PetStreet interview - John Rolls

hmmm...i think i´m kinda with rosie on this one. the things he is saying are all well and good in theory but they don´t quite ring true with me. my personal experiences with the rspca lead me to believe that they say one thing, and often do another. they talk about getting people to take responsibility for their pets and helping them do so, but in my experience they have done neither.

The guy has a lot on his plate if he´s responsible for the ´external image of the RSPCA´...

I agree entirely with what he said about people need to know what they´re doing when they take on a pet..
HOWEVER, when he got on to pets in the classroom, my blood started to boil... What evidence does he have that animals are left in classrooms over weekends & school holidays?? To me, that was a clever bit of mischief making... I have NEVER heard of this happening - in fact the kids clamour to take the creature home for the weekend/holidays & mum or dad has to sign a form giving their consent and agreeing to look after it.
Then he went on to say hamsters are nocturnal.... Yes, strictly speaking & historically, they are but try telling my lot that...... PET hamsters are intelligent little creatures for their size & they bond with their owner & respond to their voice and will come out at ANYTIME of the day. They dont have to be ´pushed´ to come out in the day ´against their needs´ making it a ´welfare issue´. As an example, one classroom hamster would be out & about as soon as the kids filed in for a lesson. He would sit on top of his house facing the teacher ´listening´ to every word..!! As soon as the kids were given a task by the teacher, that was Ernie´s cue to have a go in his wheel... then when teacher started speaking again, he would climb back up on his house..
No-one woke him up or forced him to come out. He enjoyed the interaction.
I wish Mr Rolls had something about other types of classroom pet like gerbils, for instance. Using hamsters as his example cleverly backs up his argument because most people would see them as strictly nocturnal when they are not.
Would waking a dog up to take it for a walk be denying its ´need´ to sleep?? You could argue that it was if that´s the point you were trying to make.. Clever orator our Mr Rolls..

So the RSPCA wants ´genuine debate with people to form policies´...... He forgot to add, ´only if we get our own way´... Who walked out of the consultations on the Codes of Practice for Dogs, Cats & Rabbits because they werent going with their idea of how they should be?? Who walked out of the Primates as pets debate??? No prizes for guessing....

Quote ´we do want to be transparent´....... so when will that be??

Quote; ´need to help people take responsibilty for their pets´.....YES, please do. It would be far better than hauling families through the courts...