

LONELY: 45

Old people don’t have te
spend their days alone.
This group can help.

sPCA pet purchase

re e

NEWS photo fan Smith

ELIZABETH Dennie sits with her one puppy who is still recovering from distemper. Her
other puppy died from the illness five days after it was bought from the SPCA. So although
there are two dishes, two leashes and two balls, only one dog survived to use them.

A NORTH Vancouver couple is outraged that one
of their puppies died and another cost them $343
for veterinarian services only five days after they
bought the dogs from the North Vancouver

SPCA.

But Michael Weeks, secre-
tary manager for the Van-
couver SPCA, says there are
no guarantees that a puppy
won’t get sick and the SPCA
can't be responsible.

Elizabeth and Greg Den-
nie, who adopted the two
German shepard-collie cross
puppies, said the whole
episode has been emotionally
draining.

The puppies came down
with a fever two days after
the Dennics obtained them.
One puppy with a
temperature of 106F died
three days later. The other
puppy, with a temperature
of 103F survived, but not
without a bill for $343. The
illnesses were diagnosed as
distemper.

“With all the money we

spent,”’ Elizabeth Dennie
said, “‘we could have bought
a purebred. I think the
SPCA should take some sort
of responsibility. They’re
supposed to be for the
prevention of cruelty to
animals, but : ‘oesn’t ap-
pear that they’re !!ving up to
their name.”’

Says Weeks: ‘‘We’re not

disputing the facts, but the”

two pups were given their
shots when they came to us.
Normally you. need 14 days
before they show the signs of
distemper, but the puppies
were bought 13 days later.”
Weeks said there is no
policy that the dogs should
be kept for the 14 day wait
period before they are

ends in pup’s death

adopted out.

“We don’t have to keep
them, only if they're a stray,
then we are obligated to
keep them for 96 hours be-
fore adopting them out.
We're up against the capaci-
ty of the holding facilities,’
he said.

As compensation, Weeks
said the SPCA will refund
the adoption fee for the
puppy that didn’t survive,
and pay for the $30 spaying
of the one that did, but the
shelter will not pay for the
full veterinary fee.

“There is a risk. The
adoption certificate spells it
out in black and white. An
animal shelter is the biggest
sonrce of disease. The design
of the (North Vancouver)
shelter never took into ac-
count hygiene. It's the
wrong design. It doesn’t
allow. for keeping the dogs
separate, The parallel rows
of kennels have the dogs
breathing at each other,”’ he
said, .

Police sa y they'll ticket
safety seat law violators

A MONTH-LONG grace period has ended and
police are starting to crack down on violators of new
safety seat legislation.

By GINA FORSYTH

A regulation calling for all
children under six to be
restrained by car seats was
added to the Motor Vehicle
Act March | and enforcement
begins tomerrow.

Police gave the public a
month’s grace in order to
allow enough time to purchase
or rent (he proper seats.

For children up to 20
pounds, a rear facing seat that
distributes body weight even-
ly across the child's back and

provides necessary head sup-
port is mandatory.

A front-facing toddler seat
for children between 20 and 40
pounds is required.

A lap belt for children
weighing more than 40 pounds
can be combined with a bucket
car seat or used alone.

The regulations are for
children who are passengers in
their parent’s or guardian's
car.

When the child is in a vehi-
cle other than their parent’s or
guardian's, a seatbelt is accep-
table, providing the child
weighs more than 20 pounds.

If children move from one
vehicle to another often, Irons
suggests parents use a bucket
car seat that’s easily trans-
ferable from one car to
another.

Failure to comply with the
new regulations could result in
a $50 fine against the driver of
the car.

Newborn car seats available
for rent through the Lion’s
Gate Women’s Auxilary are
$25 for six months.

The seats were donated by
the North Vancouver city and
district’ fire departments
through their union locals.

The North Vancouver
RCMP and the North Shore
Safety Council as well as
several other organizations
provided the seats.