RSPCA and PTS

[Layla - NSGPR]

I recently had a call from another lady in the area who rescues animals who had just taken care of two young female guinea pigs with mites. She had been contacted by a local vet who said that the RSPCA was asking her to put the guinea pigs to sleep as they couldn't see any point in treating them and thought that there was no rehoming potential. The vet contacted the rescue as she thought that the piggies could very easily be treated, which is what is happening now.

I am very concerned about the RSPCAs approach, and feel that putting to sleep animals that have a long life ahead of them and an easily treated condition is very immoral.

I have spoken to another lady who works at the RSPCA. She says that this is very common and that it really depends on the RSPCA centre. She says many RSPCAs will not treat or keep animals that are not young and perfect, i.e. don't have any health conditions. She strongly disagrees with all this and feels that a lot of the RSPCA policies are not good. She says that a lot of them still put healthy animals to sleep after a certain period of time.

Maybe I am very naive, but I didn't think the RSPCA still did this, and obviously the RSPCA has so many animals, but surely not even trying to treat and rehome , or even contacing other rescues I do not feel is good. It is hard to see though when there are so many rescues that have a no kill policy and are self-funded that seem to manage.

 

[MemberX]

Thats sad but I don't think its the RSPCA as a whole just individual branches. I have found that many do operate differently.

 

[Layla - NSGPR]

Yeah that's what she said, it does differ depending on who runs the branch, she was saying that Sheffield RSPCA were pretty bad, and obviouly one of the branches near me so I am going to try to find out who they are.

 

[Pigglywink's Rachel]

I'd imagine that your SPCA is run similiar to ours over here, in that they're run mainly by volunteers who have the best of intentions but may not be all that knowledgable about the animals they're taking care of. Also, over here the different branches are independent... they all operate under the same charter, but branches in different towns may have different policies. If you feel it's a concern, probably contact the central office and get a copy of the overall charter for all of the RSPCA and see if the problem is with that, or with this particular branch. Good luck!

 

[Tracyxx]

I am sure that many RSPCA branches do run differently, but I feel that they should all adhere to the same policies and procedures to avoid all of this. They have been around for many years and some of their methods are outdated to say the least. I was told I couldn't adopt a sow from there because I had no chance of bonding her with my three other sows :{

 

[Mary]

I dont agree with some of the things that go on at the RSPCA. I went there a few years ago and was so upset at seeing a border collie bouncing of the walls of her kennel. She just couldnt cope with being in a kennel as the RSPCA should know that collies are very clever dogs and dont cope well at all in kennels.
I found out a few days later that she was put to sleep. I did ring a collie rescue up to see if they could help but they said that they couldnt just go in and tell them how to do their job.

Seven months ago we had a stray cat come to the vets and we rang the RSPCA up and as they had no space for her, told us that we should just put her back outside! From what I have heared of this is quite normal! I ended up taking her home which was a good thing as she suffers from fits.

 

[Tracyxx]

Oh that's just reminded me, we found a pigeon on placement at the hospital, in the courtyard. It is a small patch of concrete with very, very high walls around it (three storeys). The bird had obviously flown down but couldn't get the speed up to fly upwards fast enough to be able to get out. We were advised by the RSPCA to call environmental health to shoot it down :x I know it's only one bird, but to me it was still an animal and it needed help. I was very shocked by that atitude - surely every animal has a right to life?