A former Hamilton SPCA senior fundraiser says she quit because she could no longer face asking for cash knowing it wasn't all being spent to help animals.

"I left because I could not look donors in the eye and myself in the mirror anymore," said Brenda Dushko, 50, yesterday.

"I could not look them in the eye knowing the money was not going where they thought it was going."

Dushko, who now works for the Oakville and District Humane Society, worked at the Hamilton-Burlington SPCA from January 2007 to January 2009 as the shelter's development co-ordinator of corporate sponsorships and annual giving programs.

Her ethical conflict became unbearable, she said, because SPCA donations were funding a planned amalgamation with The Equestrian Association for the Disabled (TEAD), which provides riding therapy, rehabilitation and recreation opportunities for children and adults with disabilities.

Jacqueline Roth, the shelter's vice-president and director of development, said Dushko was a very good employee.

"That is her perception, I can't comment on that," Roth said yesterday of Dushko's comments.

At a contentious special membership meeting Tuesday, SPCA officials revealed the not-for-profit shelter had spent about $100,000 to pay TEAD employee salaries for the past 18 months.

The board also told members the charity's projected $90,000 deficit has ballooned to $400,000, in part because of the severe economic slowdown and lost adoption fee revenue when the shelter suspended the importation of so-called hurricane Katrina dogs rescued from Louisiana.

The SPCA received a grant from the Ontario SPCA to build a universally praised in-house animal clinic to service shelter animals, but Dushko felt too much SPCA cash was spent on a temporary building needed to house staff displaced by the clinic.

The donated cash, including small amounts from everyday animal lovers, "wasn't going to help animals any longer."

Dushko said she also became increasingly concerned with how animals were being cared for during her time at the Dartnall Road facility.

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Employee left SPCA for ethical reasons