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Claim analyzed
General“The number of animal protection calls in New Brunswick increased by roughly 50% from 2020 to 2024.”
Submitted by Fair Heron e4b4
The conclusion
Open in workbench →Official NBSPCA reporting supports the broad claim that call volume in 2024 was about 50% higher than in 2020. The main caveat is that publicly available materials are not fully transparent about which call category the percentage refers to, and some subcategories show different growth rates. So the direction and approximate magnitude are supported, but the metric is not perfectly defined.
Caveats
- The published sources do not clearly provide the 2020 baseline figure needed to independently verify the percentage.
- "Animal protection calls," "complaints," and cruelty/neglect reports may not be identical categories; some reports show different since-2020 increases for different measures.
- Most external coverage appears to repeat NBSPCA's framing rather than independently audit the underlying calculation.
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Sources
Sources used in the analysis
The New Brunswick SPCA (NBSPCA) has released its 2024 Annual Report, revealing the busiest year in its 145-year history. Calls to the NBSPCA reached an all-time high of 4,611 last year, including more than 3,000 reports of animal cruelty and neglect — a nearly 50 per cent increase since 2020.
In its 2024 annual report, the New Brunswick SPCA states that calls to SPCA-NB reached a record level of 4,611 last year, including more than 3,000 reports of cruelty and neglect towards animals. The organization notes this represents “an increase of nearly 50 percent since 2020.” The article frames this as the busiest year in the SPCA’s 145‑year history.
The Government of New Brunswick explains that if someone witnesses a situation where they suspect an animal is mistreated or neglected, they must report it to the New Brunswick SPCA by calling 1‑877‑722‑1522. It notes that an animal protection officer will conduct an investigation and take appropriate measures. This page establishes that SPCA‑NB is the official body receiving animal protection reports in the province.
Fredericton, N.B. — The New Brunswick SPCA (NBSPCA) responded to 4,795 complaints in 2025 — a four per cent increase over 2024 — marking the highest volume of calls in the organization’s history. Executive Director Lesley Rogers says there are several reasons for the increased demand for animal protection services, including a range of socio-economic issues. "We continue to see the impact of factors such as the increased cost of living, difficulty finding pet-friendly housing and an aging population," Rogers said.
The NBSPCA 2023 Annual Report notes: "In 2023, the NBSPCA recorded more than 4,000 calls, including 2,705 animal protection calls and 1,200 animal control calls." It further states: "Animal welfare and animal control calls have increased steadily over the past five years – in 2023, we recorded the highest amount since 2017; 2024 is shaping up to be even busier!" The report adds: "complaints, which have risen by 27 per cent since 2020" and separately that serious animal welfare calls "have increased by 62 per cent since 2020."
Reporting on SPCA-NB data, the article states: “The number of investigations related to cruelty or neglect of animals increased by nearly 50% from 2020 to 2024, according to the New Brunswick SPCA.” It adds that in 2024 the animal protection organization carried out more than 4,600 investigations, most linked to cruelty or neglect, and that this represented a 20% increase compared with 2023.
In a CTV News segment on the New Brunswick SPCA’s 2024 year-end report, the anchor notes that the organization "received more than 4600 calls with over 3,000 of those related to animal cruelty and neglect" in 2024. The report adds that these calls "are 50% higher than in 2020," and cites NBSPCA spokesperson Lesley Rogers explaining the uptick in calls and related pressures on shelters across the province.
In a Global News video report on the New Brunswick SPCA’s latest findings, the reporter states that the "New Brunswick SPCA says animal cruelty complaints have increased by 50 per cent since 2020." The segment explains that the organization’s new report shows 2024 as the busiest year on record for cruelty complaints and discusses the strain this has put on animal welfare services in the province.
The article reports that the New Brunswick SPCA received 4,611 calls involving animals in distress in 2024. It notes that this was “an 8.5 per cent increase from the previous year and the highest number of calls in the organization’s history” at that time, describing them as animal protection calls related to animals in distress, cruelty, or neglect.
Background knowledge: Public reporting by the New Brunswick SPCA around 2021–2022 indicated that the organization handled roughly 3,000 animal protection calls per year at the start of the decade. Later communications linked the 2024 figure of 4,611 total calls, and about 3,000 cruelty/neglect complaints, to an increase of about 50% in cruelty and neglect complaints since 2020, implying the 2020 baseline for such complaints was in the vicinity of 2,000 cases.
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The arguments
Two AI advocates debated this claim using the research gathered.
Argument for
Official data from the New Brunswick SPCA, the province's designated authority for animal protection reports, confirms that total calls reached an all-time high of 4,611 in 2024, representing a nearly 50 percent increase since 2020 (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3). This substantial growth is further validated by multiple independent news reports and the organization's own spokespeople, who explicitly state that these animal protection and cruelty complaints rose by 50% over this four-year period (Source 6, Source 7, Source 8).
The Proponent's case hinges on repeating NBSPCA's “nearly 50% since 2020” talking point (Source 1; Source 2) while failing to show the underlying 2020 baseline or even a stable definition of the numerator—those same materials bundle 4,611 “calls” with “more than 3,000” cruelty/neglect reports, making it unclear whether the 50% refers to total calls, cruelty/neglect reports, or another subset. The Proponent then commits an appeal-to-repetition by treating media restatements (Source 6; Source 7; Source 8) and the government's designation of the NBSPCA as the reporting intake (Source 3) as independent validation of the specific 2020–2024 percentage, despite NBSPCA's own 2023 Annual Report reporting different since-2020 changes for “complaints” (27%) and “serious animal welfare calls” (62%), which directly undermines the claimed like-for-like ~50% increase in “animal protection calls” (Source 5).
Argument against
The motion is false because the only explicit “nearly 50% since 2020” figure in the primary NBSPCA materials is not transparently tied to a like-for-like metric of “animal protection calls”: Source 1 and Source 2 cite 4,611 total calls in 2024 (including >3,000 cruelty/neglect reports) but do not publish the 2020 call count or define whether the 50% refers to total calls, cruelty/neglect reports, or some other subset. In fact, the NBSPCA's 2023 Annual Report reports “complaints… risen by 27 per cent since 2020” and separately “serious animal welfare calls… increased by 62 per cent since 2020” (Source 5), showing the change from 2020 to 2024 is not reliably “roughly 50%” for the category asserted and is being conflated across different measures.
The Opponent's argument relies on a false dichotomy regarding call categories, ignoring that Source 3 establishes the New Brunswick SPCA as the sole official body receiving animal protection reports, meaning all of their incoming calls regarding animals in distress constitute animal protection calls. Furthermore, the Opponent's attempt to sow doubt about the metrics is directly contradicted by Source 1, Source 2, and Source 7, which explicitly confirm that these animal protection calls and cruelty complaints increased by nearly 50 percent from 2020 to 2024.
Expert review
3 specialized AI experts evaluated the evidence and arguments.
Expert 1 — The Logic Examiner
Sources 1–2 explicitly assert that NBSPCA calls hit 4,611 in 2024 and that this level is “nearly 50%” higher than in 2020, and multiple media reports (6–8) repeat the same 50% framing, but none of these provide the 2020 baseline or a clear, stable definition showing the 50% applies specifically to the claim's metric (“animal protection calls”) rather than to a different subset (e.g., cruelty/neglect reports or investigations). Because Source 5 shows materially different “since 2020” percentage changes for different NBSPCA categories (27% for “complaints” and 62% for “serious animal welfare calls”), the inference that “animal protection calls” as such rose by ~50% from 2020 to 2024 is not logically secured and is likely a category-conflation/scope mismatch, making the claim misleading rather than cleanly true or false.
Expert 2 — The Context Analyst
The claim states a 'roughly 50%' increase in 'animal protection calls' from 2020 to 2024, which is directly supported by the NBSPCA's own 2024 Annual Report and corroborated by multiple media outlets (Sources 1, 2, 6, 7, 8). However, Source 5 (the 2023 Annual Report) reveals that different subcategories show different rates of increase: 'complaints' rose 27% since 2020, while 'serious animal welfare calls' rose 62% since 2020 — meaning the ~50% figure applies specifically to cruelty/neglect reports (the >3,000 subset), not necessarily to all 4,611 total calls. The claim conflates 'animal protection calls' with the cruelty/neglect subset without clarifying this distinction, and the 2020 baseline figure is never explicitly published, making the exact metric somewhat opaque. That said, the NBSPCA itself — the authoritative source — explicitly uses the 'nearly 50% since 2020' framing in its official 2024 Annual Report, and the claim's use of 'roughly 50%' is a reasonable characterization of the organization's own stated figure; the omission of the specific subcategory definition is a minor framing issue that does not fundamentally reverse the conclusion.
Expert 3 — The Source Auditor
Official reports from the New Brunswick SPCA (Source 1, Source 2) and major news outlets (Source 7, Source 8) consistently confirm that animal protection and cruelty calls increased by approximately 50% from 2020 to 2024. While the opponent points out minor variations in specific sub-categories of complaints (Source 5), the primary authoritative body explicitly and repeatedly defines this overall growth trend as nearly 50 percent.