I have just passed the body of a JRT in the outside lane from Liverpool to Runcorn approach to the bridge. It appeared to have a red collar on so I travelled over the bridge and looped back to try and reteive the poor thing and possibly get the details from the collar and contact the owner! (Like I hope someone would do, if God forbid I ever lost one of mine) I wrapped the body up in a blanket put it in the boot and checked the collar. No name tag!!! So I took it along to Halewood RSPCA to see if they could dispose of the body. Closed. There was a guy outside opening the gates, obviously connected to the premises, so I explained the problem. "What a dead dog? Stick it over there by the side of the road, the Council will collect it tomorrow"!!!! Over there was a row of bottle bank skips!!! They have the cheek to come knocking on doors asking for donations, no chance!
Not sure what to do, :( so I found a local vets in Runcorn and left him wrapped up in the blanket by their back door?

The RSPCA are ( in my opinon ) not all they are cracked up be, don't get me wrong they do work hard and they do see really bad situations but when whenever i had called them and people i know have called them they have not been very quick to respond.
There was an instance when i went to visit my friend and her flat over looked some gardens.
It was evening and minus 6 outside and snowing, in one of the gardens there was a x breed tied to a drainpipe , no shelter water or food and no lights on in the house.
We watched for a few hours and the dog was still there.
So being me i went round the house knocked on the door , no answer.
We called the RSPCA and was told that there was no way anyone could come out as there was only one inspector for the whole of Herts , Bucks and Beds, and that he would not be available for two days at least.
We snuck back round to the house and knocked again , no answer, so we jumped over the gate and checked the dog , he was freezing fed him and who should come home but the owner.
I have never heard such language and got booted out, i did try and explain but was told to mind my own business.
The following night the dog was still there so i rang the RSPCA again and was told the same thing.
Two days later the dog was dead and still left in the garden.
I ran the RSPCA for a third time and was told fair enough i will tell the inspector not to bother.
Out raged i gave them a peace of my mind, and was told that it was not their fault there is nothing they could have done anyway.

Peanuts

Yep, I agree there are some very sincere and devoted workers, but I feel they are being let down. The RSPCA are taking so much for granted. Their publicity machine hides behind cuddly TV rescue programmes to present to the public the caring, sharing side. I only had one dealing with the RSPCA, early one morning I saw a Swan chased and attacked by two powerful (do not want to "tar" the specific breed) dogs, the owner caught up with and released the obviously injured Swan, which then made it back to the security of the lake. I rang the hotline, to be given the same, we only have the one inspector in the area etc.., and "If it made it back onto the water it will be OK"? I rang Ainsdale Animal Sanctuary and the Wirral Park Rangers who where all brilliant, and who where in no way suprised to hear the RSPCA response, or lack of. Just to balance this up, the Swan was rescued by a member of the public from the lake, and kept in his bath until collected by the RSPCA inspector! This is not meant to be a RSPCA bash, this is just pure frustration at a charity which must have a fortune in funds. Spend it on training up more Inspectors!!!

I have a sister who is a vet. nurse.The vet she used to work for (got her own grooming business now) refused to have RSPCA collection boxes on the desks for them because of their attitude towards pets and their owners.
Archer

Do you think the RSPCA has a clue about how the public perceives them? Maybe they should conduct a survey, I think it would be an "eye opener" for them.
Three weeks ago they where at my door asking for donations, my girlfriend was just about to sign for a £1 a week for 52 weeks. I asked who they where, and immediately told them there was no money from this house going to them, PDSA, NCDL, Blue Cross yes them NO! She asked Why? Three Staffords where sitting there wagging their tails all this time, looking for attention, I just pointed to them and said, because of their involvement in the DDA, the amount of times inspectors have stood up in court and argued for the prosecution, condemming dogs of the "type". She did not have a clue what I was on about!

TOTALLY, TYPICALLY RSPCA !!!!
Dawn.

Have to agree to. If there isn't a TV camera about they don't seem very interested.
Bec

I too am disheartened by the RSPCA. I understand that at times they are very busy and have often got their hands tied because of legislation, but i agree with the comment before about them not being interested unless there is a tv camera there.
I was told about a guinea pig that had been dumped, in the middle of winter, on a local walkway. He was living in a gorse bush. I contacted the RSPCA, who weren't interested at all. I got more help from our local wildlife liason police officer. He told me how to make a trap to catch him. The trap didn't work, but 3 days later, after a lot of perserverance, he was caught. I also rang the RSPCA when some neighbours of mine moved and LEFT their cat. NOT INTERESTED AGAIN. I ended up catching him. The only time they've responded to a call by me was when another neighbour of mine went away for a weekend and left her dog tied to a radiator in the kitchen. No food or water, couldn't sit down as he'd tangled the lead, and was standing in his own mess. They came out but were not allowed to enter the house. The officer taped up all doors, to make sure no one was coming back to see to the dog. However SHE came back about six hours later.
I've lost all faith in the RSPCA, if ever i have any probs now, i know of different people who will be more helpful than the RSPCA.

We've had a couple of unpleasant 'run-ins' with the RSPCA ourselves. First, when a coworker's tame jackdaw went missing, and we saw an advert in the paper saying someone'd found him, phoned them - turned out that he'd called the RSPCA to pick him up. They'd taken him to the RSPCA branch _20 miles away_ ... and then released him because he bit someone. We went to see if we could find the bird and were told that people shouldn't keep animals like that (The jackdaw wasn't hand-reared by my coworker - just friendly enough that he'd get on people's shoulders, play with their ears and the like, and partly relied on the coworker for food while living outside like a wild bird) and that he wasn't a tame animal at all. Telling this to me, who'd had the bird sit on her shoulder, play with her hair, pull at her glasses, etc... was a bit disheartening. But what good did releasing him so far from 'home' do? My coworker's never seen him again.
More recently, we've had a stray tomcat coming in - he actually broke our magnetic cat flap - and harassing our three neutered babies. We caught him, found out that he was full of fleas, full of fleabites and fighting wounds, skinny and wormy and generally in bad condition, but with a lovely sweet nature (away from our cats)... and when we called the RSPCA, they told us to 'let him go, see if someone owns him, and put an ad in the paper to see if someone claims him - if you've still got him in two weeks we'll take him if we have room' ... would have saved me time if we'd just taken him to the RSPCA branch, claimed we weren't going to keep him and LEFT him there. If someone owns that cat, they deserve to have him taken away, neutered and rehomed somewhere where they'll take good care of him, proper vet care, and make it so that when petting him he doesn't feel like petting a dead cat... As it is, he escaped from us before the Cats Protection League could find space for him. We still see him on the street, but at least he's stopped coming in our house.

But I thought the RSPCA was there to HELP animals, not let them stay in bad situations or let strays harass animals that people DO keep correctly - with collars, with flea treatment, neutered, etc...

This post has really upset me, I keep thinking about that poor dog tied up in the garden. Surely the owners behaviour amounts to cruelty could he not be prosecuted for leaving that poor dog to suffer like that. Was he reported to the police.

Sorry, had to relay my story!
We had a dog stagger into our garden after being knocked down by a car full of youths who had apparently aimed at it :( A neighbour ran across to us to say that they had rung the police and the RSPCA. The dog had literally split its side open and we kept it calm and warm with blankets. The police turned up and after half an hour, they rung the RSPCA officer again who said that it was too far to come on a Sunday :( In the end, the policeman took the dog in his car to a vet ( after ringing several who weren't interested), who decided to put the dog down. The owners came around the next day to thank us for trying to help - the dog had escaped. We haven't given any money to the RSPCA since.

Seems to be a common theme/excuse of too large an area for the RSPCA, the Vets, well you should have told them a £20 note was attatched to its collar! (Who am I kidding, make that £50) I wonder if working with animals and dealing with suffering day in day out, you unknowingly become desensitised and indifferent. I just do not understand how they could make the decision to ignore suffering animal. If I can care enough to backtrack, cross three very busy lanes of 60 mph+ cars, to pick up an obviously dead animal, surely the professionals who are paid to care, should go to any lengths to attend to any suffering animal, or am I just a hopeless case. There must be some way these "caring" professionals could be made accountable!

I was reading only today that the RSPCA spent £17000,000 (17 million in case I got the noughts wrong) on a new headquarters, so flash its already being called Southwater Palace, £2,500 on a council members travelling expenses, for a single month, £40,000 on a legal bill for trying a member over media leaks. I know they need a headquarters, and they need to protect their interests when there are media leaks, and I'm not knocking in any way the hard work done by them, but I think the RSPCA could be in danger of losing sight of what they are there for, Perhaps they should find a way of getting more inspectors trained up rather then have managers sitting in palatial surroundings thinking of ways to make cut backs to keep the few inspectors they have going.
How far would that 17 million have gone if they had made do with a slightly less prestigious headquarters. And does it matter they have a nice address when there are dogs and other animals suffering through lack of funds.
As I said I am in no way having a go at the wonderful work done by the RSPCA, but I will be giving my money to local animal charities form now on, I don't see why I should pay for fat cats to sit in comfy offices, while inspectiors are spread to thin.

Robert

But this is just the sort of thing that makes people reluctant to give money to charities when its being spent on the wrong sort of things !!!
Why have a lovely "palatial" headquarters when possibly several ( at least) animals have died because the resources are being put in the wrong areas !!!
I would rather give to a charity where I can see results .
I hope someone from the RSPCA can read this and give an answer !!!!!
Lel

Well i do know that the head of the RSPCA get a lovely pay packet each year. he gets about 150, 000 a year , now considering they are are a none profit organisation his wages are donations along will all the other staff at the top.
I don't include kennel people and people who do all the work i mean the ones that sit in an office doing **** all.

Peanuts

Well heres one person who will redirect donations to another animal charity that actually spend their money ON animals !!!
Lel

If they spent some of their money on actually helping animals in dire need instead of pandering to a bunch of head-banging animal rights lobbyists then maybe they would get some respect. You need look no further than their new recruit Ms Ballard!!!!!

Sam, I'm convinced she won't be happy until the whole country are vegetarians! :(

Hey Chippy,
They had a perfectly good headquarters...I know because I used to work there!! Why they moved is beyond me. Actually, thinking about it, their property in in the site it was, was worth more than building a new one out of town...
My B-in-L (who was an Inspector) and I left when they were infiltrated by "bunny-huggers" and went for the "animal rights" standpoint rather than the "animal welfare" one.

When did you leave Horsham then Janet? My dad retired as a chief super in 1996 so it may be that you know each other :)

They moved because the old HQ was a listed building and they didn't have the space to expand as they needed to.

Fiona
x x x

Hi Fiona,
I left there way back in 1980 - I wonder if your dad remembers my boss, Peter Bazire? Great chap, feet on the ground, not head in the clouds.

From my experience the RSPCA have never been any use. I know someone who worked there and packed in cos their main concern was making money.
When I see these animal programes about them I get so annoyed, they give us the wrong message.

This could well get me shot down, but what really annoys me is the way that on Animal Hospital etc they will spend time and money operating on a hamster or budgie, which then goes on to die anyway. I ask myself, if the people who take in the aforementioned hamster/budgie/terrapin etc were paying for the treatment... would they go to such a level of vetinary attention or would they have the animal put to sleep straightaway.

There was one case where a child had dropped the hamster, couple of operations later it died anyway. Surely resources would be better spent elsewhere - like directed toward some of the cases above?!

Just my opinion.

I read yesterday that so much of their money is spent on really bad things (such as the £2, 500 on a council member's travelling ) that I was quite sickened. I don't know names but when Jackie Ballard was elected some members put forward a motion of no confidence in Richard Ryder and others, but eventually ended up leaving. They felt J B had no experience of managing money which related to her new job in the RSPCA.

I am sure there are compassionate inspectors who do their job so well(unlike the one who didn't want to drive so far on a Sunday) but overall I feel they don't deserve my money and they wont' get it unless they change.

At the moment I support the charity that helps the dogs in Asia who are treated so cruelly before being eaten, and I also support the Brooke Hospital. If anyone knows of any organisations which use money wisely, and where it goes mainly on teh animals it would be good to know. I accept sometimes wages have to be paid etc, but £2,500 for travelling expenses is frankly obscene.

Lindsay

I recently phoned the RSPCA just for advice about a sick bird, and the lady who I spoke to was rude, patronising and generally uninterested! I then phoned the Cheshire Wildlife Trust who were extremely kind and helpful. There is a good list of organisations listed by county on www.veggies.org.uk :)

the latest Ad for the RSPCA came on yesterday wanting money, just after the one for the NSPCC. My son (who is 6) said " Mummy why is it they want £3 a month for the animals, when the other lot only wanted £2 for the children?" I just looked at him and said "overheads" :( The thing is, that's probably exactly the reason but they don't even seem bothered by it.

Grace

hi grace
its true (so i hear) that the RSPCA get more donations than the NCPCC.
speak soon

Hi, these figures relate to the year ending 2000 but I thought you may find them interesting.

RSPCA income £66.3 million pounds, expenditure £71.0 million pounds, Funds £162.0 million pounds
NSPCC income £91.8 million pounds, expenditure £82.5 million pounds, Funds £54.5 million pounds

I believe the RSPCA funds rose last year to £175.0 Million pounds - which is a staggering figure, some of which could be spent in a massive neutering campaign to stop the disgraceful numbers of health dogs and cats that are needlessly destroyed each year simply because homes cannot be found for them.

They used to use a boarding kennel in Northumberland, they decided it would have to close. The welfare group I worked for at the time offered to take all the cats. The RSPCA refused. They PTS all the cats and the dogs, even though they were all perfectly healthy and numerous charities/members of the public had offered to help. I never donate to the RSPCA. They have an office in Gateshead, but I've yet to learn what it's purpose is. They do nothing at all for animals in Northumberland. I remember liasing with a local journalist who had so many bad experiences with them in the North East he was left disgusted and appalled by their attitude.

I've had bad experiences with the RSPCA. What really upsets me though is the obvious attitude of some of these people when animals need help and they can't be bothered.
When my last dog went missing after an accident...I obviously rang the RSPCA to enquire and report the situation. When i called back the next day the woman went mad at me saying my dog was probably dead and they would contact me if they ever heard that a dog matching his description was found dead. I have never been so mad in my life!
These people only care if money is placed uner their nose. I wish the RSPCA would respond to this and give us some explanations. These morons don't understand that they are the face of a company with some people trying to do a good job.
I never got my dogs body back and all of the council people, authorities, dog wardens and even police all made it clear to me that it is a waste of time trying to find a lost dog that maybe dead.

I too had problems with the RSPCA several years ago when an unfriendly neighbour reported that I was being cruel to my 18 year old cat. The problem was that she was old and deaf. She hated being indoors during the day so she would go and sit in the porch of another neighbour (who incidentally fed her daily) and yowl. As she couldn't hear herself, she was a bit noisy. Not that the other neighbours were bothered.

They entered my premises when I was out (only the lodger was there) and demanded to see the animals. At no stage did any one see me, contact me or talk to me. They were forced to admit that all the pets were in good order, and the only thing wrong with the old cat was two fur balls (which incidentally they had suggested I rip out!!). I rang as I was a bit p.....d off to say the least, the Inspector was unavailable and I received no apology or any further contact.

More recently a contract came up for the control of local strays. Someone I know put in for it, as did the local RSPCA. Guess who got it. Less than a week after it was awarded a piece appeared in our local paper saying that they had more animals than they could cope with, and a waiting list, and would have to start destoying if homes were not forthcoming. Funny how they didn't know that when they went for the contract.

Quite apart from which is the contentious issue of foxes. They keep fixing up injured ones and letting them out near us, only for our friend to have their poultry devestated. But thats another matter.

1 experience I had was a freind of mine had a rabbit that wasn't looked after. I phoned the RSPCA explaining to them the state of the Rabbit. When I said the rabbit was living with maggots I was told it was a case for the enviromemtal health.
My neice also had to make numerous phone calls to complain about her own brother and his 2 Akitas.
They only came out only after she was very rude and nasty to them. When they came out the dogs were taken away right away.

I cant stand the RSPCA. There are a lot of very good people who work there trying to do their best for the animals. However the RSPCA are a political organisation as far as I am concerned. I used to donate to them, since the DDA 1991 I give them nothing.
Mick

I had a neighbour that had 2 cats and a puppy (shepherd/collie 4 months). One cat got hit by the car, I took her to my neighbour and she had to put her down. The puppy looked very skinny under fed and was losing alot of hair in clumps. Called the humane society 5 times, so did someone else on the block. They came out once never did anything. She kept the poor thing kenneled all day. Finally on the 6th call they made her take the pup to the vet, never did they take the pup away. . Couldn't give the pup any shots I was told because she had to clear up the mange first. Then she told me that she gave the pup to a farm, found out later her pup died and so did her cat. If they would of taken the pup away on the first call maybe the little girl would of made it. I was giving her puppy food (I had 4 dogs at the time, 2 big and 2 BT ), found out she was only giving one hand full of food a day and never bought any, she was making the food I gave her last. She said the pup was stupid :( and all I said was a dog is only as smart as their owner. She was such a sweet pup. Atleast now she is not suffering anymore. The pup was outside maybe twice in the 2 months she had her :( . How can people be so mean. :(

ttfn :(

I'd forgotten about that, the way they witnessed various dogs as being pit bull type etc and signing the dog's death sentence, often when the dog was an apparently friendly family dog. I've seen photos of some of the dogs and honestly some of them didn't even look like PBTs.

Lindsay

I don't know if you remember the post about the puppy miller website? I had complained to the RSPCA about it and last Friday received a letter stating that the person in question has taken out a pet shop licence and that there is nothing they can do if somebody advertises and breeds 16 (!!!!) different breeds. That settles it for me. :(

Taylor

I used to think maybe it was just the RSPCA where I live that wasnt much use but after hearing all these posts it seems to be a common theme .
Do you think they care more for money then rather than the animals ?
Lel

Hi Taylor, wich one are you refering to? Email me off the board please if you do not wish to name them on her. However I see no reason why not if they have a pet shop licence they will continue advertising anyway. The Councils always take this as the easy option to license they then say they can then inspect the premises, yes, once a year is usual! Puppies should never be allowed to be sold from pet shops anyway.

Hi Pat,

When you say "Puppies should never be allowed to be sold from pet shops anyway" is that law or your opinion?? The pet shop local to me has about 6 different litters of pups in the shop in cages quite often. Can't bare to think of all those little ones left there over night (can't believe they would take them all home!) :(

Hi Zoe,
I think I read that the KC will refuse to register further puppies bred by people who have sold pups to pet shops....if so, at least a step in the right direction.

Thanks Jeangenie :)

This is true if the new owner confirms they did noit buy from the breeder but from a retail outlet. this happened in my breed, and we were all very pleased, but what did the breeders do, transfered the bitch into new owners names, and also started registering through Dog Lovers. The pups are still being bred, but we don't know about them until they come into rescue (as inevitably quite a few do, being bought on impulse with nor breed knowledge). At least when we saw in the KC breed records litters registered by the puppy farmers rescue could brace itself for six to 18 months time:(

I think the KC should stop any more pups being bred from the bitch, not just the breeder. Though now that there are puppy farm registries to take in the naive buyer, don't suppose anything the KC will do wil help.

T^he banning of selling non cage animals from Pet Shops or retail outlest sure wqould impact on the trade, in poorly bred and reared pups. for a start the buyer could see the conditions for themselves if they had to buy direct, though I suppose it won't be long before they would start to sell mail order.:(

Sadly, it doesn't seem to make any difference if they see pups in poor conditions :( I've often heard "I bought it because I felt sorry for it and had to rescue it" and they don't realise it'll be replaced in the shop (or wherever) as quick as a wink.

Then there are the dorks who buy a pup at a Motorway Service Station ("it was halfway") never having seen the pup or bitch at all.... :(

I see no reason why I can't name them here as it was here where I found their website :D.

Quote: >>I have discussed this establishment wih the Chief Inspector who covers the Nottinghamshire area, and he has confirmed that these kennels are licenced as a breeding establishment by the Local Authority - Kirby in Ashfield District Council. The Local Authority has also issued a Pet Shop Licence to them. Many thanks for your interest in this matter.

Mr. M.L. Hubbard - Regional Superintendent RSPCA East Central Region<< Unquote

Arrrgh.

Taylor