Winnie is available for adoption at CSPCA. (Submitted photo)

By Patrick McLaughlin,

SPCA Executive Director

NORWICH – I'm not only nerdy about numbers and graphs. I also really enjoy foreign languages. That's why I can say with such confidence that the Chenango SPCA is heading toward a crisis.

You may be used to the word "crisis" meaning "disaster" or "catastrophe," but the people who invented the word, the Greeks, used it in a different way: For them, "crisis" was the turning point in an illness, when it becomes clear that the patient is either definitely going to pull through, or definitely going to die.

With that cleared up, in what way is the Chenango SPCA approaching a "crisis"? Over the past few months, I've written a number of email updates about how things in the animal welfare field are changing, and we'll have to change with them. I've talked about the new Companion Animal Care Standards Act. I've mentioned that we are constantly full. The Evening Sun and WBNG even ran stories about it. I've compared us to a private school operating in a community that doesn't have a public school.