Useless bunch of ******** - SSPCA

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XxCoriexX

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Just feeling the need to have a rant more than anything else! Please let me know if I am being unreasonable!

Last weekend I found a dog running around on the road very close to the dual carriageway, a few people had already stopped their cars but in their panic to catch the dog they were all chasing after her...which unfortunately scared her more.
I sat down on the pavement and started calling her over...thankfully she came and sat on my knee. the poor thing was very frightened and very confused, she was beautiful tan coloured lurcher type and although she didn't have any tags she had a bit of material around her neck.
Anyway as she had come to me I said I would take her and call the SSPCA to pick her up. Popped little Honey (don't know her actual name but I needed something to call her so there it was) into my car and drove off of the main road to call the SSPCA.
Now although she wasn't dreadfully skinny she was a little bit thin even for a lurcher, had very recently pupped and had blood on her hind legs, I told the SSPCA this and was told that because I had taken her off the road there was nothing that they could so as they don't take stray dogs!!!
What was I supposed to do???? leave her on the road to get hit by a car????
I then proceeded to call the local dog warden, cat and dog home and rescue centre to be told that they are not open on weekends, so I phoned the vet to try and get her checked for a microchip and was told they were only open for emergencies!
I felt terrible as I couldn't keep her (I already have two dogs and two cats and she looked like a baiting dog so couldn't risk her being around my cats).
So my last resort was to take her to the local police station, who were also closed! thankfully one of the policemen came out (wouldn't touch her though as she was dirty!) so I carried her around to a tiny dirty crate that they had in the back of a shed.
I was almost in tears the poor little toot was not happy at all!
I guess the lesson is don't find a stray or missing dog on the weekends because there is no one to help you!

In case anyone wanted to know I phoned back on the Monday to be told that she belonged to the travellers living in an industrial estate locally and she had been returned to her family!

Well done to anyone who read that! Urgh so frustrated....I most certainly will not be giving anymore money to the SSPCA!
 
Cant really see why its the sspca fault - and im NO fan of them at all. Its the local dog wardens and its a shame they dont open at the weekend.
 
I agree that theyu are useless, we had an escapee pig turn up here years ago and they said they didn't want to know unless it was injured. Oh, and did it have its papers with it!?

On the otrher hand I couldn't have left the little dog where you did, I would have had to keep her until Monday, surely everyone has a small space for small ill dog in distress?
 
Years ago when I lived in Newmarket, I found a little old dog wandering down the middle of a fast B road in the middle of nowhere. He was obviously well looked after but no id, no houses nearby. I drove to the next hamlet but noone knew him. I was on the border of Cambs/Suffolk for the dog warden and it was a friday night-noone wanted to know. I took him home and eventually a dog warden took him on the tuesday. I phoned up a few days later to see if he'd been reunited with his owner and they had but apparently the owner was 'furious' with my 'interfering' -wish he'd got to say that to my face.

I expect dog wardens are like any other local authority resource-massively underfunded.
 
'On the otrher hand I couldn't have left the little dog where you did, I would have had to keep her until Monday, surely everyone has a small space for small ill dog in distress?
Read more at https://forums-secure.horseandhound...s-bunch-of-********-SSPCA#xae0PVPSbEUhIMdQ.99'





Unfortunately not, I have a small house as it is and with my own two dogs and three cats there isn't anywhere to put her, by her reaction to dogs passing my car she wasn't at all dog friendly and I was not taking the chance, and considering she belonged to the travellers and the place i found her she was most likely a baiting dog in which case she would have killed my cats. If I had the room i would have kept her but I have to protect my own animals in this kind of situation as well.
 
My OH and I found a stray lurcher injured on the slip road to the A1 we caught it got it to a vet ( dislocated hip ) and you know what my parents really needed another dog eight years later they still have her .
Lurchers seem to be 'lost ' a lot.
 
I think your thread title is unreasonable OP, especially as you discovered, albeit under urgent circumstances, it is the local Dog Warden Service that has a legal obligation to deal with straying dogs and not the SSPCA.

The dog warden service was introduced in Scotland way back in the 80s predominately to collect and house straying dogs. Thirty odd years later, it remains an issue in most areas of the UK, that the majority of Local Authority run Dog Warden Services, still only operate during office hours (I think perhaps only major cities may have an out of hours service) and this may well be due to a lack of funds available to the LA. So perhaps lobbying your local council to provide a better dog warden service, would be more appropriate in this instance.
 
i bet all the people who donate money think/hope it will be used for purposes like the OP found herself in.
shame on them for not helping you :(
 
In my area (South Essex) a vet hospital runs the OOH service for the local council/dog wardens. If you call the council OOH number the answer phone message directs you to them and you can drop the dog off there - I've done this a few times now.

I was under the impression that once the responsibility for stray dogs was transferred to the council (a fair few years ago) from the police that they had to have something like this in place. Your other option would be to keep the dog at home after reporting finding them but you have to wait 30 days rather than 7 before they become yours. I can understand why the OP didn't want to do that though, I was the same with a staffy covered in scars who I felt desperately sorry for but wasn't prepared to trust with mine :(
 
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