When is the SPCA not the SPCA?

[superluser]

Google SPCA.

What's the first hit?  spca.com, site of Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, International.  It lists offices in Los Angeles and DC, it's incorporated in Delaware, and has a mailing address in New Hampshire.  Sounds like your average US headquarters for an international organization, right?

Turns out it's actually a website for the SPCA of Montreal, under investigation by the local police.

The ASPCA has also started doing their own investigation.

See, for example: http://montreal.ctv.ca/cfcf/news/special
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/montreal/story.html?id=f4e63ab8-7a4c-4242-a7ed-372bfb94b311

Prior to this, the Montreal SPCA was soliciting donations as the Canadian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (a title the society inherited when it was the first SPCA in Canada), implying that the organization was nationwide, despite the fact that the organization only serves portions of Quebec.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2006/11/27/nb-spca.html
http://www.jowlflapper.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=481&sid=beb4bec0c1097a48a5d63c2fd7b25dfb

I don't like to get alarmist, but I did see that at least five separate people (not from Montreal) have requested that memorials of their deaths be made out to this group.

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=%22spca%2C+international%22+memorials

Most of the blame seems to be levelled at Pierre Barnoti, the head of the group, but it's unclear how much of this is scapegoating.

I'd suggest that until the police finish this investigation, you should look at the ASPCA, at http://www.aspca.org , which is actually a trustworthy organization.

[rabid_fox]

Recent events in Northern Ireland have completely shattered my faith in charitable associations dedicated to animal welfare.

I bore witness to one of the most cynical character assassinations I've ever seen, put together and enacted by the USPCA.

[Alondro]

Does this mean ALF and PETA aren't the most honorable and holy and sacred groups on Earth either?   Oh noes!  My whole foundation of belief is in ruins!   

*jumps of tall cliff in despair... but since South Jersey doesn't really have cliffs, the best he can do is the edge of a 10-foot sandpit*   Huh, that weren't so bad.