As the only SPCA in Canada with a dedicated farm animal team, the BC SPCA has been able to impact hundreds of thousands of farm animals since we began in 1896.
One way we have improved the lives of farm animals has been the SPCA Certified program, our third-party animal welfare assurance program. This program certified farmers who raise their animals to high standards of care set out by the BC SPCA.
Since SPCA Certified began in 2002, other third-party animal welfare certification programs have been established. After extensive review, the BC SPCA has determined that we can make a bigger impact on farm animal welfare by reducing duplication of animal welfare assurance programs. As such, we will no longer be certifying farms under the SPCA Certified program. We have no doubt that our excellent SPCA Certified farms will continue to provide the highest standards of care for their animals, and if requested, the BC SPCA will provide assistance to transition their farm to another welfare assurance program.
The BC SPCA farm team will increase its focus on the following initiatives:
- Supporting our current SPCA Certified farmers in transitioning to other third-party animal welfare assurance programs.
- Advocating for policy change by contributing to the National Farm Animal Care Council’s Codes of Practice process. BC SPCA staff work with Humane Canada to represent animal welfare on the development of the “Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Goats” and “Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals: Transportation.”
- Advocating for farm animal welfare during consultations with government
- Continuing to educate about the ways each person’s daily actions can improve welfare for farm animals by helping people find and choose higher welfare foods.
The BC SPCA looks forward to this change allowing us to work closely with other certification programs while expanding our work in other important areas for farm animal welfare.
SPCA Certified has brought together consumers and farmers that are concerned about farm animal welfare. Together, we have improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of animals, and look forward to helping even more farm animals with our new initiatives.
Sign up for FarmSense to learn more about our future work.
How to find ethical food products
Third-party certifications audit their farms often to verify the farmer is raising animals to a higher standard of animal welfare than what is commonly done in the farming industry. Visit this page to learn more about ethically raised foods.
- Meet some of our SPCA Certified farmers