Are the RSPCA just as bad as the Kennel Club

[GSDOWNER]

R.S.P.C.A.

1985 Annual Report the RSPCA investigated poor quality pups bought through newspaper adverts.
1989 Puppy farming debate – Labour MP Alan Williams was prompted to tighten up laws relating to puppy farming such as granting rights of entry to unlicensed breeding farms. Promising discussions were held with the Home Office.
1990RSPCA campaign for improved legislation for puppy farms Quote from Joan Haggan “When 1000 unwanted dogs are destroyed each day more puppies are being cruelly mass produced”
1996 RSPCA worked with APPGAM to produce a report on puppy farms which are of grave concern.
1997 RSPCA Inspectors investigated links between puppy farmers and London pet shops.
1998Special Operations investigated cases of puppy farming and formed with other charities to advise on legislation to ban puppy farms. So how many puppy farmers have been prosecuted ?
1999Letter received from Jackie Ballard, Director General of RSPCA dated 12th July 2004 states “The RSPCA does not currently have any printed literature or campaign stickers specifically on the subject of puppy farming, and this is because the law pertaining to the Breeding & Sale of Dogs was changed at the end of 1999 and so the RSPCA ceased campaigning.”
2005 Trustee’s Report “The Society’s Special Operations Unit had a busy year in 2005 investigating a variety of illegal acts of animal cruelty including the following PUPPY FARMING – many man-hours were spent investigating Irish & Welsh puppy farms as well as their UK outlets and as a result several prosecutions are pending. Wording not dissimilar to that of 1998

IN TWENTY ONE YEARS WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED?

PUPPY FARMING IS NOW OUT OF CONTROL

In January 2006 the first meeting of yet another new group was formed between that famous, fearsome foursome RSPCA, Dogs Trust, Defra and Kennel Club to agree a definition of the term “puppy farming” and to develop a joint and co-ordinated strategy. Oh, Please – not again, not more strategies, just get on with the job and stop wasting time with meetings, discussions and lunches. WE ARE NOW IN SEPTEMBER AND IT APPEARS THAT NO ACTION HAS BEEN TAKEN - WHAT A SURPRISE
In the RSPCA’s 1987 Annual Report they held a meeting with Kennel Club and BVA to consider ways to reduce over dog population, RSPCA suggested changes in law based on Inspectorate data identifying the problem to be incorporated as recommended to be published in 1988
We have now received over360 complaints from the public of sick puppies sold by breeders, dealers or pet shops many of them with false pedigrees. Twenty pet owners contacted the RSPCA and, not unusually, the inspectors walked away from them all. Two puppy farms were uncovered by us, one in St. Fagans which the BBC televised, termed a “dog concentration camp”. The RSPCA Inspector refused to work with us to help rescue the fifty dogs incarcerated in this hellhole. He told us that if the RSPCA moved them they would all be pts and, although we had places for these poor souls that needed veterinary treatment we were told that the RSPCA was not allowed to work with us. The second was televised by Wales this Week, 40 dogs living in filthy conditions, rat holes in the pens and dogs unsocialised. RSPCA had been notified of the suffering twelve months ago, the neighbours had even sent them a video which the RSPCA denied having received. We were then involved but were unable to remove the dogs, yet again we have arranged places for them. Neither the police nor RSPCA have prosecuted the breeder.

A bird became impaled on the roof of Whitchurch Hospital, five calls were apparently made to the RSPCA by the hospital staff, the Inspector was willing to pay the fire service £500 to rescue the bird but they were not prepared to attend unless accompanied by an Inspector. Five hours later the bird was dead. We wrote to the NHS Trust asking for the spikes to be capped. This is what we term preventative cruelty.

We attend to road traffic accidents (as do many rescues) when the RSPCA fail to attend. One classic case was of a Springer Spaniel found injured in a hedge in Merthyr. RSPCA told the finder to ring PDSA, they, in turn, refused as the dog was not in the right area. Eventually we were contacted, we called the vet out at nine pm, the dog was operated on next day. The bill came to £1,200.

RSPCA also refused to attend to a cat that had been run over, we also collected that one and the RSPCA lost donations from a whole street of residents.

We contacted Superintendent Martyn Hubbard with a variety of problems including puppies being sold at various fairs or car boot sites, he replied by giving us the Cruelty Hot Line tel.no. which we have no intention of ringing as it is very costly to ring an 0870 number. The DVLA grossed over £2m in one year from that prefix, so given that the RSPCA receives over one million calls per year what is their income from it?

We are horrified to learn, as are many of the veterinary practices contacted, that RSPCA Hospital, Greater Manchester are spaying and neutering puppies at the age of 12 weeks. According to ukdoodles.com vets employed at RSPCA, namely Hayes & Yates have been spaying at this age for three years.

The RSPCA has now set up an Animal Welfare Network for voluntary organisations in Wales, or that is what we were initially told but it appears to have changed to include non-voluntary groups in England and Wales. Are we being too precocious in presuming that the questionnaire sent out to 500 organisations in Wales probing into who our sponsors/patrons are, how many members we each have and are they fee paying is really more to do with the RSPCA’s big-brother future control over small rescues?
I attended the conference held at Crickhowell on 6th October, uninvited of course, and I managed to ask two questions before being asked to leave by Alun Thomas of Greyhound Rescue (Wales). Lorraine Barrett AM ( Chair of All Party Animal Welfare Group) within the Assembly was running through her list of subjects already discussed before our arrival – I politely asked why puppy farming, the shame of Wales, had not been included, she refused to be drawn into a discussion on the subject stating that she had a plane to catch!!!. Puppy farming had not even been included on her agenda.
Later I asked the RSPCA representative ( who holds a seat on the Welsh Ass.) that as there are 500 animal related organisations in Wales dealing with road traffic accidents, strays and neutering and spaying, what is the RSPCA doing? She refused to answer the question as I was not a member of the network!!!
We wrote to the Wales Council for Voluntary Action on 10th September asking why a donation of £4,000 was given to the RSPCA to set up this network when the RSPCA is not a voluntary organisation. No reply as at 11th October 2006


The public is under the illusion that donations are used for enriching the lives of animals. Not so. Much of it is being wasted on conferences and trips abroad by executive staff and research. There is no mention in Charity Law Journal that money donated must be spent on the beneficiaries of a charity, it can be, and often is, used for administrative purposes.

Whilst the RSPCA is sobbing into its illusory empty coffers, pleading for funds to continue its policy of “preventative” cruelty, there were vacancies advertised for administrative staff totalling APPROXIMATELY £319,000 per annum within the past two months of 2006. Their income is approximately £100M per annum.

RSPCA Hospital in Merthyr has recently opened its doors to those on benefits offering canine neutering for a donation of £25.00.
Sounds very generous until we discovered that the Dogs Trust pours their funds into RSPCA coffers of £80 for each dog neutered. Is this to boost the Dogs Trust statistics of dogs neutered in Wales
or will RSPCA claim the credit? In response to my query Clarissa Baldwin explained in her letter of 18th November 2005 that they work with their fellow animal charities such as RSPCA, Cats Protection and PDSA in order to REDUCE THEIR COSTS to enable more neutering work to be carried out in key areas.
Perhaps someone can explain how D.T. are reducing their costs by subsidising RSPCA. We are still awaiting replies to our Letters to D.T. of 4th and 30th December 2006.


Page four of South Wales Echo dated 18th November 06, the RSPCA will be hosting a reception at the Assembly for AMs and guests to celebrate the Animal Welfare Act. It was not mentioned that the Act does not come into effect until April 2007. Whilst funds are being wasted on such frivolity it is unbelievable that on page 11 RSPCA Newport Animal Centre is asking for donations from the public to fund eye operations on kittens. They have two options. Either the money being wasted on a party at the Assembly could be put to better use by donating it to the Animal Centre to help animals or Newport could apply to head office for a slice of the £100M income received by RSPCA in 2005. In an email from RSPCA Enquiries Service they noted from their database that there had been a large amount of correspondence between us and the RSPCA on a variety of issues but they were anxious to assure us that RSPCA funds and resources are sued appropriately and used where they are needed most. So, a reception at the Ass. is more appropriate and more urgent than spending money on the beneficiaries of their charity.




In 2002 Philip Daubeny claimed that D.T. provided care for 11,000 dogs yet in 2005 in the Christmas letter to its members D.T. claimed that 13,000 dogs had been cared for. If neutering is so successful why is there a marked increase of 2,000 in a three year period.?

DID YOU KNOW THAT

The RSPCA employs 1,500 admin staff, some with added bonus, all with private health care benefits and subsidised canteen,
There are only 323 Inspectors to 1,500 Admin Staff equalling 5 – 1.
The RSPCA’s Director General’s salary is £93,000 per annum

NCDL (now Dogs Trust) pride & joy is the Dogmobile touring the country selling dogs. It cost £90,000 donated by the Pet Plan Trust of which Dogs Trust Chief Exec., Clarissa Baldwin, also happens to be a trustee.

1992-1999 Research into the study of commercial and welfare aspects on 3 different farrowing systems to discover if any of the systems can provide sows with more freedom while farrowing.MAFF (which is now changed to Defra) had spent £2.5m on 6 farrowing related projects since 1992. The RSPCA and Tesco sponsored a further research costing £400,000 over a 3 year period. So, it has taken TEN years and nearly £3m to find out how much space a sow requires to produce a litter of pigs.
The launch was hosted by RSPCA – One wonders if ham salad was on the menu

The Cats Protection funded an experiment to the tune of £250,000 over a five year period to Dr. Rachael Casey of Southampton University to investigate the currently unexplored world of cat behaviour. Her report in March 2001 reads “Cats are very different from us, they are solitary nocturnal animals and have a very different way of perceiving and reacting to the world”. Not so very different from some humans then.
Surely £50,000 per year could have been better spent on neutering clinics, particularly in Wales.

[shelley]

I had to smile reading that. My husband works for the police, and some years back he worked in the control room. He would often have people phoning in about deer or dog's that had been run over but were alive. He would then phone the RSPCA and ask them to go out to the animal, the reply he would get all the time was "Can't you send a police officer out to deal with it?" His reply was no because the animal wasn't commiting a crime! The would also tell him to phone a local vet and let them deal with the animal. I can tell you he had many an arguments over what the RSPCA should be doing for injured animals!!

I haven't given money to the RSPCA for many years!

The RSPCA also refused to pay for their officers to be trained on exotic animal care, a cost of just £800, but they had just happily spent £27,000 on new carpets and executive desks for their head office!

They also managed to drown a tortoise that they thought was a turtle! The old lady who had lost her tortoise actually phoned them up to see if a tortoise had been handed in, they told her they hadn't had any in! I'm not sure how the Tortoise Trust found aout about it, but they did!

[GSDOWNER]

so liking your replys, the RSPCA to me are again a waste of time, I used to give a donation each month to them........but I stopped that months ago

[shelley]

If only there was a way of letting all the RSPCA supporters know what they are really like! I think a lot of people would be shocked to find out they are only interested in helping animals out if there is a TV camera or Rolf Harris about!

[GSDOWNER]

This is what we are trying to do.......reach out to the dog owner, it will take time, but its not un achievable, I have been letting so many dog forums today know of this appeal.........so again I can pray that it will work, especially now that I know a dogs life is out there........and they are doing a bloody good job

[GypsyGSD]

I agree with what has been writen ,but I must add my local rspca have again taken in a large amount of dogs from a local horder, this is not the first time he has been prosecuted by them , and I belive its going to court again . I have also seen a gsd that had been shot because it licked a childs hand so they put it in corner and shot it, another who had hot cooking oil poured over it hind leg all owners were prosecuted. Im not saying I agree with there polices on certain issues , but I have seen some of the work they do

[Hammy]

I have had 3 dealings with the RSPCA and on all three occasions there response was negative and the welfare of the animals involved seemed far from their concern. I know of people who have had similer experiences. Not now or ever will I give the RSPCA my time or Money.

[LOVEGSD]

I too have no time for the RSPCA.....we went to our local shelter and I have to say I found the staff rude, disinterested and they looked down their noses at us because we had an unneutered GSD...even though we were having no issues with him. I would never give any money to them!!

I would rather donate to my local animal rescue NAWT...lovely staff and total concern for the welfare of their animals.

[GypsyGSD]

This is a case in my local paer today
105 animals were kept in squalor

A pensioner accused of causing to more than 100 animals was in breech of a previous 5 year ban
63 dogs and 42 ferrets were kept in filthy and overcrowded conditions

rspca inspectors told of over powering stench of faeces, ammonia and rotting food , while a policeman described hearing dogs barking and crying
the majority were found in poorly ventilated and cramped conditions with little or no bedding there were as many as 5 dogs and 7 ferrets per enclosure many were covered in faeces and urine some dogs had pressue sore and 3 were malnourished dog were fed on pigs swill consiting of rice ,chips oranges and glace cherrys
3 were malnourised water supply was non-exixtent case continues

this is a just short pieces i have read in our local paper at least in this case the rspca are doing there job Gypsy X

[alaskanmalamute]

Great reading, about the rspca I am not shocked though its been going on for years