Animal Lovers Web Forum

This is a scandalous situation. The RSPCA was right to seize the horses. However, even though there were people wanting to take the horses, they shot them. Former owners of the horses wanted them back, but they were not given a chance.


http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

The thing is, the horses were shot so soon after being seized that they were not properly evaluated. Someone made a decision to get rid of them. They never stood a chance once they fell into the hands of the RSPCA. It makes you wonder who is the abuser. At least, even though they were neglected, their former owner let them live.

One has to wonder if the RSPCA even remembers why it was founded in the first place.

(09-20-2015, 05:07 PM)Catherine Wrote: [ -> ]One has to wonder if the RSPCA even remembers why it was founded in the first place.

Yes, indeed. The RSPCA seems to have lost its way. There is a lot on the net about heavy handed treatment by the RSPCA recently. Here is one example:

"In the past two years, convictions secured by the charity have increased from 2,579 to 3,114. Last year, spinster Georgina Langley, 67, of West Hougham, Kent, was raided at her home by the RSPCA and had five of her 13 cats put down.

The charity prosecuted her for neglect, but Mr Smith, 62, came to her aid. After sending two of the cats’ bodies to the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) for an independent post-mortem, he said: ‘There appears to be no good reason why the RSPCA allowed these animals to be put to sleep.

‘The RVC post-mortems concluded the cats were healthy, with no signs of incorrect feeding or major problems with fleas or other illnesses.

‘They were very heavy-handed with an elderly lady and kept her standing out in her garden in the rain for hours while they searched her house.'."

The above quote comes from here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...althy.html

I put the quote in before the source, as the article itself seems to have an agenda of its own (including support for the Countryside Alliance, in favour of fox hunting) and I don't like all of the tone. But the reported case of the old lady is similar to many others where cases have been handled in a very heavy handed way - rather similar to the OSPCA you mentioned in another thread.

PS. Just found another example:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ution.html

The above does not deny, of course, that the RSPCA does a lot of good work, too - just like the OSPCA, no doubt.

If there were one or two isolated incidents they could be passed off as aberrations. However, there are so many incidents and that means the problem is systemic. This kind of heavy handed behavior is now part of the standard operating procedures. That is how the RSPCA does things.

They are killing animals that could have been rehomed, but it is much worse than that.

What they did to the family with the 16 year old cat was cruel. That poor cat was denied a chance to pass peacefully in the company of his beloved family. Instead he was afraid and in distress, in the company of strangers. Claude never got to see his people again. After a lifetime of love and care he was coldly killed at the hands of the RSPCA.
The family were denied a chance to even see him again. Those children will always feel distress about how they lost Claude. Instead of being with him as he grew older and gently saying goodbye, he was torn from them.

How the family was treated after that is distressing. I hope they do bring about some kind of law suit. The RSPCA needs to be brought to task over this. An apology is too little too late and it does not bring Claude back.

At this point there could be a class action suit there are so many people out there who have been affected.

The RSPCA has become an enemy of animals and people with pets. They have gone very far from their original mandate. I guess they feel they justify their public money if they charge people with cruelty. It looks like they are needed if they charge people. Instead they are taking happy families with happy pets and tearing them apart.

Can anything be done to stop this?

Whilst the RSPCA has done a lot of good work in the past, there are a lot of cases where it should have done very much better.
The RSPCA shelters around here take in all sorts of animals but the rehoming emphasis seems to be on cats, dogs and if they are lucky, rabbits. Any small mammals seem to be dispatched very quickly so have no chance of being rehomed. If we find out that guinea pigs or other small flurries are in the local RSPCA shelters we try to get them out and into a more appropriate rescue.
There are some of the authorities that deal with hoarders or similar situations here now turn to the Piggy Bank, and other similar groups, for advice and to relocate the animals, whereas in the past they would have gone straight to the RSPCA.

Small animals often don't do well with big shelters. They don't seem to care about finding homes for the little ones. I suspect in the old days no one even tried.

( My local Toronto Humane Society has special rooms set up for the special species and take rehoming them very seriously. )

No wonder you have so many special rescues. You can't trust the RSPCA to look after the guinea pigs and rabbits and other small animals.
When there are so many stories against the RSPCA you know there is something wrong. I think the fact that they get government money gives them a bad attitude. They are not accountable to people for their actions. They can up their budget if they lay more charges. No one monitors them about the fate of the animals they seize.

They need to be publically accountable for every animal that they have contact with. As long as they go ahead doing their own thing, the animals will continue to lose out.

Most shelters don't even try to help rescued reptiles.

Just to correct one minor point: the RSPCA does not receive state funding, but is supported by countless animal lovers (and a royal patronage). The truth about the heavy-handed attitude of the RSPCA in some cases is only just beginning to filter through.

A couple of times the RSPCA failed to respond to urgent calls I made to them, even though I waited for hours.
One incident concerning a very badly injured deer (which I would have shot if I'd had a gun with me) -and the second concerning a dog locked in a shed.
In both instances they seemed to "have some difficulty locating the place" but when I gave exact grid references, and ALSO offered to meet them at well-known landmarks in both areas, no-one showed up after many hours waiting for them. The one with "some difficulty locating the place" didn't seem -to me -to even be on the road.

When I was a little girl, we always trusted the RSPCA. My mother donated a lot of money over the years to them. Owing to that trust, I called them when I could see animals in great need which I could not take care of myself. And there was inadequate response.

It sounds like the RSPCA has lost its way.

If they get donor money then they better smarten up. All these stories coming to light are going to effect donations.
Maybe the Royal Patronage should be reviewed.

It must be hard to see a group that you trusted fail so badly.