Reviews of BC SPCA Nanaimo Community Animal Centre (Zoo)

Geraldine H.

Updated review ( changing rating to a 4 star, previously 2) After posting my review (below) I was contacted by the Nanaimo shelter manager. Apparently, the number I phoned about this wasn't in Nanaimo. But it was the number I was referred to by the Nanaimo SPCA so I had assumed that they were working together. The manager is now looking into this matter with the Call Center I talked to previously. Whoever IS responsible for this particular cruelty call, it was definitely not handled as it should have been. I still don't know if anyone has been out to even check on this dog, let alone get him out of the bad situation I noted at this house. I'm still very unhappy with how this was handled but it was NOT due to lack of follow up or negligence of a staff member here in Nanaimo. ................................................. my previous review I wish I could give the Nanaimo SPCA a higher rating. Unfortunately, given my own (albeit limited) interaction with them, I'm not impressed. I first contacted their cruelty phone-line on November 15, 18 (end of last year), regarding a situation about a dog in distress that I definitely believed needed looking into. The representative I spoke to that day (Abigail) was quite friendly and did listen to all the details of my complaint. She told me that someone would follow up with me, after this complaint was looked into. I then called back on November 30th as I kept thinking about this dog and was hoping for some positive updates. I spoke to Abigail again that day. She did not have any further updates to share, but assured me that the complaint was being looked into and that I would be hearing back from someone about it, within a reasonable length of time. I understand that investigations like this can take some time to assess and follow up on. I worked into this industry, years ago at a large animal shelter. But as of today, February 8,19 no one has called me back about this. Almost 3 months and NO updates is unacceptable, imo. ???? I'm still wondering what has happened to this poor dog, but I'm not going to keep calling back. I've already done my part. Definitely room for improvement. You can't expect the public to report situations like this or to feel good about the services you are providing, IF you can't get back to someone who asked for an update, within a reasonable length of time. The welfare of this dog in distress was important to me. It should be to the SPCA as well.

Tom

Nice,I'm sure much better than the old place. The rabbits even like the surroundings.

Derek Bodner

Feeding the local ???? ???? what they need local leafs...not bread....or carrots....

stravello s

Terrific. Very accessable and welcoming to those with diverse abilities.

James Goodman

Amazing Helpful Staff ????

Jeremy Tolmie

This is the best place to adopt a pet.

Alexandra Bedard

Visited this shelter with my partner a week ago, and we were so impressed! The space is big and well-maintained, the staff is really friendly and helpful. You can visit with the smaller animals and cats, and see the dogs if they’re in their rooms. Nicest SPCA I’ve been to!

Mike Mcleod

The SPCA is a thankless job and the people that work there are amazing with animals. Lots of compassion and over nice clean place to view potential pets

Sue Kukuruzovic

Beautiful building & grounds. I haven't used any of their services though, have only dropped off donations. Volunteer hours are only 1 to 4pm....

Erin Sowerby Greene

The most beautiful SPCA shelter I've ever seen!

Jeffrey Kelland

Well run, extremely organized. But most importantly a group of passionate and positive people who care deeply about animals. A fantastic adoption experience

Shirley Perry

Very helpful staff, nice to see people can come and spend time with the animals

Laurel Bliss

Awesome staff, helped a hard decision be a softer blow ????

Jonathan Hines

Very nice place and staff

Islanders Outdoor Maintenance

Could not say more about all the work these guys and girls do for all the animals! We appreciate you all so much! Keep it up! And "Luna" Aka Amy says meow!

David Jenkins (GL00M)

We used the dog wash. It was clean and well setup. 10$ for 10 minutes.

Bobby F Parihar

Loved the atmosphere and helpful staff

Jansait Qughondouqa

Friendliest staff. Cutest animals. Great services. Community advocates. I love this place. I adopted from them, I volunteered with them and enjoyed pre-covid atmosphere. They truly care about animals. Always ready to give advices and support post adoption. In our case it eventually didn’t work out (still our heart is broken) but they were very understanding of our case and provided ultimate support. I truly recommend you check the animals they have and give them a chance before looking anywhere else. The only thing I would like to see improved is the website va real life information. Sometimes animals would appear available but they’re pending or aren’t available. Sometimes the info isn’t enough on the website or missing information.

The Great Sam Walker

Clean and organized and lots of great stuff and friendly caring staff

Chris Istace

We visited the brand new facility this past weekend and it is modern well designed building. The animal adoption rooms well kid out and easy to see the animals. A nice pet supply shopping area, a fun little community room which a birthday party was actually occurring and a really cool outdoor dog play area. Staff were extremely informative and helpful

Susan Alexander

A wonderful facility with great spaces for all the animals. The staff is friendly and helpful.

Chumlee Mumbles

Very professional here. Seems to be a good place for adoptable animals to hang out in. Room to move and plenty of area to walk around in. Always love spcas.

-Alita Denesyk

Great location. Friendly staff.

Heidi S.

Great place to host a party. Particularly a Shiba Inu birthday party. Thanks for all the hard work the people at the bcspca do!

Fungi Spoores

Really knowledgeable and caring staff

Lesley Gallagher

Nice and helpful staff.

Chris Camaro

Thanks miss ya guys also and the dogs and cats also ..

Rob Shearer

This is a beautiful new facility. It is large, bright and open, with excellent air circulation. Lots of running room outside as well. The animals we met seemed happy with the upgrade! Everyone at the SPCA is so dedicated to helping find their temporary (hopefully) residents find a forever home. All the animals were well taken care of. I particularly enjoyed the cat condos and patios. They try to make each animal as comfortable as possible while they wait to be adopted. The staff and volunteers are helpful and efficient. If you can't adopt a pet, you should consider making a donation. If you can't make a donation then you should consider volunteering. You'll be glad you did.

jordan mackay

Great place

Sammy Brandt

The building is very nice, as are the staff.

Dominique Matthews IFBB Pro

Adopted a dog here. The team there is so kind and they love the animals as if they were there's. Best SPCA I've ever been to

Kelly O'Dwyer

We found our fur baby !!!❤️❤️❤️

Jean-Guy Niquet

Not the friendliest staff. Dogs go fast here. Walked away feeling like I could get a dog from somewhere else if it means I don't have to deal with the staff here.

Jenna S

The SPCA is such a nice place and the staff are amazing. One wish though.. I would like it if you could interact with the dogs. If some of the dogs were available to play with/visit. 9.5/10 ????????????????????

Guybrush Threepwood

This was our first visit and we were extremely impressed with the staff, their knowledge and friendliness. We visited a second time to check up on the stray cat we found and were happy to see he was being taken care of and we could tell everyone working there was genuinely fond of him. I recommend a visit just to see the facility and speak to the staff about what they do there.

Brody Griffiths

They've made the adoption process so difficult and convoluted that it appears they would rather have animals living in cages than getting good homes. Needing to file individual applications to be allowed on site just to meet the animal, not allowing me to inquire over the phone, and just generally rude. Yeah, apparently I need to file an adoption form for every single animal I want to even be allowed to meet.

Paige Labrecuqe

Very good experience and love my kitty I got

Jean Corminboeuf

Great staff

Emily Losell

I went to a camp here when I was younger and I hope someday when it reopens I can get a summer job here. I know you don’t pay, I just love all the animals. Thank you for being awesome.

Bobby & Sally Parihar

Their Service was lacking and unhelpful. Seemed disinterested in our conversation.

Jade Wolf

The BC SPCA is a very caring loving place to be they take animal of the streets maybe you should Bolen terr or adopt for the BC SPCA people that leave rude comments . I like the spca if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all

Christopher Stymiest

Great staff!

mar l

Obviously the spca and people involved have made a positive difference to animal well-being

Tanya Lesstrange

I love visiting here.

Kaitlin MacPherson

The staff there are so friendly!!! I also love that they have proper housing for the animals and you're allowed to interact with the little creatures

Original Guru

Terrible experience. They have over 10 people staffed and nobody wants to open a door so people can pet and get to know the dogs? "You have to fill out an application form and then maybe you can take them for a walk." What..?? Why aren't these cages open to the public so we can interact with these poor animals. The dog we were looking at was crying and begging to be played with, yet the staff just says "Aweh why are you sad girl?" Maybe because you don't let anybody play with her. Terrible staff with even worse procedures. Will not visit or support this branch again.

Adelheid Francis Teshendorf

I really appreciate the work you do in helping animals (investigations, sheltering, adoptions, etc) but your Nanaimo front end staff should be encouraged to be a bit more friendly and polite to your human clientele.

Yard Plots

Super kind and caring staff

Fraser Coltman

The staff were very helpful in assisting with our adoption of a cat. The location is spacious, clean, and it includes a pet supply area with decent prices.

Kathy Tucker

Thank you for hosting Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Vancouver Island during Spring Break this year!@

Michael Bruce

I use to be a volunteer at the old location, what a huge difference! The facility is of course larger but the layout is great. The staff seem to be happier and the volunteers are more relaxed. The animals are less stressed and therefore healthier which hopefully means faster adoption. If my health was better, I would love to return as a volunteer again.

Susan Fraser

Their dog wash system is the best! ????

Bryan Leach

Bright and airy. Staff and volunteers are so helpful.

Charles Nelson

Nothing but impressive

Monique highdeehoe69

They help so ,much with animals

cheryl Johnson (ladylacasse)

Animals need all help they can get!

Junya Wu

Great staff and wonderful place for the animals and the nice people who want to find a pet

Pauline Webb

The staff are incredibly polite and helpful. Wonderful new premises, and a dog park.

Sandy Carey

Love this place.

Silvia Luscher

since adopting a cat we are being inundated by Petsecure, disappointed that SPCA will sell my address without asking permission

Noah Wright

I find the staff at the Courtenay SPCA to be very rude. We went to Nanaimo just to deal with friendly people.

Becky W.

Was in this location with my autistic son who was standing very close to the fish tank. No one had an issue with this except for the heavy set blonde women who got angry that my son was standing so close to the fish tank. Will not recommend this location and will be getting our dog elsewhere

Rob Hamilton

Puppy traing with positivedog.com !!!

Chris Flynn

Thank you Nanaimo SPCA for helping us get our sweet dog the help he needed!

Mary Hudson

Beautiful space & I always see volunteers walking the dogs along the road! They have an AWESOME dog washing station $10 for 10 mins (complete with shampoo, conditioner and a heavy duty blow dryer - my husky mix looks like a new dog every time)!

Laura Hahn

Always such a pleasant time going there. Their staff is friendly and animals are all well cared for :)

Scott Kennedy

I go there for the off leash park. You have to pay but it is close to my house.

Sabrina Hornfeldt

A great place for animals and humans. Many animals looking for homes here. Staff and volunteers are friendly with big hearts. There is a dog washing station here, a big and small dog park, conference room for rent, and a pet accessory shop area, AND a place for kids to visit outside called Gleebville where there are little "fairy doors" located under an apple tree. Kids can visit for free and open the Gleeb doors and take a small gift and exchange it for another gift they leave there for the Gleeb people. Lots of fun and a great addition to the community. :)

Colleen Crawford

2 dogs in the last 20 yrs. Bk lab husky cross from Comox shelter at 6 mos in 3 shelters. This was his last by 1wk when euthanizing was being used. He reached age 15 because of Anicare Vet in Victoria BC. We drove 4 hrs roundtrip when a friend told us about this. Using only holistic meds until the last year when we had 2 give him shots of Medicam Dr. SMITH extended his life by at least 3 yrs.

Lila Hardy

Everyone was great! Helped me out with my poor sick cat Rex❤ may he RIP. forever in our❤????????

Kathi Baart

The new beautiful SPCA shelter is a dream come true for the hard working shelter manager, directors, staff, volunteers and generous donors who helped to make this dream finally become a Reality. All the incoming animals will be grateful for nicer accommodations and new volunteers and programs in place. The Public can partake in touring the new facility, seeing the animals for adoption and learn about the many services and programs available. Nanaimo should be proud!

Thomas Nesbitt

Nice facility nice staff

Stephany Thompson

Great just great

Cassidy Stock

Not many animals to adopt at all...

Norman White

Off leash dog park. Dog wash $10 for 10 mins.

Russell Anderson

Very nice new facility. Great staff

Julie McGarvey

I would never support or donate to this Branch in Specific. *more like automated response below* cant even trust that its their attempt to shut you down ;) same with Vancouver Island Pets FB this get in touch with Leon gets posted all over it. Called SPCA they said L Davis was no longer with this branch. But this automated thingy still on :D We'll just leave it at that!

Warren Campbell

Adequate parking easy access friendly people who care for animals we're able to adopt a cat wished I could have taken them all if you can Bill Nate goes to a great cause

DAYNA

Would go back

Sam S.

Great facility and a great staff. We've adopted both of our cats from here, and each time has been quick and easy.

Travis Burgess

Took my girlfriend to see the animals and really enjoyed it but couldn't see the dogs

Heather Walker

My favorite place but I volunteer there so I'm biased. And since I volunteer there I'm NOT going to respond to any future requests

Bobbie Burgar

I adopted a 9 yr old cat from the SPCA and was just letting them know how she was doing.

Brett Lamontagne

Great people taking care of our friends

Marion Crafted

Such cute animals!

Barb Toole

What a nice well run facility.

Leslie Lipinski

Friendly and helpful staff. Beautiful facility and we have absolutely loved the dog park.

Jamie Largue

The volunteers seem to always be in a foul mood. And they don't seem too inclined to adopt the dogs out

Dave Royson

Nice friendly staff. Leon is awesome . Keep up the good work

Kevin Root

Awesome staff and alot of fur babies in need of good homes

Karen Williams

we are experiencing for first time our cat in heat is there a specific time we can bring her to spca .. for spay or neuter we arent sure even if she a he or she lol we are on disaBILITY welfare

Norm Shokal

Dont trust them

Darrin Shokal

Nice and friendly staff

Tanya Mack

My son collected money in lieu of a gift at his birthday to donate to the SPCA. They treated him awesome; he was pretty proud.

Keith Arkell

Beautiful new facility. Attentive, polite staff.

Tegan Soros

We adopted Toast at the end of June from Nanaimo and District SPCA - despite the abnormal constrains and increased business due to the impacts of covid, the Nanaimo branch was incredibly helpful in ensuring Toast had a great bill of health for adoption. Not only did she need to be spayed (at age 7! ... poor thing), she also had complicated dental issues due to malnutrition and poor oral hygiene - when she was taken in she was in visible pain and it limited her ability and desire to eat. After her tooth extraction and tartar removal her food loving personality ramped back up. Since we have adopted her, she is almost unrecognizable - her [borderline emaciated] small body has put on healthy weight, her patchy/rough fur has thickened up and is full of shine, and her timid/ nervous personality has developed into a playful cuddly demeanour. We are very grateful for all Nanaimo SPCA did to rescue and care for her so that we were able to adopt this special addition to out family.

Andre Montenegro

Nothing special.

edna ketcher

thank you , for caring and helping me to under stand,the question i asked..

Anne Jenkins

Awesome doggy wash

D Hudson

Love the girls there!!! Ended up taking there 2 finches Rufus and Coco home to my flock They so happt

Mo Jo

Did the Cats on Mats yoga. So much fun! Kitties all over. They were a little nervous so kitties moved a lot but it was fun. Looked at other kitties and some real cuties for adoption! Some nice shirts to pick from too as well!

Sol Park

Staff were very engaged and kind. We couldn’t find our new family member yet but we got to met beautiful cats!

Angela Forrest

Very nice new building.

Anne Walkosky

Don't hate it just had to drive by on my way home. Didn't stop so can't judge. The photo looks good.