[Gpdd] RESCUE. Reporting animal abuse

[Penny Charlesworth]

I have had private emails concerning this, so I thought I would post it on the digest for all to read. I don't know what authorities you have in your respective countries but here, in England, there is no-one to whom to report animal abuse that will guarantee anything being done. We have the RSPCA, who lots of people imagine can take charge and remove neglected animals, but this is far from true. The RSPCA is only a charity and receives no government funding, depending on member's subscriptions, fund raising events like the Pet Days that I have written about, shops where they sell donated items and legacies. They have no legal powers to intervene and if they are informed of a case of animal cruelty they can only visit the persons concerned and advise them what they are doing wrong. Often, there is no-one home and all they can do is leave a note to say that they will call again. They can, for instance, throw food into a garden where there is a starving dog tied up, but they have to call the police and have them in attendance before anything more can be done. They are not allowed to enter anyone's home. The police, in most cases, are not interested. It's not their job but it needs to be someone's responsibility. The RSPCA can try to persuade the owner to sign over the animals concerned but cannot force this to happen.

There are extreme cases when the police will be involved as I have explained to others. Perhaps there is an abandoned house full of cats or a puppy farm where dogs are kept in unspeakable conditions. Or a house where the owner has died and there are animals inside, in which case the police have to be there to break down the door.

If animals are taken into the care of the RSPCA and there is to be a court case, these animals have to be housed at an RSPCA centre until the case is over, which with our lumbering legal system could be months or more. Then the owner might be fined a paltry sum and maybe banned from keeping animals for a few years. It is very rare for it to be a ban for life.

All this time, the rescued animals have to be cared for at the RSPCA's expense ( even when they might have recovered enough to be given a loving home) until the court case is over.

It is a rotten system, which is why I was so pleased to read about the new "Animals Count" political party, which I wrote about in the Digest. It may never have an MP ( member of Parliament ) to speak on its behalf but it is a start.

In the meantime, animals rely on small rescue organisations with no money and pet shelters, reliant upon kind folk's donations to keep going. If only people would realise when they can't cope and hand their animals over.......but so much of it is pure ignorance, like the woman in my story. She didn't know that she was doing anything wrong.

In my ideal world, people who want pets would have to prove that they know how to look after them before being allowed one. When I am Prime Minister, I will make it all right.

Best wishes to all,

Penny and the Piggyfriends.