RSPCA - good or bad?

[djackso]

Are the RSPCA any use whatsoever when it comes to helping with wildlife? Does helpfulness vary depending on region?

I have had to resort to calling them on occasion. Advice has been poor. The advice for an injured woodpigeon was to leave it outside for the cats to get it!

I’ve had bad experiences in London and Liverpool.

I read on this forum they were ok with cats and dogs – not so in my experience (unless leaving the cats the injured woodpigeon was being good to cats!!!)
But I am reliably informed that they can pay for the treatment of injured wildlife.

Does anyone else have experience of their service? Does anybody work for them and can you explain their policies?

[Rob_D]

Well I don't condone comments like that about leaving an injured animal for cats. In general though I think the RSPCA do a great job.

[nightshade]

I have revised my opinion of the RSPCA locally as during my bat rescues
they have been very helpful with injured bats, as with all large organisations
there are always "bad-'uns" some are officious to the point where you could cheerfully swing for them others are so friendly and helpful you could weep in gratitude

[dampflippers]

Click on this link:
RSPCA || About the RSPCA

"Charitable status
The RSPCA is a registered charity (no. 219099) that receives no lottery or state aid. Its £82 million annual running costs are funded exclusively by voluntary donations and legacies."
I think in general the RSPCA do a great job considering it receives no official funding. They only have limited resources and limited rescue facilities. Maybe the advice about the pigeon wasn't too good- maybe they could have suggested a local wildife rescue centre that might have taken it.....but they are usually very short of resources too.

Vet, by law I believe, are meant to treat wild aminals (and presumably birds) free, even if it means putting them to sleep.

[lincs lass]

The RSPCA are wonderful if the TV cameras are there, however try to call them on the 24hr helpline and you get nowhere. They have a limit as to how much they will pay for a cat or dog at the vets, most wildlife would be PTS.

If I find injured wildlife, I go straight to my vet, they will do what they can and then contact people who take in wildlife.

[wizzard]

On the whole I think the country would be a worse place without the RSPCA. I've had only good experiences with them with regards to wildlife and I've had to call them a few times (actually the SSPCA), but the whole RSPCA stamp on food fiasco has tainted my views on them and their spokeswoman on the matter made me madder than a bag full of angry bees. They should not be simply selling their approval to companies, no matter what.

[deer boy]

Today i went out looking for Badger setts in a wood near my village & as i was looking at some holes to see if they were in use i noticed something moving at the top of the wood.
I hid behind a tree half expecting a Fox to come running down the wood but soon realized what ever it was,was trapped.
As i approached i could see it was a Badger with barbed wire rapped around it's neck,as soon as he saw me he started hissing so i went home for help.
My dad phoned the RSPCA & within 35 minutes the man was at the door,I took him to the Badger & we cut it free.
Because the wire was so deep he had to take the Badger with him,but he gave me a number to contact them on & find out how the little fella get's on.
Apart from the lady on the phone asking what colour it was i would say they did a great job.
As we drove to the woods i chatted to the RSPCA man & he told me he had come 35 miles outside his area because there was no one else to deal with it.
As i say couldn't fault them,they did a great job,i now hope the little fella makes a fall recovery but sadley i don't think he will

[mrs fish]

I don't have any complaints about the RSPCA, they have always been very helpful with all my dealings with them.

[bendog]

I have only once rung the RSPCA for help and that was when a Fox that was obviously very unwell came to lie down in our garden. When I rang, they told me that they did not treat foxes and would just come out to put her to sleep! I then found the number of the local wildlife rescue place and they came out within minutes. Unfortunately, they were about 30 seconds too late as she died while we were beside her. They did, however, take her body to investigate why she had died.

[TORTUGA]

My experiences with a RSPCA have been good and bad. They have taken in ill Hedgehogs for me etc on occasions however, Whilst a Senior Courts Custody Officer I did on occasions have people turn up for court appearances with a Dog in-tow.

They would tie the Dog up on some railings outside of court, and find themselves being sent to Prison. The first thing they would say to me is "my Dog is outside, what should I do"?

I would try their friends to see if anyone would take it for a few months, however on occasions no-one would. The prisoner would then suggest it be re-homed then as they didn't want it left teathered to a railing for 3 months or so.

So here we go, call to the RSPCA, I tell them there is a Dog tied to railings outside the court. RSPCA were not interested as they would say the Dog is not in danger or suffering. I would then say that it will be though soon as the owner is off to Prison and will be back in 3 months. The RSPCA would then say that it is the responsibility of the owner to sort out accomodation or re-homing, I would explain that this is not possible because the person is going to be locked up for 3 months. They would then say that if the Dog suffered tied to the railings they would prosecute the owner. As you can see it was a mad situation.
I even had someone sent to prison who said "I have a Dog and Cat locked in my flat and no family or friends to take them, what do I do"?
I again contacted the RSPCA and went through the whole frustrating process again with them saying nothing we can do as the animals are not suffering, however if they do we will take them to court.

I was always under the impression that prevention is better than cure, the owners did not want their animals suffering and were prepared to re-home, the RSPCA did not want to know until a crime had been committed, but in my eyes they were prepared to let the situation get to the point of animal suffering until they got involved. This to me is not the actions of an organisation which claims to care about animal welfare.

[m1.carson]

Hi,

I've found them very difficult to get hold of, but, later found there were only three people to cover a huge area, after saying that, friends who work at a local business park have no trouble at all.

Max.

[RobinP]

Originally Posted by TORTUGA

I was always under the impression that prevention is better than cure

Remind me again, what does the 'P' stand for in RSPCA? Though maybe in these cases you'd be better off contacting an animal rescue organization.

I've always found the RSPCA great in dealing with domestic animals and pets but a bit lacking where wildlife is concerned.

[TORTUGA]

Originally Posted by RobinP

Remind me again, what does the 'P' stand for in RSPCA? Though maybe in these cases you'd be better off contacting an animal rescue organization.

I've always found the RSPCA great in dealing with domestic animals and pets but a bit lacking where wildlife is concerned.

I tried everyone believe me, no one wanted to know. They all said that it was not abandoned and as such there was nothing they could do.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by TORTUGA

I was always under the impression that prevention is better than cure, the owners did not want their animals suffering and were prepared to re-home, the RSPCA did not want to know until a crime had been committed, but in my eyes they were prepared to let the situation get to the point of animal suffering until they got involved. This to me is not the actions of an organisation which claims to care about animal welfare.

but as someone pointed out higher up the rspca is a charity with limited means - is it really a good use of these limited resources to expend them on taking care of animals who have an owner who is not mistreating them and who should have made arrangements for their care.

Particularly where a dog or cat is locked in a flat as the rspca have no powers for forced entry and thus would have to involve the police - who almost certainly have better things to do with their time too and who wont want to get involved until there is a problem.

I understand that this situation must have been frustrating for you but the blame lies not with the rspca but with the owner - even in prison they have phones and it isnt that hard to call a mate to go and retreive tiddles or rover. There can't be many people who go down who don't have any freinds or family whatsoever.

The owner is passing the buck for something which they should sort out via you to a charity , who to my mind are right to kick it back into their lap and say sort it out or else.

On a general point i've worked a lot with both uniformed rspca and their investigations dept and always found them to be great - most of the times they get criticised its because people are expecting too much - as i said they have limited resources and can't do everything for everyone all the time.

[bounce]

Mixed thoughts, after our G.S.D passed away aged 17 we went along to our local RSPCA just for a look and there was this fantastic looking doberman, not a dog I'd ever thought about but it was fantastic, 4 times more expensive than the rest but after a walk with it we decided that was the one. We submitted our details for inspection and within 24 hours were told we was not suitable? The dog was on its 2 weeks up we were told and needed out, but not to us? Later through a freind who's brother worked there we found that the manager had a love for and owned 2 dobermans already and if no-one wanted it then after its time was up instead of destroying it he could have it.
Also my mum wanted a small dog, they had some puppies 20 weeks old they said wont grow much bigger, so she came away with one turns out they were 9 week old lurchers not so small now.

[stripee]

With dog problems, I usually contact the dog warden of the local council. Discarded breeding bitches are left sometimes by the sides of main roads. One a couple of weeks ago, this was lucky to be found by a dog loving neighbour.
The times I have phoned the RSPCA I have found them helpful. Some years back I reported a terrible scene of puppy farming in a derelict property off the road, dogs in old cars, and tied up, some too weak to stand. This resulted in a successful prosecution. Year before last, I phoned about mistreatment of a cow, which had gone crazy when her 1st calf was taken off her, and had been winged by the stockman who was chasing it with his gun to finish it off over a couple of miles on other peoples properties. (The cow disappeared and lived happily in another farmer's herd for some time). But I learnt about shooting cattle in the head from the RSPCA. They have expert advice. And seem excellent for domestic animals.
For wildlife I contact the local wildlife hospital, and for information, usually the appropriate charity/wildlife trusts etc. Vets have an obligation to treat wildlife casualties, although some are more sympathetic than others.

[djackso]

Thanks for your succinct and comprehensive reply - I'll refer to this in the future as I reckon you are pretty spot on with your assessment.

The dog info. rings true - once I spent a good few minutes getting irate with one patronizing person on the help-line, trying to explain that the growling creature in the bushes at the back of a neighbouring garden most definitely did NOT belong to a neighbour, only to be informed (after several minutes getting nowhere at all and wasting my breath) that the RSPCA didn't deal with these cases anyway. And I thought the RSPCA were busy people.....

[Cidermaker]

The Private Eye has some different views on the RSPCA - worth a read.

[tufftie]

Just going on from Stripee's comment about vets while they do have an obligation quite a few still refuse to take them in. Maybe it's worth people checking out the local vets in their area to find out which ones will and wont. There's a good one in Lower Horsebridge in East Sussex that will and they are lovely people

[dampflippers]

In order to not waste the charity's funds:

Unknown dog in neighbour's garden: Council dog warden.
Abandoned dog tied to railings: Council dog warden
Dog left at home following accident or confinement of owner: Council dog warden or animal shelter.

Let them do the job of dealing with mistreatment and neglect. They aren't dog wardens.

Playing devil's advocate- the Fox mentioned above died before the animal sheler person arrived, so actually the RSPCA assessed the situation right, and the offer to put it to sleep was correct.

[djackso]

Originally Posted by dampflippers

In order to not waste the charity's funds:

Unknown dog in neighbour's garden: Council dog warden.

Let them do the job of dealing with mistreatment and neglect. They aren't dog wardens.

Indeed, so the question is in our case, why they didn't just tell us this. I assume their helpline is run by volunteers who need better training (to say the least).

And in my experience, if a dog is growling, it may in fact be in pain. So I don't think the lady I spoke to needed to have been so VERY AWKWARD.

(Sorry to all those good RSPCA members out there - I'm sure most of us are on the same side, and most comments above suggest that you do your job well).

[cat72uk]

i had 1 bad experience with them 9 years ago when a man in our street
got arested and sent to prison his house was empty
he had 3 tanks full of tropical fish
after a while his electric ran out and no one was going in to feed them
i rang the rspca and told them about the fish
i was told on the phone 'we dont do fish, are there any other animals in the flat'
well in the end i went round and pushed the door open becuse it was not secured and rescued the few fish that where still alive and rang the police to tell them that i have entered a premiss tacken the fish but i did no breaking to get in, the police came and took a statment and where quite happy about it
even thow thay said i could have been arested for breaking & entering!!

[Chas]

It is worth noting that the RSPCA is a self appointed organisation that has no more powers than any private individual. Obviously they have very good intentions and in my opinion do a useful job, but I thought it worth pointing out that they are in fact toothless and need to be accompanied by a "real" officer of the law to gain access to any animal that they consider to be cruelly treated. I also wonder why they have to parade around in psuedo army/police style uniforms complete with officers insignia and pips denoting rank. Obviously to fool people in to thinking that they actually have some authority. As an ex military man I find this wearing of officers pips gets right up my nose!
They have a wildlife centre at West Hatch Somerset and to my knowledge during the last week a Weasel and a young fawn have been sent there from Exeter I have a friend who is a receptionist at the local centre here, and although she owns a cat has no idea whatsoever of anything to do with animals but got the job because she is a retired Head Teacher and obviously not stupid!

[djackso]

Good for you, cat72uk!

Wonder why they "don't do fish". Maybe they just don't have the resources.
I didn't know this.

[djackso]

Originally Posted by Chas

I also wonder why they have to parade around in psuedo army/police style uniforms complete with officers insignia and pips denoting rank. Obviously to fool people in to thinking that they actually have some authority. As an ex military man I find this wearing of officers pips gets right up my nose!
They have a wildlife centre at West Hatch Somerset and to my knowledge during the last week a Weasel and a young fawn have been sent there from Exeter I have a friend who is a receptionist at the local centre here, and although she owns a cat has no idea whatsoever of anything to do with animals but got the job because she is a retired Head Teacher and obviously not stupid!

Some interesting points here. The whole uniform thing really builds up your expectations of them. The comments on this forum have made me lower my expectations of them, and view them in a more realistic way.