My friend lives sortof up the mountain, around farm land, and she went down to her field to ride her horse's but there was a goat out side the gate so her horses would not go near it. She went near it and it went into the next field so she called the farmer who owned the field and he said its been roaming around the local area for a few weeks and other farmers have had to kick if off there land and asked her to get it out his field as he is trying to rest it. so she cornored it and called the RSPCA to report an abandond goat running lose, she was told that someone would come out and to waite with it. Half an hour passed and no one came so she called them back to see what was happening and the lady she spoke to said that no one was comming as they dont do farm animals only demestic pets!
Yet i see on the news today they RSPCA is looking for info on a lamb bumped in a bin, so they can help the cute little lamb but wont help the not so cute abandond goat.
She cant find an owner for this goat and cant keep it herself and it ran off and she saw it yesterday, infact allmost ran it over but it jumped a fence and is now roaming the foresty as far as she knows. Any one know who she could call to come and get it? South Wales carmarthenshire area.

Surely if it is out loose on roads then it is a matter for the police (Suejaw ?) As far as I understand it it represents a hazard to road users and the police must attend.
They will probably then call the RSPCA (Who are often seen on TV shows rounding up stray swans etc...) I thought RSPCA stood for Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals...not Royal society for prevention of cruelty to pets...the letters don't match LOL !!!!!
If you see it on the road again I would dial 999 after all it is an emergency as it could cause an accident. If it were on the motorway a 999 call would be the correct thing to do so why not a country road with much less visibility.
Aileen

Sounds typical of the RSPCA response we had last time we called them - total waste of time and money

These days, being the cynic that I am, I'd mention that we had a camera crew with us ;)  bet they'd turn up for that!

These days, being the cynic that I am, I'd mention that we had a camera crew with us ;-)  bet they'd turn up for that!

Even better, say there's a camera crew and the goat is a pedigree SHOW goat!!!

>I thought RSPCA stood for Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals...

When I worked at their HQ back in the 1970s the heirarchy used to be at pains to point out that 'Prevention of Cruelty' didn't mean 'rounding up strays' - it means educating people to prevent cruelty, and at a last resort if that failed, prosecuting after the event. If you think about it, who's being cruel to a stray goat? If it's on the road then it's a traffic hazard which is a police matter.

What about trying a Farm Animal Rescue?  There's various links on this website, you may find one that can help?

Slightly off topic a couple of years ago after pedigree dogs exposed i was approached by a lady at a local companion show , she worked for the RSPCA and wanted to know if i would bring my dog a local(well known) garden centre on their fund raising day ! she thought  he would encourage people to give being a big cuddly teddy bear , in no uncertain terms i told her what i thought  and didnt think it was appropriate as the rspca were against pedigree dogs (especially) ones that were shown  , smacks to me as double standards i have'nt and won't give to them rather support my local rescue and breed rescue. Sorry rant over

ill tell her to call the local police department, thinking of it there is a rescue not that far away then use to take farm animals as well as pets, ill have to look in the yellow pages to see if i can find them.

When I worked at their HQ back in the 1970s the heirarchy used to be at pains to point out that 'Prevention of Cruelty' didn't mean 'rounding up strays' - it means educating people to prevent cruelty, and at a last resort if that failed, prosecuting after the event. If you think about it, who's being cruel to a stray goat? If it's on the road then it's a traffic hazard which is a police matter.


This may be so JG, but the RSPCA were very quick to rescue anything in sight of a TV camera a few years back, regardless of whether it was in the animals' interests or even necessary in some cases - you must remember Animal Hospital etc. ?   Even now you get programmes about RSPCA rescue - Animal Rescue 24/7 is currently running on BBC1 and RSPCA officer are often featured ;)  

It's understandable that the public get the erroneous idea that the RSPCA are about rescue of animals?  Especially when there are also Rescue Shelters in their name as well? ;)

"you must remember Animal Hospital etc. ?"

What was wrong with animal hospital?

This may be so JG, but the RSPCA were very quick to rescue anything in sight of a TV camera a few years back,

And Animal 24:7 was still shown this year, with each programme ending with the presenter saying that if you knew of any animal, anywhere, that needed help, then call the RSPCA.

then call the RSPCA.

that is not what it says

> so why not a country road with much less visibility.
>

We frequently see deer on our roads.  Never thought to call the police though :)

Infact, sheep and wild goats have access to roads all over Britain. 

This animal does not appear to be suffering so I can well understand why they do not wish to send inspectors, perhaps many miles from base and away from any other emergencies, and perhaps then getting no sight of the creature.

If it is a wild goat I would say leave it alone it will cope very well, it needs no more help than a deer does, and if it is tame I would think a bucket of feed is all you need to catch it just as easily as the RSPCA.

> and if it is tame I would think a bucket of feed is all you need to catch it just as easily as the RSPCA

and what do you do with it then? The local farmers don't want it, the OP's friend can't keep it and the RSPCA aren't interested , so you have caught the goat and now you are stuck with it.

> so you have caught the goat and now you are stuck with it.

Good point.  If you don't have a home in mind and don't have the heart to take it to market best leave it alone for someone who can :) 
It does seem to be managing perfectly well on it's own and if the farmers want it off their land I am sure, sooner or later, they will take the time to round it up.  I think the farmer had a cheek asking the OPs friend to deal with it in the first place.

>What was wrong with animal hospital?

Apart from the completely unrealistic portrayal of animal rescue?   Nothing I suppose :(   It was the programme which gave the impression that the RSPCA would turn up and rescue anything with fur or feathers!

I well remember the episode where someone brought in a pipistrelle bat with a broken wing and the vets spent time x-raying it and mending it, then sent it off to be cared for whilst it healed etc. etc.

I also was at our vet's surgery not long before that when ... a pipistrelle bat was brought in with a broken wing.   The vet advised that the kindest thing would be PTS as it would be far too stressful for a wild creature to be treated and cared for and there was too little chance of a successful outcome for the Bat.

Then there were the urban foxes, taken in to surgery with broken bones and when better released into the countryside - no territory of their own and not used to finding food in that environment :(

too many instances to relate them all :(

I well remember the episode where someone brought in a pipistrelle bat with a broken wing and the vets spent time x-raying it and mending it, then sent it off to be cared for whilst it healed etc. etc.

I also was at our vet's surgery not long before that when ... a pipistrelle bat was brought in with a broken wing.   The vet advised that the kindest thing would be PTS as it would be far too stressful for a wild creature to be treated and cared for and there was too little chance of a successful outcome for the Bat

Firstly as a vet nurse that has worked for the RSPCA for 15 years, 6 at Putney Animal Hospital (4 years of filming Animal Hospital), and the last 9 years at one of the RSPCA's specialist wildlife centres, I find this comment interesting. Firstly alot of domestic vets do not have a clue about wildlife care. It is not too stressful for a bat to be rehabilitated, but might explain why a lot of vets either pts wildlife or send completely inappropriate cases to places like ours that SHOULD have been pts. Secondly, it depends on the type of fracture. Open fracture?......pts. Other fractures....depends on location and severity of damage. You certainly cannot pin a bat's wing let alone do microsurgery! Simple well aligned fractures may be given a chance to heal with rest, but they are few and far between.

Then there were the urban foxes, taken in to surgery with broken bones and when better released into the countryside - no territory of their own and not used to finding food in that environment
A common misconception of the RSPCA!
In the 6 years at Putney, we would NEVER have done this. Besides the domestic centres (animal hospitals) are only wildlife holding facilities and would never keep a fox with a fractured leg as it takes at least 6 weeks to heal. Most gets transferred to wildlife centres in those areas. Most of those wildlife rehabbers are non RSPCA, and sadly can choose what they do with those cases. Many do things that that the RSPCA would not deem suitable. For example a well known wildlife hospital in the south would amputate fox limbs, deer limbs, even neuter such cases. And this is why, any of these centres that takes RSPCA wildlife cases, and get paid annually by the RSPCA to do so, are now asked to sign a contract, to say they will follow RSPCA wildlife policies, which I can tell you are ALOT stricter. If they refuse? Well then they, as far as I know have to stop taking money off the RSPCA for taking RSPCA generated wildlife. One such case took 30,000 pounds off the RSPCA last year alone.
As for our specialised RSPCA wildlife centre and foxes with fractured limbs?....most are pts. It's not fair to keep such an animal for 6 weeks in care. Foxes are often known to self mutilate when stressed. Those foxes we do rehab and release get put back where they were found.
Hope that explains things a bit clearer from someone within :)

To call ours in we would rattle a couple of handfuls of feed in the bottom of a bucket - rabbit food or similar would do for you, just to make the noise. If it is tame , you could then put a rope around it's neck to take it in . But be careful as they can do a lot of damage with their horns !

If you don't have a home for it and you can't catch it then you will just have to leave it to it's own devices.
I would just feel sorry for it in the winter as ours didn't like the rain and cold.

She thinks he was owned by someone not wild, apperantly in good shape at the moment, i think she said he had long horns, but worried what will happen in winter as it gets soo bad up by her she gets snowed in. The farmers by her are not that nice, apperantly they have broken her fences in the past getting to a badger set with out asking her and just left them broken. If they did round him up he probley wouldnt live very long. Going to text her today and ask if she has seen him again and give the the number for Trallwm Farm animal sanctuary so she can see if they would rehome him.  Well that is if i can find my phone.

> I think the farmer had a cheek asking the OPs friend to deal with it in the first place.

I agree :-)
It does raise the question though - who do you turn to if you find a domesticated animal abandoned and the RSPCA won't help? I wonder what happened to the horse that was on the common/park land that Merlot? (was it Merlot or was it Gemini05? I remember bernese owner but not which one :-) ) was worried about last year?

The SSPCA website states : "The Scottish SPCA is the only animal welfare charity in Scotland that rescues and rehomes all animals, from domestic and farm animals to wildlife and exotic animals." so presumably, in Scotland, we would call them. According to the RSPCA website:

" We rescue animals from:

*cruelty
*accidents and injury
*abandonment
*disasters.

Rescued from accidents and injury
Pets, wildlife and farm animals all find themselves in need of a little assistance from time to time. When they do, we're here to help
It is never ok to abandon an animal and yet we regularly receive calls from concerned members of the public about animals who have been left out in the cold."

So presumably the OP's friend did the right thing calling them but they didn't live up to their stated purpose!

> who do you turn to if you find a domesticated animal abandoned

Not entirely convinced it is abandoned.  The OP's friend thinks it is but then that rather suggests someone knows who it belongs to in which case it would be a case of reporting them to the police for illegally abandoning it.  However, this appears to be in the area of the Brecon Beacons where wild goats live and it may simply be a male who has been made not very welcome by a herd and has mooched off on his own.

I may be wrong but I always think of them as a lobbing/prosecuting group, some of the local officers do their best to offer the GP help but many do not and they, the local people, seem very short of money but I suppose much of the donations must go to the lobbing people they certainly spend a fortune on adverts.

Goat curry is nice I am told ;)

> The SSPCA website states : "The Scottish SPCA is the only animal welfare charity in Scotland that rescues and rehomes all animals, from domestic and farm animals to wildlife and exotic animals." so presumably, in Scotland, we would call them. According to the RSPCA website:
>
> " We rescue animals from:
>
> *cruelty
> *accidents and injury
> *abandonment
> *disasters.
>

Shame they don't read their own website!

> I wonder what happened to the horse that was on the common/park land that Merlot? (was it Merlot or was it Gemini05?

It was Gemini05 as she's not that far from me and we were trying to find local horse rescue places in case, from what I gather it was owned by travellers.

I must admit I find the RSPCA in our area pretty hopeless too, I used to work at a veterinary surgery and had many dealings with them and it seems its difficult to get them to come to the aid of domestic animals let alone farm animals :( We once had a small mastiff cross pup come in that had been dumped behind some bins it had fluid on its lungs and was only about 6 weeks old, very poorly. We phoned the RSPCA who told us it was it was the local councils responsibility. Another time a lady brought a cat in who she knew the owner had moved and left it behind and it was still waiting outside the house but no one was in it. The poor cat was losing weight and was quite thin but again the answer from the RSPCA was that 'cats are free to roam there is nothing we can do'  The only time they would take one was if it had an injury.  Only last summer my friend reported a dog that was left in the garden when the owners up'd and left, no food and no water, people were feeding it under the gate, he did put a notice up for the owners but just said the dog isn't losing weight so there is nothing I can do, my friend said thats because everyone else is feeding it, he told her not to feed it and when it starts to lose weight he will be able to do something, the mind boggles, he could see it had no water but still done nothing. I could go on and on with the stories about the RSPCA and its first hand not a story from a friend who knew the bloke next who was speaking to a woman.......! Yet if there is a camera about they will rescue anything,

I've never heard much good about them either. My friend reported a lady several times, she had sold her a puppy and the woman had several dogs, but had since gone senile, kept forgetting to feed them so they were skin and bones, place stank to high heaven because she never let them out, she left them outside when she did remember, and one froze to death, another got out and got run over, limped back home with injuries and the woman didn't notice, dewclaws grown right round, embedded collars, all the horrible stuff you usually on see on telly. RSPCA came round several times and did NOTHING. Finally the lady died after several years of this and people were able to rescue the 2 or 3 that were all that survived by then. :-(

I would be more inclined to speak to a goat/farm rescue than the RSPCA. A number of years ago they turned up to 'rescue' a lost tortoise. When the owner got in touch with the RSPCA they denied that they had the tortoise and said that they had no tortoises. As it turned out they mistook the tortoise for a turtle and drowned it in a tank full of water whilst the owner was on the other end of the phone distraught!

There was a website with information on this at one point but I can no longer find it!