A charity-based animal hospital in Richmond is opening it doors next month, but the ability to do so didn’t come without a fight.
Eyal Lichtmann is the executive director of the Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS), which back in December, was told it couldn’t use that name.
The College of Veterinarians of British Columbia (CVBC) wouldn’t give it approval to have the word ‘regional’ in the title, but has now relented.
Lichtmann said it’s been there too long to change it now.
“For 23 years it’s been in the public,” he said.
The charity was expected to fork out $50,000 a month to keep up the legal battle with CVBC.
Generally, the process of name approval takes just three to four weeks, but Lichtmann said they had been fighting since July.
The society started losing money to legal fees and maintenance costs for the space, but now, things have changed.
“The College of Veterinarians have become very collaborative and been working very well with us, our name got approved,” Lichtmann said.
The hospital will be opening on Family Day, and is expecting accreditation soon.