Who cares?

[Babz]

I was in a neighbouring town late yesterday afternoon taking a friend home and as we drove along a road on a housing estate we both saw a dog with a foot so bad it couldn't bear to put it to the ground. We both commented, poor little thing etc but carried on our way. When I was coming back home about 15 minutes later it was still there and lying in the road panting, as I approached in the car it got up and headed towards one of the gardens still limping badly.
Now I admit I was a coward and should have stopped the car and tried to find out who it belonged to, but I was scared, a woman alone in a rough-ish area, so when I got home I phoned the police to ask them to drive round that way and see if the dog was stil there, they said it was not their problem and to phone the RSPCA. Ok, so I phoned them.....after choosing the option of injured and distressed animals and being urged by a "voice" not to hang up I eventually got to tell my tale.........Not their problem!! Because the dog was on the highway it was the dog warden's problem!! I said he's probably gone home by now but nevertheless they gave me the number, so I phoned it.......a nice person told me he'd gone home...but could go and look for the dog today. "Well " I said "That's Ok, he can go and look but that dog looked to me to be in agony". So she said "Can't you go back and get it and put it in your car and take it to the police station?", so I told her it wasn't their problem......."Oh yes it is" she said so I phoned the police again. This time I spoke to a different officer and told her the story and hurray she said they'd check it out.
So.....who DOES care? This isn't the first time the RSPCA has refused to help and if they don't exist to go and check out an animal obviously near to it's home and in a lot of pain then what IS their function? Just collecting donations and building luxurious office blocks maybe?

[Sammy Snake]

Someone dumped a dog in my friends back yard the other week. They RSPCA wouldn't help and the Dog Warden didn't offer an out of hours service so in the end they had to take it to the Police Station and they took it from her.

The next day, they had a visit from the RSCPA as they had received a report saying that she was keeping a dog in the yard with no food and shelter!!!

[horsestache1]

The last line of your post should also contain " and making TV programmes"

In answer to your question no one in authority cares so its always left to Jo Public. Words cannot express what I feel about the RSPCA!!!

[leelapops]

I have never received ANY help from the RSPCA when reporting concerns about animal welfare. I couldn't agree more, what are we donating for? I understnd that sometimes their hands are tied, and I am aware that they do lobby for policy changes, but if we got enough members of the public together, then we could do that. It makes me so angry.

Poor thing, Babz, I hope it's OK. And Sammy Snake, I can't BELIEVE that! Well, I can, but it angers the h*ll out of me!

I was walking my dog one night (very late) and drunk guy was walking his young Spaniel, who approached my dog (this guy had no control over it whatsoever). All of a sudden the owner disappears, the dog has no contact details on its collar. So I put my dog in the house, wait outside a good 25mins with this dog. His owner doesn't return, I call the police, who say, "Can't you bring him in?" "No, sorry, I don't drive and have no money and am not risking personal safety to walk". "Can't you keep him at yours overnight?" "No, sorry, where would he sleep? Would he fight with my dog/exacerbate my dogs territory issues/pass on illness or disease?" In the end, the pup wandered off, and I couldn't find it. I lay awake all night, breaking my heart over this dog and hoping it made it back home. It was a quiet weeknight, could one officer not have hopped into a car and drove for 5 mins to pick this dog up?

So sad.
Lisa.

[cat woman]

I couldn't agree with you more "Babz" about the RSPCA my mum has older cats and a couple of years ago this very young kitten kept coming into her garden, she went around her estate looking for its owner to no avail. Mum contacted the RSPCA and they didn't want to know, they just said for her to keep feeding it "cheek" as she is a pensioner she just couldn't afford to as she had her own to look after. The only organisation who helped her in the end was the PDSA who came out and she heard later that it was found a good home. She used to donate to the RSPCA but not any more her little bit of spare cash goes to "yes you guessed" to the PDSA.

LOL cat woman x x x ////-^.~.^-\\\\

[lankeela]

If you had told the RSPCA there was a camera crew filming the limping dog they would have been there like a shot.

[Babz]

Well! It seems like we've all had similar experiences with the RSPCA. They'd better not stop me in the street or come to the door wanting me to sign up to give them money every month.
I suppose they have guidelines, but they must be written by someone with a heart of stone, I couldn't take on a job like that and stick to the letter of the rules.

[jules77]

I called the RSCPA a couple of years ago as there was an injured dog underneath my neighbours bushes, and they were there within 20 minutes - I also called them as we found an injured polecat, and again, they were there within an hour. But I have heard stories where no-one will take responsibility same as above.

[goosing]

We called the RSPCA about an injured stray cat, they came out in a few hours to take her to the local vet but said as she was not starving (I was feeding her occasionally) and didn't have fleas (me again to stop her sharing them with mine) they wouldn't rehome her, just let her go free in the area even tho we knew she'd been straying for weeks. We asked them to bring her back to us and she's been here ever since....................They also checked she wasn't ours with the vet - probably hoping to get us to pay up.

[claguey]

Lankeela is right, unles there's a film crew about the RSPCA are not interested in mundane things like an injured dog! To clarify, if you find a stray the local authority Dog Wardens have the primary responsibility for picking up & care/disposal of dog. However, most don't work past 4pm or at weekends/PH's. In that case the Police still have a resonsibility to accept stray dogs from the public (1906 Dogs Act), but they won't pick up - health & safety, can't transport an unrestrained dog safely in a car and can't put a stray in a police dog vehicle cos of hygiene or contamination. Might be better taking an injured stray to a local Vet, some have an agreement with dogs homes or RSPCA to treat strays. But tell the RSPCA? FORGET IT!
As a matter of interst, does anyone actually know what the RSPCA does do nowadays?

[gelda]

Is there any way these posts could be sent on to the RSPCA or newspaper, it would certainly shake them up a bit. I would do it but don't have a working printer, perhaps somebody could.

[rexy0101]

Does anyone care about the poor dog at the end of this story! What happened to it?

[Babz]

I don't know rexy0101, I don't actually live at the place where I saw it but I'll be through there again tomorrow, early morning and then again in the early afternoon so you can be sure I'll go along that road and see if it is still hanging about. I do feel guilty about not stopping and doing something myself but I'm not a young woman by any means and am also a coward! Plus why the heck do we pay council tax etc if we can't call on the authorities!

[Babz]

Well I've been along that road three times today, once at 8am, then at 12.30 and again at 1pm and there was no sign of the dog, I only hope he/she has been seen by a vet by now. :-(

[tiggerwoo]

Tell me about it...I found a dear little cat a few weeks ago not far from where I live.It was in the road at busy junction.I stopped my car and "rescued it".I consequenntly had this little cat shut in my bedroom for 3 days until I could get someone to take it.Cats Protection told me 8 week waiting list.RSPCA said take it back where you found it.WHAT!!!!!!!! They are unbelievable. I would happily have kept her myself because she was soooo good and adorable but I have 3 cats of my own and the youngest one got really upset. But....to cut a long story short my vet took her from me and they got her in to the Cats Protection within a day and she has been happily rehomed. Altho' I only had her for 3 days it broke my heart to part with her.
RSPCA are rubbish.

[Babz]

That's really what puts you off "rescuing" animals, most of us already have pets and to bringing strange cat or dog home is very disruptive to their world, and our own, and once you do take the animal in your care then no-one wants to know and you have an awful job to get someone to help you. To be told by the RSPCA to take the cat back to where you found it was disgusting!

[tiggerwoo]

It is disgusting but apparently common practice. At the time this happened I rang another animal rescue about 10 miles away from where I live and the lady there said she would take the cat as she considered it to be a genuine emergency if all else failed, but she had reserved all her spare pens ready for all the kittens that are about to be born and abandoned.When I toldher what the RSPCA had suggested I do she told me that they always say this. Unbelievable!!!! It will not however put me off rescueing any animal I see that needs to be saved.

[chewbacca11]

RSPCA - USELESS! If i find any strays i try my best to rescue them and then take them to the local vet, they are much more helpful and know all the local rescue places that can take them in.