RSPCA DAY - Part III

I asked whether the credit crunch was having an effect on the number of animals being dumped and she said that she personally felt that people were using the credit crunch as an excuse for abandoning or neglecting their animals.

I asked whether she believed the RSPCA brought enough prosecutions and she confirmed that, in her opinion, they should only prosecute those who “deserve” it, ie those who are unremorseful. If they issue a caution to someone then that person has to admit guilt and sign over the animal. If that person gets visited again and found to be causing suffering to an animal then the WILL be taken to Court. My inspector said that she personally would prefer not to prosecute but if a person won’t admit guilt or sign over an animal she strongly feels is suffering then she has little choice but to take them to Court as this is the only way the RSPCA can obtain ownership of the animal. One of the main reasons they take an owner to Court is to get the animal away from its owner if they won’t relinquish ownership voluntarily. Any animal seized by them must be examined by a vet. If the vet then states that the animal is not suffering then the RSPCA must return the animal to its owner. She said she gets no pleasure from seeing “vulnerable” people taken to court, ie those who are suffering mental illnesses. She has come across cases in the past where the owner is not “in their right mind” but that they are causing suffering to their animal. If the owner will not voluntarily hand over the animal then she has no choice but to take this person to Court to get ownership of the animal even though it is distressing for the owner. Ultimately, she has to do what is right by the animal.

I then asked what she felt the RSPCA does best and what they are not so good at. She believed that the things they do best are the collection and rescue of animals and the advice they give out to people regarding how to improve the care and life of their animals. Also they work they do with regard to organized crime, ie dog fighting / badger baiting is very good but this work is very hush-hush and so a lot of people are not really aware of all of the investigations going on, including most of the inspectors!

With regards to the things they “do worst” she said that she felt that they “have their fingers in too many pies”. She thinks some things should be handed over to other organizations as the RSPCA Inspectors cannot be experts in every field, ie livestock issues should be handled by DEFRA as they are more experienced in this respect.

Finally, I asked “what would help you most to help more animals” and, after some thought, my inspector said that what helps her most in her day to day work is cooperation and good relationships with other organizations eg DEFRA, local councils, other charities etc. She said that what would help her help more animals would be more funds to enable her to say “yes I can help” to more people, and more space to take in unwanted animals. She said that the rescue / rehoming centers are always so full with all types of animals that there just isn’t much space for new animals coming in and whole days could be spent trying to find one animal a placement. She also said that it would be nice if they could stop so many people breeding and selling so many animals.

So, those are the questions I asked and the responses I received. Here is an account of my day:

Our first call out was to a group of 5 rats that had been found abandoned in their cage in a communal bin store in a block of flats in the maidstone area. It was on the drive back to maidstone that my inspector and I discussed most of the above. On arrival at the address we were shown a very dirty cage with a bunch of very poor looking rats. I was quite glad that rats were our first call out because I have experience of rats and therefore know what I’m looking at when I see them. As we were in someone’s house we couldn’t really get them out and examine them there and then so we simply collected them, had a look around at the location they were found and then took the rats to the local RSPCA Rehoming Centre, Leybourne. On arrival at Leybourne we took the rats to the examination room and had them out in turn. They were all boys. The first we examined was the sorriest looking creature I have ever seen. He was so skinny and mostly bald or covered in scabs, and he obviously had a brain tumor. He was pts straight away. The rest of the rats were all balding and scabby and were obviously all infected with mice and / or lice. Other than that, they all seemed in good health, apart from one who had an injured leg. My inspector managed to persuade the centre, who had initially said that they had no room for any more rats, to take them in for rehoming and a checking over by their vets, paying particular attention to the one with the injured leg.

I asked my inspector what would have happened had she not been able to persuade the centre to take them in. she said that she was lucky in that she had a fairly good relationship with most of the RSPCA centers on her “patch”, especially Leybourne as that is where her office is situated. she said that in the case of small furries, if they definitely hadn’t been able to take them in then she would have had them looked at asap by a local vet and then probably taken them home herself until a placement could be found. HOWEVER she said that other inspectors would not do this. They may not have good relationships with the centers and would not take animals home themselves and therefore there was a good chance that these rats would have been pts just because there was nowhere for them to go. This really upset me. 3, if not 4 perfectly healthy animals pts just because there was no place for them in an RSPCA shelter! I asked whether they would consider using other charities but the issue of their “not so great relations” with other charities came up and also the fact that it could potentially take most of the day finding them a space. I pointed out that if they could only build some bridges then surely it need not take so long to find a space. I for one know that Raystede at present have no rats in at all. And there are many small, home run rescues that would make room if it meant health animals dying. She totally agreed with me. This raised my first real concern of the day, ie the relationships with other charities and the difference it makes to an animals life depending on which inspector picks them up! Ie one inspector would spend time finding a home for an animal whereas another would simply put that animal to sleep straight away believing it would be hard to home.