RSPCA - good or bad?

[poohbear]

Originally Posted by Bullseye

The "ordinary" RSPSA worker/helper at the front end,tries to do a good job.However,at the top end making money is very important !.Like a lot of big charities those at the top loose contact with their roots.There is also a worrying developement of "radicals" entering,ie,no one should have pets because "It's not natural for the animal concerned" !.The fact that these animals would'nt exist in the first place seems to be neither here nor there !.

The heirachy is completely politically motivated with an anti pet agenda...If you want an opinion on this lot ask any independant rescue charity and you will soon find out.
They have their uses with horses,dogs and cats...but anything else...forget it.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by poohbear

The heirachy is completely politically motivated with an anti pet agenda...If you want an opinion on this lot ask any independant rescue charity and you will soon find out.
They have their uses with horses,dogs and cats...but anything else...forget it.

so how does that view point gel with this

Originally Posted by FoxtonWildlifeRescue

Regarding wildlife, almost everything we take has been rescued and brought to us by the RSPCA after being called in by the public. This amounts to around 700 animals a year.... In addition to the rescues, the RSPCA also pay us (plus every other wildlife hospital) an amount per day for every animal that they leave, plus up to £60 per case on vet fees. This allows to do the job without wasting time fundraising etc. so in reality they rescue and fund the rehabilitation of each animal we take.

In addition to all of this, they have three dedicated wildlife hospitals of their own - Stapeley Grange in Cheshire, East Winch in Norfolk and West Hatch in Somerset with their own resident vets.

probably fair to say that none of the animals foxton takes in are horses, dogs, or cats :roll:

Originally Posted by FoxtonWildlifeRescue

I think that people denegrading them here haven't the first clue what they are talking about and before you slag them off, think for a moment about what you have ever done for wildlife.

hammer, nail , head

[ollyk]

Originally Posted by FoxtonWildlifeRescue

Probably again a question of resources. Do you honestly think that this inspector was sitting around doing the crossword? This kind of naivety is so annoying when you have seen the reality.

Actually the officer was in a car park having lunch. A crossword puzzle was not being tackled at this particular moment.

I wasn't expecting her to drive off and sort the problem out. I was however expecting the officer to show some interest and perhaps at the very least make sure the injured animal was logged so that someone else could have made a decision as to it's priority... I honestly don't see how this would have been such a problem?

Originally Posted by FoxtonWildlifeRescue

As an aside, if you had rang the NCC (call centre) that job would have been passed on to any inspectors/officers on duty.

Do you actually know that I didn't ring the number given to me, or have you assumed I didn't ring the number and report the incident?

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by ollyk

I wasn't expecting her to drive off and sort the problem out. I was however expecting the officer to show some interest and perhaps at the very least make sure the injured animal was logged so that someone else could have made a decision as to it's priority... I honestly don't see how this would have been such a problem?

but equally why is it such a problem for her to ask you to make the call ? While I agree that her public handling skills could be a bit better , its not like she told you to "oeoe off" Its likely that once called in the operations room would have further questions on its location, condition etc so its better that the person who saw it calls in rather than getting an officer to do it second hand

Its also quite possible that she was having a bad day and had a load of more important things to do that afternoon, as foxton said higher up its about prioritisation.

If you approach a policeman on the street to report a non emergency matter they dont drop everything and call the matter in for you, they will just tell you to go to the station, or give you a non emergency number to call.

[Elevate29]

As someone who works for a wildlife rehab centre it does appear that the service you get is hit and miss. We often get calls from people who have tried the RSPCA first and are quite shocked by the lack of interest. However, we also get cases brought in to us from them (who we then charge a fee) ranging from injured deer to baby squirrels/rabbits etc and some officers really do go the extra mile. It really does seem to be a case of who you deal with at the time.

As has already been said, the RSPCA isn't best equipped for dealing with wildlife both in terms of practical facilities and expert knowledge however, they are a good first port of call in that they often have the contacts of specialist charities/organisations that could maybe help. I think really it comes down to the fact that the majority do care but they can only deal with so much and so must concentrate on what they are best equipped to manage ie. domestic animals/abuse etc.

elevate.

[wildliferescuer]

I have to agree with you Elevate29. I too work for a wildlife rehab centre & we deal with the RSPCA on a regular basis.
They can't all be tarred with the same brush, there are some very good, caring Inspectors & ACO's but there are also some very bad ones, & the advice given by the call centres is absolutely terrible sometimes.

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by Elevate29

As has already been said, the RSPCA isn't best equipped for dealing with wildlife both in terms of practical facilities and expert knowledge however, they are a good first port of call in that they often have the contacts of specialist charities/organisations that could maybe help.

This is true, as are the comments by wildliferescuer - the point being perhaps is given the size and extent of work now covered by the RSPCA, the first port of call is a call centre and it's virtually impossible to get hold of any RSPCA rehabs/rescue centres directly now.

I spent 30 minutes arguing with a call centre person on the phone over a young gull that may or may not have needed rescuing. She refused to put me in direct contact with a RSPCA rescue centre where i could obtain the necessary advice. She knew less than I did about bird rescue and when it's necessary! I was informed to take it to a Vet if I thought it was at risk, which completely disregards the possibility that more on site expert opinion might have stated it could have been left in the wild with parents which is always the preferred option. I objected that it was left initially to me to make what essentially was a medical evaluation and assessment in a very borderline case - once young gulls have been moved from their local vicinity there is very little chance of returning them later to their parents successfully once they've been taken in by a Vet. Fortunately, I managed to get hold of an old contact from a wildlife rescue service who knows me and who specialises in gull rescue - he came out within 20 minutes from a neighbouring town and we checked the bird out together and made a mutual decision to take it in.

In the RSPCA's defence however, during that rather heated phone call, they arranged funding at a local Vet of £60 to cover initial examination costs and pledged (with a reference case no.) to cover any rehab costs as well as providing the name and telephone number of the nearest vet to me that took wild birds in.

I think perhaps the co-ordination and part funding of care, as has been mentioned, is really their strong point now - and lets face it, there are a fair number of wildlife rescue centres these days so the RSPCA provides a vital first stop call to get animals/birds the care they need in an area where it is needed.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Picidae

I think perhaps the co-ordination and part funding of care, as has been mentioned, is really their strong point now - and lets face it, there are a fair number of wildlife rescue centres these days so the RSPCA provides a vital first stop call to get animals/birds the care they need in an area where it is needed.

I think thats true - though their other key strength is in investigations , where they are very active against badger baiters, hare coursers, deer poachers etc (plus the more prosaic cruelty cases) often at no small risk to the officers involved - plus the investigations team also do a lot of work with their international counter parts on the enforcement of CITES etc

[captaincarot]

the main 2 problems now with the rspca are
it's too big, so some of the people are there just for the job.

the leadership. anything that is run by members of Peta is to be avoided in my opinion

[RobinP]

I do volunteer work for my local RSPCA centre and quite honestly, they are overrun with work. There is a waiting list a mile long for dogs and cats to come in so people just dump them in the carpark. They have to use private kennels and catteries to house some of them and the place costs £1,200 a day just to keep going. It's unfortunate if individual cases get poor treatment but they are struggling to cope with domestic pets let alone wildlife problems. I have nothing but praise for what they do and certainly don't think anyone there is in it just for a job.