SPA Geneva: Towards the return of old firm firm?

The concern grows at the SPA (Geneva Society for the Protection of Animals) after the current committee was pushed to resign on July 15. That day, an unusually garnished general meeting refused to vote all the reports (accounts, activity, management, etc.) presented by the management team, forcing him to submit his mandate and to organize a new election by mid-August.

This Thursday, the SPA foundation, owner of the animal shelter, disseminated a statement reporting its “concern”. She recalled the context: an audit carried out in 2024 had noted “serious malfunctions at the operational level”. It was notably a question of mistreatment of animals, chronic under-effective and a toxic working climate. At the beginning of 2025, the committee had dismissed the director and five employees.

Since then, calm had returned, assures the foundation. “A peaceful working climate now allows teams to carry out their well-being mission calmly with animals, volunteers are back in number and increased adoptions.” Testimonials from employees are concordant. They speak of a “dynamic and united team”, dogs better treated than before, a decreased occupancy rate and new collaborations with other spa.

These collaborators fear that this new momentum will be killed in the egg, just like the Foundation. Indeed, writes this one, “the attempt to reversing was organized by former executives and their relatives to take control of the operational exploitation of the Vailly domain”. She says she is thus worried about the “potential consequences of this reversal, which would see an old team, united against nature, taking hostage” the small twenty employees of the refuge. It evokes “the risk of seeing a team that has been discredited by unacceptable behaviors” and “the destabilization of the current, united and professional team, which has been doing considerable work for several months”. In addition, she “hopes that animals do not have to be the victims of unworthy and resentful behavior” of the people returned.

Employees express the same concern: “that the elders, licensed at the beginning of the year, return to management would be a disaster both in terms of human level – because the whole current team would be thanked – and at the animal level”. And to evoke “an unacceptable backtrack”.

The final reversal of the resigning committee is, however, of the order of the possible, since the Geneva SPA has 5000 members. Usually, a general meeting brings together around forty. In July, the voters were more than 80. And nothing prevents protesters from bowling more mid-August.

The Foundation does not hear it from this ear. As the owner of the refuge, she intends to “follow closely the worrying development of the situation. And make sure that the animal cause and the well-being of employees are at the heart of the issues. ”