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Stop RSPCA euthanasing animals in care
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paddypaws101
Posts: 2,093 Forumite


Many of us will already know the appalling reputation that the RSPCA has for euthanasing any cat that they deem to be slightly difficult to re-home. This sad case below was recently brought to light over on Petforums and has sparked a petition to publicise this situation, and maybe persuade people to give their donations more wisely to smaller local charities with a more caring approach.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/185/739/632/justice-for-buzzer/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/185/739/632/justice-for-buzzer/
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Comments
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I have to ask, what do you expect to happen to all the dogs and cats that there aren't homes for?
There isn't room in the smaller rescues for them, places like battersea and the RSPCA have to deal with the unwanted animals that have nowhere else to go.
Surely a campaign aimed at persuading owners to take responsibility for their animals and not dump them or allow them to breed unchecked would be more useful?0 -
They are rumoured to do it in the van on pick up !Be happy...;)0
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Sad, but I will not be signing, the amount of stray and abandoned cats, dogs and other animals is so great that keeping a difficult to home animal, may lead to the chance not being there for several other easier to home ones, resources are finite.
Why did the vet not take one of the offers?The truth may be out there, but the lies are inside your head. Terry Pratchett
http.thisisnotalink.cöm0 -
Person_one wrote: »I have to ask, what do you expect to happen to all the dogs and cats that there aren't homes for?
There isn't room in the smaller rescues for them, places like battersea and the RSPCA have to deal with the unwanted animals that have nowhere else to go.
Surely a campaign aimed at persuading owners to take responsibility for their animals and not dump them or allow them to breed unchecked would be more useful?
Exactly. It is easy to criticize the RSPCA in this situation but what about the owners of the cats they have taken in? Many pets have to be rehomed for genuine reasons, but many aren't either.
Instead of petitioning to stop the euthanasia of cats that there is simply not enough room for, how about joining the ranks of rescues to spend that energy finding homes for cats, raising awareness of their plight, promoting responsible ownership, etc. in the hope to cut down the amount of cats needing homes in the first place.
Also worth bearing in mind that many RSPCA branches act as franchises and therefore do not all operate under the same rules. If you don't wish to support the main RSPCA unit, perhaps donating directly to local branches would help.
On a related note, I have volunteered at rescue with a strong aversion to euthanasia. I have to say, call me heartless, but I think that was crueler to the dogs. Several dogs with behavioural issues, that made kennel life very stressful for them but put them in a hard-to-home category, even in terms of just a foster home. Many of the dogs were underweight from the constant stress that the environment placed on them, the kennels were very basic (all the rescue could afford - they went for quantity over quality because of their aversion to turning a dog away and risking it being euthanised) and lacked much comfort (one plastic bed, one bit of bedding, concrete floors and no heating - volunteers had to arrange a rota of coats and supplementary foods to keep the dogs warm and try to keep weight on them in winter). All relying on volunteers to walk the dogs, so some weeks the dogs would be lucky to go out once a week, and given the rescue's specialisation in Bull breeds, many of the dogs had issues with other dogs which made the close contact (kennels had solid walls on the lower half but mesh on top, and were required to walk past the other kennels at close proximity to go on walks) led to lots of stress. I fostered a dog who had rubbed sores on her body from jumping up to bark at the neighbouring dogs. It broke my heart to return her, and even moreso to see her bounce back from the unsuitable home she was rehomed to (I think they were just grateful for a home, even if it was quite obviously an unsuitable one from the start)
The longer the dogs were in there, the more stressed they got, so the more bad habits/behaviours they displayed, which made them less homeable - it was a vicious circle.
I ended up stopping volunteering because concerns were raised but not really addressed in a satisfactory manner.
Sometimes I think we can do crueler things to animals than accept that it's the end of the road, and euthanise them humanely.0 -
Not all animals can be rehomed, sadly.
I echo another poster, what we need is more responsible pet ownership.
I will not sign the petition as sometimes it is necessary to euthanase, to give other animals a chance.(AKA HRH_MUngo)
Member #10 of £2 savers club
Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology: Terry Eagleton0 -
Personally I have a major problem with this:
The RSPCA do not publicise the animals that are on 'death row', even though it would mean that a lot of them are saved, because it would bring attention to the large number of animals that are euthanised for no good reason.
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gettingready wrote: »Personally I have a major problem with this:
What is the source for that information?0 -
Common knowledge - nowhere on the RSPCA site you have a "death row" button, do you?
They just put them down with no publicity as this kind of publicity does not bring money in.0 -
gettingready wrote: »Common knowledge - nowhere on the RSPCA site you have a "death row" button, do you?
They just put them down with no publicity as this kind of publicity does not bring money in.
Common knowledge? I'm sorry but you can't make accusations like that without having anything to back it up.0 -
gettingready wrote: »Common knowledge - nowhere on the RSPCA site you have a "death row" button, do you?
Which only confirms the first part of your quote, "The RSPCA do not publicise the animals that are on 'death row'"
The rest could just be opinion.
I know of several forums that advertise death row dogs. Unfortunately although it brings in many offers of homes, they're not necessily suitable ones. People fall for the sob story, or the guilt, and apply for a dog that may not suit them or their situation. Death row dogs are often unassessed pound dogs, strays with no lineage, or dogs that have been found to be less adoptable - perhaps with health issues, behavioural issues, etc. that make them harder to home.
To rehome a dog with a health or behavioural issue simply to avoid euthanasia may be the worse option to choose. It puts humans at risk, as well as other dogs or pets in the household. What if the unassessed pound dog is afraid of children and bites a visiting child, or a child out in public? What if it attacks the household dog?
The amount of people equipped to take in unassessed dogs and manage them in a safe manner is limited. If there was a fountain of these kind of people, it would have been well tapped by now. It sucks, but the reality is, right now these dogs often have no place to go. The longterm goal should be education, to try to eradicate this kind of problem, not a shortterm solution to cram dogs into kennels or potentially unsuitable foster homes/homes simply to choose the "nicer" sounding option.0
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