RSPCA says 77% rise in cruelty to animals

[Captain Kev]

From the guardian

Last year was "one of the most violent towards animals" on record, the RSPCA said today, reporting a 77% rise in the number of neglected animals it dealt with during 2005.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrigh...830496,00.html


77% rise, this is terrible, what's going on?. is it an actual rise or are more people reporting animal cruelty than last year?

[Captain Kev]

Also here :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5213718.stm

[Gill Catton]

it seems quite odd that you'd get such a steep rise over just a year unless it included culmination of long term surveillence or maybe they took on a few new but very good investigators? Either way horrible shouldn't happen at all, don't understand how people can be so awful. Hopefully they'll get their comeuppance in the next life

[Airehead]

Whilst I do not like to belittle the monitoring of any form of cruelty, I think to put a statistical quantity on it is probably meaningless. I am sure that the public perception of cruelty, particularly to animals, is subject to the treatment it gets on telly and what constitutes cruelty is to a large extent a matter of current fashion. Activity as a result of a desire to inflict pain must be cruel by any measure, but I am sure that perception of cruelty goes a long way beyond this.

Earlier today I heard on radio the beginning of a discussion entitled 'Should animals have the same rights as people?' I walked away from it because I knew I would get frustrated if I listened. My simple answer is "No". But my longer answer starts with "This is a pointless question because officialdom in this society currently has a thoroughly twisted view of what human rights should be". But I won't go into that.

[Chalk Downlanders]

I would take headlines like that with a pinch of salt from them. They are always looking for extra publicity.

Throw your money at the computer. Or better still send it in .............

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Chalk Downlanders

I would take headlines like that with a pinch of salt from them. They are always looking for extra publicity.

Throw your money at the computer. Or better still send it in .............

of course one of the prime reasons that they are always looking for publicity is all the horrid things people do to animals and the need to publicise and fund raise to try and stop this.

We know the statistics are pointless, so do the rspca, but journalists like that kind of media trivia and if it gives the rspca publicity to get their message across why not ...

[Chalk Downlanders]

Pointless or made up? Statistics that is.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Chalk Downlanders

Pointless or made up? Statistics that is.

probably a bit of both - though if you release them to serious media you need some sort of suppporting evidence.

[Chalk Downlanders]

Originally Posted by eeyore

probably a bit of both - though if you release them to serious media you need some sort of suppporting evidence.

Perhaps it's a bit like the Government with their statistics. If they don't like the results, just recalculate them in a different way. I concider that to be dishonest and deceiving, a bit like that Anglefish thread.

Kev

[eeyore]

89% of statistics are made up

[Captain Kev]

Either way shouldn’t people be less cruel to animals these days due to awareness and better education of the environment and nature?

The mass of films like Walt Disney and the like, portraying animals in a human light.

The fact that people have more spare cash these days, so shouldn’t they be able to afford to look after their pets better?

Or are people becoming so selfish that they see animals as throw away commodities, more like a fashion accessory to fulfil short term boredom or a whim of their own self-importance?

[life through a lens]

Originally Posted by eeyore

89% of statistics are made up

Love it !!!!!

Originally Posted by Captain Kev

Or are people becoming so selfish that they see animals as throw away commodities, more like a fashion accessory to fulfil short term boredom or a whim of their own self-importance?

I think this is a valid point. If you look through the heaps of trashy magazines the amount of Z list celebs with 'fashionable' pets is huge. This then prompts Joe public to go out to the pet shop and get whatever pet said Z lister has, usually without any thought as to the responsibility that comes with owning a pet.

If you are planning to have a child it is clearly pointed out (by the world and his wife) what a large responsibility this is. However, if you go into a pet shop, how much information is given about keeping the pet and costs/time involved. Even my sons goldfish need a fair amount of attention to keep them healthy. There are the minority that do understand or will do some research first but they do seem, IMO, to be a minority.

Maybe there should be campaign for pets hops to provide more free information to their customers.

Rant over

Olly

[Alan]

Originally Posted by eeyore

89% of statistics are made up

He just made that up!

As usual it is how we as humans have contributed to the problems in continuing to let the situation go unregulated (due to cost!) as regard licensing and neutering for instance. In my opinion every domestic animal/pet should be licensed and entered into a national database no matter what it is. I know this may sound a bit big brother, but I don't particulary care. It also goes a long way to prevent cruely, especially when proving who/did own the animal, and it may make people who arne't bothered about an animals welfare to think twice about owning one.

I also believe if you want to breed such animals to sell as a business for example, you to should be licensed and have regular checks carried out by inspectors. Fat chance of this happening maybe, due to cost and administation, but it doesn't stop me from believing it should!

[nightshade]

If this is true ,they are not doing a very good job despite having a large cash reserve

[life through a lens]

I agree with the idea of licensing breeders and owners but this would just create a bigger illegal market for animals that could potentially add to the existing suffering levels.

If you take guns, a shotgun for example, you need to be licensed to own one and to prove that you are responsibly storing it. If you then look at national gun crime figures I would bet that the vast majority of shootings are with unrecorded, unlicensed, black market weapons.

Its an extreme example but the more you regulate something the more you increase the potential for a black market.

Another option would be an approach like dog homes use whereby potential owners are vetted before being allowed to take ownership of an animal. The problem being is funding, although the buyer could pay the costs, and the fact that it wont help animals being sold outside of pet shops, ie, farm dogs.

Olly

[Airehead]

Today's local paper contains a simple statement by the local RSPCA. It says that reports of animal cruelty have risen dramatically and recently because of the heat wave.

I do not believe that many people can nowadays be unaware of the cruelty of leaving an animal in a car in the sun, and if there is now a greater incidence of it then one must assume that people are being consciously selfish.

[nightshade]

I know of people that have left children in a closed car in the sun with tragic results,
let alone animals

[flying red fox]

This is scary, i have read it in my paper aswell. I hate it when people are cruel to animals and watching these programs like Miami Animal Police or Animal Cops Houston makes me not want to watch them because its so cruel.

But thats the point, we often turn our heads away when this thing comes up but what we should do is clear our heads and deal with the problem head on, that way we can hopefully beat cruelty.

Its all to easy saying and i find this myself saying that if we saw someone beating an animal, we would want to kill that person but why would we want to stoop as low as them and getv a criminal record?

We need to educate people when they are young and try to set up a place where these people can be told that they are doing wrong. Like the AA for alcoholics for example.

Please let the cruelty stop, its not fair as animals cannot protect themselves from humans so those cruel people should know better.

Oops i ranted for a while but i get sensitive when i hear about these things saying that cruelty is on the increase. I wish that cruelty would dissapear altogether.

[Beryl]

I agree with you .
I sit and howl my eyes out watching these programs but we must watch them and teach our children and grandchildren how to be kind to animals, we also need to watch to know what is going on or no one can prevent it.