In light of recent events - Re The RSPCA

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Taboo1968

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I know emotions are running very high at the moment but I thought this would be an ideal time to seek peoples views on the good old RSPCA (and that is said with an amount of sarcasm)

So here's a poll!
 
Do you think the RSPCA should be abolished and a stricter government funded organisation be set up?

Would that be the Police?
 
No Because we don't know the right story yet!

Yes When I've belt with the SSPCA they have always done the best thing for the animal and have always done it quickly. I have found the sspca to be very helpful but have never belt with the rspca

No i think they need more support from the government better harder laws.
 
My experience of the RSPCA are no where near as good as the equine charities and it is pointless contacting them about horses, as it obviously was in this case.
 
Yes
no
yes!!
I have had dealings with the rspca in the past and found them to be useless!!!!If i remeber correctly the last time i needed them i spent 3 days trying to get hold of them to no avail!!!As well as the rspca getting a bollockin over this i think the police force should too!!!The only heroes in this situation are the charities!!HOWEVER i looked on the interactive bbc news channel and low and behold.....RSPCA mentioned not the names of the actual horse charities that have done all the work!!!
confused.gif

Rant over....sorry guys,just feel the rspca is a waste of space in this country,but then too are the police force!!!x
 
I think that given the weak laws and limitations placed on them the RSPCA does a good job. I used to volunteer with them and they were often frustrated at the lack of action they could take.
 
No Yes No for me too.

I think they do their best with the knowledge and resource that they have - but I don't think that the knowledge and resource is good enough.

I *imagine* with this case there was a lot of violence/threats involved and the scale of the problem was not fully known - they cannot be blamed for that IMO.
 
Without knowing all the facts I honestly cant comment. Perhaps the laws governing their ability to act should be altered, so that they could have removed horses before it came to this. Maybe the police/RSPCA inspectors were at risk going in. Highly likely. I just dont understand/know the legalities or risks involved to be honest.

Im not opting out, I just like to form an educated opinion.
 
[ QUOTE ]
My experience of the RSPCA are no where near as good as the equine charities and it is pointless contacting them about horses, as it obviously was in this case.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do we know they didn't act and sooner? The only media reports I've heard is that the RSPCA went out when called about a dead horse in a field on Saturday. Unless the public make them aware of these types of instances before there are 30 dead animals, how can we expect them to act any sooner?

I think the main downfall of the RSPCA is us, the general public. All too often they are called to cases that are nowhere near an emergency and it stretches their resources. They can only do so much surely?

They are bound by rules and regulations which means animals need to meet strict criteria before they can intervene on welfare grounds. The Government needs to hand more control to the RSPCA, fund them and allow them to do the job in the way they desire, but struggle to achieve.
 
I can't agree that threats should put people off from doing what is necessary. I have to go into the homes of people with acute mental illness and arrange for them to be removed, colleagues have to remove children from their families for their own protection, we are not and should not, be in a position to say, 'these people are too dangerous for us to deal with@
 
According to the local news the RSPCA had investigated the owner before and locals had been reporting the situation to the RSPCA for quite a while before they actually did anything.
 
With the few animal neglect cases that go to court the RSPCA stand and give evidence and therefore they do some good. I don't think they are the ones to turn to for horses simply because of the lack of facilities to care for them. They can take a dog easy in their van and put it in a kennel but the centers simply don't have the room to look after horses which is very frustrating but a simple fact. I for one would prefer them to continue running for the good they do for many companion animals. They should create stronger links with equine charities however so they could challenge such problems. The government should form a good animal welfare department in some way or another and the RSPCA could compliment that. Something is still better than nothing though
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Whilst i do support the RSPCA, i support them for their work with smaller animals. I would never use them as my first port of call for a case of equine neglect or cruelty
 
no they should not be held accountable
yes i donate 4.00pounds a month, so i do support them
no they should not be abolished

i am not sure of the whole story but the rspca do good work, the law may not always allow them to save animals, i bet the inspectors are very passionate about saving and helping animals, that guy is the only one who should be held accountable, i am sure they would not have known of all of those horses dead as they would have been able to and would have acted sooner, its amazing what can go on behind closed doors
 
Just watched the news footage and there seems to be huge discrepancies in condition between the horses, some actually looked in good condition just dirty and covered in the blobs you get from lying on mucky bedding.
Others looked awfully thin with ringworm evident on some.
I was amazed to see a haflinger there, surely they make good money?
Before we all know the facts it's hard to understand how anyone could do this, but perhaps he had a mental breakdown, you never know.
My worst fear is that all the horses reported lately as stolen could well be found there, it seems to have been an unknown sort of place locally, which I find hard to believe, surely the horseboxes delivering the stock would have been seen out and about?
Do you think someone could have 97 horses near to you without your knowledge?
It does seem a bit strange that could happen even if isolated, most horse owners take notice when a box passes them don't they?
I am not a fan of the RSPCA after seeing lambs drown in liquid mud during F and M, they claimed they couldn't do anything but a tractor could easily have dropped pallets then straw for on them to make islands for the lambs out of the mud.. So they don't get my money any longer.
It will be interesting to see the pics of all the horses once cleaned up a little, the youngster I saw had even had it's feet trimmed within a month or so looking at them, so either the owner was giving some animals care and not others, or the turnover was so high it hadn't been there very long..
 
yes some are in better condition than others. This is probably because they are newer additions to his rocky horror show of equine neglect and have'nt had the time to lose condition or die!!

Really, there is no possible story or excuse for the state and treatment of these animals.
 
sorry, sent post before finished. Yes it would be interesting to here the full story, and it does seem strange that such goings on could happen with little or no notice taken by other people. Thankfully someone did notice and the horses can now begin their journeys of recovery.
 
I think if I'd had a horse stolen recently I'd be contacting all of these charities to see whether anything that looked like my horse had turned up amongst this lot.

If this guy was sending these horses for live slaughter to Europe it's highly likely that he was also stealing them, as why buy when you can get for free?
 
I know we dont have the full story yet, and I for one would like to sit in on the court case when it happens...although I think I would find it dreadfully upsetting....

The results of the poll so far are interesting though!
 
at this stage it is to early to say whether the RSPCA should be held responsible. There is more to rescuing animals or detecting crime than has been acknowledged in some other threads, nobody can simply march on to somebody's land and gather evidence or remove animals without evidence even before you go there, and I imagine the visit last week was the conclusion of collecting this evidence.

Do I support the RSPCA? Not as an organisation because of their political stance on hunting, among other reasons, however I do have huge support for my local field officer who I have worked with through Horsewatch and I know that we have secured convictions locally on equine cruelty and neglect, even with the travelling community.

I do think that investigating crime is the remit of the Police and that there should be the funding for every force to have 2 or 3 specially trained and dedicated officers to dealing with crime relating to animals, supported by animal welfare charities.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I do think that investigating crime is the remit of the Police and that there should be the funding for every force to have 2 or 3 specially trained and dedicated officers to dealing with crime relating to animals, supported by animal welfare charities

[/ QUOTE ]

Now that is an excellent idea!!
 
I am totally of the opinion that the death of the 32 horses, and the prolonged suffering of the other horses is the result of no bloody action by the RSPCA.

I can't really put in to words how I feel, but mad, mad, mad and totally distraught are just two emotions at the moment.

I thought that they were supposed to PREVENT cruelty not PROLONG it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/artic...ance/article.do

"Wendy Ward, 32, a housewife who has lived in the village for more than six years, said she had called the RSPCA three times over the past year expressing her concern over the horses at Spindles Farm."

It seems to me that someone had tried to get something done over the last year. I don't think the RSPCA are able to deal with horses. If you watch th RSPCA programmes you see them dealing with nasty abusive people, so it can't be the case this time surely..?

I just think this is so sad and I really feel for the poor horses & donkeys as well as the people who tried to get something done earlier, they must feel terrible.
 
Here is the post that was made in the long thread in News from Horse Trust themselves...

"
We at the Horse Trust would welcome your support in any way you can offer it. By all means contact us, we have just taken in 30 horses which has increased our work load hugely and with all the press interest this is also having a large impact on our already large work load. Our telephone number is 01494 488484 or email me at rebecca@horsetrust.org.uk and we can discuss what you can do to help"
 
I don't think we will hear the full story on this one for a while, as there should be a court case. I would like to know in the future though, why action to remove these horses wasn't taken sooner - it may just be that they were all in barns and no one could see ? So the relevent charities couldn't act.
I think the RSPCA has come in for a lot of flax recently but, in all honesty i think they do the best they can in most cases as with the law being the way it is, it takes far to long for action to be taken, i don't neccesarily see this as the RSPCA being rubbish, it should be made easier in law to remove animals deemed to be suffering. All that said they are the worst for action in my opinion!
 
RSPCA response in Farmers Guardian
http://www.farmersguardian.com/story.asp?s...storycode=15492


QUOTE
The horses were being kept at a farm in Hyde Heath near Amersham and the RSPCA have previously investigated the site although on this occasion they were alerted to the horses’ shocking conditions by a member of the public.

RSPCA Superintendent Tim Wass said: "The owner was known to the RSPCA, and while we had concerns about his horses, conditions had been at a legally acceptable level during our last visits. So, the only option the RSPCA inspectors had then was to offer animal welfare advice to improve the situation - we did not have the power to remove the animals any earlier.

Conditions had declined drastically when the RSPCA returned to the farm last week, and inspectors acted immediately with Thames Valley Police to remove the remaining 111 animals from the property.”
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I suppose people can make there own minds up from that as to how much they did or didn't do.
 
I used to support the RSPCA but have become increasingly disillusioned by them.
This incident has let down anyone who has ever donated to them. I donated because I would like cruelty to animals to be prevented (isn't that part of their name??!).
However, it would seem that they were unable to prevent , not only the cruelty to these horse but also the horrible deaths of some.
Yet they were aware of the problem.
No excuses for not being able to intervene.
 
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