Rspca

jrtfan

Undervalued wrote: »

Your guess is as good as mine. Political agenda? Like many "charities" I suspect sadly they have rather lost sight of their original purpose.

There is talk in parliament at the moment of preventing them from making prosecutions. Quite how this would be achieved is less clear because, as I said, they don't actually have any specific powers. They are simply making private prosecutions in the same way that you, I or anybody else could (if we had the funds)!

I think the issue stems from nobody having been given ownership of/duty to enforce the Animal Welfare Act after it was passed.

Discretionary enforcement powers were, instead, given to Local Authorities and it was thought, at the time, that LAs would appoint officers from within their existing staff to take on this role. However, only 60% of LAs went ahead with this and most have closed the role down again now, due to having insufficient manpower, training and funding to continue.

The RSPCA took it upon themselves to try and enforce the Act to the best of their abilities, by bringing private prosecutions against certain individuals. You're right, that they have no actual statutory powers of their own; just a duty of care towards any animals found to be suffering, the same as you or I would have I suppose. But in effect, they must either call the Police if they wish to 'seize' an animal and remove it to a place of safety; or, they must obtain the owner's permission to remove an animal from the owner's premises/care.

The recommendations made to Ministers with regard to preventing the RSPCA from making further prosecutions, singles out the charity in this respect (ie other charities/private individuals could still take an owner to court, if they felt it appropriate).

There's more about it on this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5557824

and the Committee's recommendations can be found on here:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmenvfru/117/11709.htm#_idTextAnchor057

Pollycat

georgiesmum wrote: »

I to had a bad experiance a few yeas ago. My cat went missing a nd after searching for a week found him in a house where the tennats had moved out.
There was no way to get food or water to him as he was locked in a bedroom. Called the rspca and they did not want toknow. told me to call the council. it as a bank holiday weekend so by the time the council had moved he would have been dead. Brike into the house and rescued him oursellves/ (reimbursed the landlord for damages )
We have him still, a happy 16 year old

Lucky cat, glad you managed to get him out.

I've donated to RSPCA for more years than I can remember, only a small amount each month.

I had a spat with them last year about giving my landline number (which I guard like the crown jewels) to a marketing company who rang me ostensibly to thank me for my long-standing support then launched into a sales spiel about a lottery they were launching.

I told RSPCA if they contacted me for any reason at all (they were always asking me to increase my donation or give a one-off) - I'd cancel my subscription.

The more I read, the more I'm tempted.
I'm thinking of switching to support our Air Ambulance.

hugheskevi

In contrast to the above, my single experience with the RSPCA was very positive.

On a Friday night I found a dog collapsed in the road. As the dog was in a collapsed state, the RSPCA came out and collected him (they would usually not be involved with a lost dog), put up posters around the area he was found, and took him back. He had to go on a drip as he was dehydrated. As he was an old dog with arthritis and cataracts, he was scheduled to be put down the following Thursday. Fortunately his owners came forward on the Wednesday so all turned out okay.

Worth mentioning that a lot of work would have been avoided had the dog been chipped, and also that Pets at Home (Purley Way, Croydon branch) were great...they had a vet instore who examined the dog, looked for chip and put the dog in a box with hot water bottles to warm him up, without charge. I took him there whilst waiting for RSPCA to arrive, who were delayed as they had to euthanise a deer involved in a road accident and there was only a single worker covering my area.

jrtfan

hugheskevi wrote: »

In contrast to the above, my single experience with the RSPCA was very positive.

On a Friday night I found a dog collapsed in the road. As the dog was in a collapsed state, the RSPCA came out and collected him (they would usually not be involved with a lost dog), put up posters around the area he was found, and took him back. He had to go on a drip as he was dehydrated. As he was an old dog with arthritis and cataracts, he was scheduled to be put down the following Thursday. Fortunately his owners came forward on the Wednesday so all turned out okay.

Worth mentioning that a lot of work would have been avoided had the dog been chipped, and also that Pets at Home (Purley Way, Croydon branch) were great...they had a vet instore who examined the dog, looked for chip and put the dog in a box with hot water bottles to warm him up, without charge. I took him there whilst waiting for RSPCA to arrive, who were delayed as they had to euthanise a deer involved in a road accident and there was only a single worker covering my area.

They do some excellent work, and the sort of circumstances you describe are when they shine, imo.

Unfortunately, they have also come to be regarded by probably most of us as the 'emergency service' in cases concerning animal welfare, generally. Somebody mentioned earlier about their Police-style uniforms and job titles; these do help to give them an image of being an Authority in people's minds.

On the one hand, this image has been positive in that people take them seriously. They've brought many successful prosecutions against wilfully neglectful owners, backstreet breeders and the like. They've also succeeded in educating far more people than they've taken to court; the number of animal neglect cases have fallen since they started to work with the Act and animal welfare has been the better for it.

Conversely, people are losing faith in the RSPCA because they are failing to live up to their image. The trouble is, they often can't "do something" to help animals and maybe this is where they, as a charity, need to be a bit more transparent - perhaps by raising awareness of their limitations?

sheramber

The RSPCA call centre os for animal welfare cases. They do not rehome animals through that line.

The RSPCA rehoming centres are independent of the charity and get no support at all from them. they have to do their own fundraising. All they have is the RSPCA name.

Battersea Dogs Home os not an RSPCA establishment so they could not say what would happen to any animal accepted there.

teddysmum

Some members of a dog forum, who know about horses, reported a group of very neglected horses in a field (deep mud,no clean water, just a few grass tussocks, the horses very thin and having overgrown hooves). The RSPCA left a note, for the owner, on the gate.


Result: The horses disappeared overnight, to goodness knows what fate, as they were not seen again.


Apparently mailed or bequeathed donations go to head office for admin, salaries, buildings etc, but local branches have to fund themselves with shops, street collections etc.


There are plenty of deserving animal charities, where the majority of the money is spent on the animals.

jrtfan

There were some horses left on a rubbish-strewn piece of enclosed waste ground near us a couple of months ago. A few horse-owners organised themselves to supply hay and water while the owners were being tracked down. They were helped by World Horse Welfare, and said they felt this charity is by far the better choice of contact where horses are concerned. The RSPCA did attend too because they'd been called by a concerned resident living near the piece of waste ground, but they didn't play an active part in the care or removal of the animals.

wary

sheramber wrote: »

The RSPCA call centre os for animal welfare cases. They do not rehome animals through that line.

The RSPCA rehoming centres are independent of the charity and get no support at all from them. they have to do their own fundraising. All they have is the RSPCA name.

Battersea Dogs Home os not an RSPCA establishment so they could not say what would happen to any animal accepted there.

If the case relates to a cat, in particular one that needs rehoming, best bet is to contact your local Cats Protection League group.

hollydays

Pollycat wrote: »

Lucky cat, glad you managed to get him out.

I've donated to RSPCA for more years than I can remember, only a small amount each month.

I had a spat with them last year about giving my landline number (which I guard like the crown jewels) to a marketing company who rang me ostensibly to thank me for my long-standing support then launched into a sales spiel about a lottery they were launching.

I told RSPCA if they contacted me for any reason at all (they were always asking me to increase my donation or give a one-off) - I'd cancel my subscription.

The more I read, the more I'm tempted.
I'm thinking of switching to support our Air Ambulance.

The problem with some local charities, imho, is the bag collection system them use. People think that when they donate their best clothes via the bag it goes to the shop, but in fact it nearly always goes to a money making rags business of dubious business practice. The shop will get money for the rags which is well below the value of the clothes donated, so if you push them hard on whether all the clothes profit is from the clothes being handed back to the shop , the answer will be no. They just see the bag as a rags revenue stream.

Pollycat

hollydays wrote: »

The problem with some local charities, imho, is the bag collection system them use. People think that when they donate their best clothes via the bag it goes to the shop, but in fact it nearly always goes to a money making rags business of dubious business practice. The shop will get money for the rags which is well below the value of the clothes donated, so if you push them hard on whether all the clothes profit is from the clothes being handed back to the shop , the answer will be no. They just see the bag as a rags revenue stream.

All my unwanted clothes & bric-a-brac go to my local Hospice shop, taken in personally.

I know they sell them as I've seen lots of my donations on sale. I've even seen them in a different shop in another village.

I don't trust the 'bag collection system'.