Rspca !!!!

annie_cardiff

It was heartbreaking to read of the 2 dogs left to die in car very interesting to hear the response of the people who seem to be under the impression that the RSPCA will prosecute the handler. This so called animal welfare org does not give a damn about the animals only their money making advertising. Please take a look at www.germanshepherdrescue.co.uk for examples of how they turn a blind eye to suffering of german shepherds also left outside with no shelter no food ,water in snow and this heatwave. Please take a few minutes and read Brunos story it is still ongoing and they do nothing ...Please help...:A

mrcol1000

The RSPCA does a good job with the very small resources it has. There are a lot of well meaning people out there running their own dog rescuses which don't have the money to feed or care for the dogs properly leading them to suffer worse than if they had been left on the street.
Instead of putting your engery into putting the RSPCA down over one isolated incident that you don't seem to know all that much about maybe you should raise some more money for the RSPCA so they can deal with more than they can at the moment?

orlao

As an organisation I don't have a lot of time for the RSPCA - IMHO they should spend less time on politics and more on the core issues that they emphasise so heavily when they are fundraising. There are some fantastic inspectors working for them but IME the new trainees coming through in the last few years are trained in such a manner that they are as much use as chocolate teapots especially when it comes to horses and farm animals - think Spindles Farm, The RSPCA had inspected that on more than one occasion.

What a lot of there supporters are unaware of is that most "national" (TV ads, mailshots etc)donations go straight to HQ (for political campaigns?) and their branches are left to fundraise at a local level for the day to day care that most people would prefer to support but that isn't made clear in their promotional leaflets.

They are also one of the wealthiest charities in this country....

annie_cardiff

mrcol1000 wrote: »

The RSPCA does a good job with the very small resources it has. There are a lot of well meaning people out there running their own dog rescuses which don't have the money to feed or care for the dogs properly leading them to suffer worse than if they had been left on the street.
Instead of putting your engery into putting the RSPCA down over one isolated incident that you don't seem to know all that much about maybe you should raise some more money for the RSPCA so they can deal with more than they can at the moment?

Thru gritted teeth let me add.....The RSPCA ANNUAL Trustee and Accounts report of 2007 show that this organisation received £114,110,000 (no small ammount) of this money £31,635,000 was spent on its inspectorate whilst more than half of this (£17,604,000) was spent on generating more funds thru marketing and advertising. Strange how it appears not to have enough inspectors working in the field but yet are spending so much on advertising.
As for this being an "isolated incident" dont get me started...there are thousands , just take a look at various websites, i.e. germanshepherdrescue or any other breed rescue and it is full of stories re RSPCA failings. As for little knowledge....Try me !!!! :mad:

mrcol1000

annie_cardiff wrote: »

Thru gritted teeth let me add.....The RSPCA ANNUAL Trustee and Accounts report of 2007 show that this organisation received £114,110,000 (no small ammount) of this money £31,635,000 was spent on its inspectorate whilst more than half of this (£17,604,000) was spent on generating more funds thru marketing and advertising. Strange how it appears not to have enough inspectors working in the field but yet are spending so much on advertising.
As for this being an "isolated incident" dont get me started...there are thousands , just take a look at various websites, i.e. germanshepherdrescue or any other breed rescue and it is full of stories re RSPCA failings. As for little knowledge....Try me !!!! :mad:

I think your find that most charities spend a lot of their money on generating income.

clutterydrawer

Whatever the problems of the RSPCA it's pretty harsh to slate them like this as the majority of their workers and volunteers are caring people who do a difficult and often heartbreaking job with few resources. Imagine how they would feel coming in after a day's work and reading how everyone thinks they are a waste of space.

orlao

clutterydrawer wrote: »

Whatever the problems of the RSPCA it's pretty harsh to slate them like this as the majority of their workers and volunteers are caring people who do a difficult and often heartbreaking job with few resources. Imagine how they would feel coming in after a day's work and reading how everyone thinks they are a waste of space.

I don't dispute that their people are good, caring people who are doing their work for all the right motives, however I think they are let down by the organisation they work for. The reason that they are under resourced especially at local level is because IMHO the charitie's money is largely directed at national level campaigns, forgetting the root and branch local areas that actually care for animals in need.

I also stand by my comment on the training that their inspectors receive - it's appalling how ignorant many of their inspectors are about what actually are animal welfare issues - I stood with an inspector arguing about a laminitic mare - her view was that she was fine "after all, she's not skinny". The mare already had laminitis and had to suffer another week before she went down and was shot in the field with the inspector standing there saying to the vet that she was in perfect health last week. That is just the worst example, there are many others in my personal experience from the positively dangerous where animals suffered despite their involvement to the farcial like a different inspector threatening to report me for prosecution because my (native!) ponies were living out in winter without rugs......

I didn't call their volunteers "a waste of space" or even imply it - nor did Annie Cardiff - I firmly lay the responsibility at the top of the organisation not at grass roots level.

catkins

I have no time whatsoever for the RSPCA. Over the years I have contacted them on 4 different occasions about dog cruelty and I mean cruelty. Each time I lived in a different place so it was not the same branch of the RSPCA. Each time they did nothing. One case where 2 dogs were being kept in a garden with no shade, little water and even less food the RSPCA said they could do nothing. One of the dogs died through neglect and the other dog because it was starving was eating it!!

In another case my husband actually broke into a house and took the dog which was being kept in a cupboard under the stairs. It was a longhaired dog which was so matted we had to shave it and the mats had started causing ulcers. It was also very thin through lack of food. Because most of it's time was spent in a cupboard it had to get used to the light. We were lucky that the owner did not take action against us but for the dog's sake we were willing to risk it.

Maybe you can see why I do not support the RSPCA.

foreign_correspondent

I have no dubt that there are many kind, commited and effective individuals working within the RSPCA - however, as an organisation, I am often not impressed.

My experiences are -

When I was a kid, a dog was thrown out of a moving car during the miners strike '83-'84). I fed it for a week, but couldnt catch it, (I had been hoping for a dog for years, then she just appeared!) - the RSPCA came out and caught her with a net, she did her seven days with them and then came to live with us. Good result!

Years ago, I found an elderly lurcher, wandering the streets and in a bad way, clearly on its last legs - I contacted the RSPCA and offered to drive it there - not interested, so I took it to a local shelter, who managed to track down the owners, found it had strayed but was receiving vetinary care and got it back home. Not impressed with RSPCA.

A decade ago, some neighbours of a friend of mine had two dogs in a little pen in the garden - a lurcher and terrier their son had worked. They split up and moved out, and left the dogs. A day or two later, their son came and took the lurcher, leaving the terrier behind. After it became apparent no-one was was returning to feed the dog, my friend and I went down their garden and fed and watered the terrier through the bars, then called the RSPCA - they said, as she 'was being fed and watered' nothing could be done.... I told them that the owner had made no provision for the dog, and we were just acting as concerned individuals - still not interested....

I did this for a week, then went and 'liberated' the terrier - she lived with me for nine years...

she was a little smasher - good result, but no help from the rspca!

Last year, the RSPCA rehomed a terrified, abused dog with someone who lost him a few days later - he was seen wandering the countryside, scared and hungry, for almost a year ofterwards - although one of their volunteers did many hours of sterling work looking for him, the RSPCA, as an organisation, did little as far as I can tell ....

However, what I will say, is individual branches are run quite independantly, and some seem to be far, far, better than others - so do not assume all are the same - many do excellent work.

However, the RSPCA does put healthy animals to sleep, so if this is a concern for you, then support the dogs trust, or a local, small charity, as many of these promise to never put a healthy animal down.

RacyRed

My experiences with the RSPCA have not been very promising either, their grassroots staff are wonderful people, but their good instincts and abilities are completely swamped by RSPCA red tape.

I know of many struggling rescues of both pets and wildlife who put themselves out for animals the RSPCA have refused to help.

What makes me really angry is that people concerned about an animal's welfare get such a negative response when phoning the help lines. So many people spend hours trying to get the RSPCA to help before eventually turning to smaller, local organisations, whose response is often immediate.

If the RSPCA cannot help in a particular situation why do they not give the concerned person the phone number of a local organisation to try? If animal welfare was their main concern, they would, but it isn't and they will not take any action which may divert donations away from them, even at the cost of an animal's life. So they do not offer the number of alternative organisations, unlike the PDSA, which does.

To indirectly cause so much additional suffering that could have been avoided is immoral.

Lets face it, the RSPCA is now run by accountants, marketing people and professional beaurocrats, NOT people whose core concern is animal welfare. It is a very, very sad state of affairs. Control must be returned to those working at the coalface at the RSPCA

I donated to the RSPCA for many years, but now I my donations go to organisations who I KNOW are going the extra mile for animal welfare.

Deep_In_Debt

I have a couple of rescue cats from my local RSPCA shelter - I adopted them years ago and I think they do a good job and don't have a lot of money. I left a donation as they assured me the money would be used at the shelter which is where I wanted it to stay.

However, my mother did some voluntary work at the RSPCA head offices a few years ago, but left after about a week as she was disgusted with the way they spent their money - business lunches, new cars, etc etc when they knew that local shelters were struggling and didn't seem to be bothered.

As a result, we have both stopped supporting them as we don't feel that our money is going to animal welfare.

I've also called the RSPCA when I found an injured or strayed animals and they didn't seem to be bothered. In the end, I called my local wildlife rescue who came and rescued the animal.