New Brunswick SPCA lays off executive director

The New Brunswick SPCA said it has laid off its executive director Hilary Howes in an effort to improve a financial situation that has left it with a deficit.

In a release issued Wednesday afternoon, the NBSPCA said they have faced increased costs because of more public demand for their animal protection services. Cutting administrative staff, they said, would mean more funding for officers in the field.

NBSPCA president Steven Turner said last year they were given a special grant to help implement the new dog tethering regulations brought in by the province, but they understood it would not be continued into 2016.

New Brunswick became the first province to ban the tethering of dogs 24 hours a day on Dec. 1, 2014.

The regulatory changes were put in place just months after public outrage over a Kent County dog being tethered to its snowed-in doghouse while its owner was away.

Howe has been vocal in hisposition that dogs aren't the problem in New Brunswick,but an out of control cat population is exhausting their resources.