RSPCA DAY - Part IV

We then had some other calls to follow up, a report of a dog being kept inside all day and never walked and a dog being locked in a shed that was whining constantly. Neither owner was in unfortunately. In the case of the dog kept inside all day, we certainly saw the dog, quite a large GSD jumped up at the lounge window when we knocked on the door. We had a look at him through the window and he seemed in good health. I asked what would happen in a situation like this. My inspector said that she would leave a card asking the owner to call her and discuss the issue. She said that although it was not necessarily the kindest thing to do – leaving your dog at home all day while you were out – there were no laws against it and little she could do to prevent it. She said when the owner called she would offer advice but would also listen to their side of the tale too, ie it may be that the dog is aggressive and therefore only walked late at night and no-one saw that so people just thought the dog was never walked.

With regards to the dog in the shed, we visited the property and again, no-one was home. we could not see in to the back garden other than through a small crack in the gate but we could not see a shed. We could hear no sounds of a dog. My inspector said that in this case she would visit again the next day at a different time and then at a weekend if still no reply. She would keep trying until she managed to speak to someone. She didn’t wish to simply leave a card as if they were holding a dog in a shed this would alert them and they may “dispose” of the dog and therefore there would be no evidence of such behavior.

We visited a pony my inspector was aware of being kept in a local field. She said she regularly checked on this pony as his owner often didn’t fill up the water buckets etc. On arrival she asked for my opinion on the pony and its situation. I said that he didn’t look in too bad condition. His coat was quite nice, he had brambles in his mane but I guess that wasn’t really a welfare issue. He had water, not the cleanest, nicest water, but water nonetheless. He had no injuries and was not underweight. The field was not the nicest I had ever seen, there was no field shelter but 2 large trees, it wasn’t very big and was overgrown with weeds. However, I guessed none of these were issues she could really take up and she agreed. Basically these were not conditions you or I would keep our horses in but bottom line, he had space, water, some shelter, and food – nothing more she could do. However, it was quite nice to know that she would be looking in on this pony regularly to keep an eye on the situation. She said that she had quite a few cases like this, ie owners she regularly visited just to check on their situation and that things were not deteriorating or getting out of hand. She explained that this was where her people skills came in hand as she dealt with a lot of travelers and aggressive people. She said that a lot of inspectors could not go on the travelers sites without being attacked but she had quite a good rapport with them and therefore could keep an eye on their animals and just nudge them in the right direction with regards to caring for them.

Our next call out was to collect an injured sparrow that had been found in someone’s garden. On initial inspection we were quite hopeful for this little sparrow, however, once we had taken him from the person who had found him and had a closer look, his wing was really mangled and therefore he was pts too ?

Our last call for the day was to issue a Caution to a man who had let the fish in his pond die. This was quite a sad case. The man in question had gone through a really hard time (wife and kids left him, was £50,000 odd in debt, was loosing his home, lost his job etc) and basically the fish in the pond in the back garden just slipped his mind. He was apparently in tears when the RSPCA visited him and was clearly shaken when we arrived to issue the Caution. His circumstances do not ease the suffering those fish must have gone through but I agreed with my inspector when she said that there was no gain from taking a case like this to Court. He accepted his Caution and was, in my opinion, truly sorry for what had happened.

All in all it was quite a “slow” day apparently, with most people we visited not being at home. it gave me chance to discuss many issues with my inspector and get to know her a bit. She was genuinely nice and I really liked her. My day waylaid some of my concerns regarding the RSPCA and certainly made me realize that I couldn’t believe all I heard about them and not to take every story I hear about them at face value, there is often more to things than meets the eye. She was very candid with me, showing me complaint letters she had received and explaining the situation whereby those complaints arose etc.

I am glad I won the day and part of me wishes I could go out with them again as my inspector said that she feels that I didn’t get a good overview of all the work they do and that often, with “ride alongs” you need to go for 2 or 3 days in a row to get a real feel for the job. The day put at bay some of my fears and concerns about the RSPCA but raised a few new ones and, ultimately I was left with a really deep, sinking almost despair at the conditions “we” keep our animals in. what seems generally considered to be acceptable by most is just totally unacceptable to me. I just can’t understand why people have animals if they are not going to do their very best for them and my inspector for the day totally agreed with me on this point!