Disclaimer – a measured and composed rant, so no comments about swearing/capitals required etc.

Right, so previous attempts to adopt a dog and subsequent interviews/interrogation that you might expect if you were a paedophile trying to adopt a 2 year old baby aside, my experience with the RSPCA today has left me seething.

Working just off the M1 Junction 11 (Luton) today, on the roundabout to the A505, I found a trapped dog – a German Shepherd. It was seemingly trapped between a high security fence and a hoarding erected by a demolition company. It had no visible way out, but could move around freely (8ft gap). Although it had a run in either direction of approx 100mtrs, it seemed quite distressed and wanted to stay close to where I was working.

Initially I presumed it was an agitated guard dog, as it paced up and down snapping and barking, but as the day wore on, it became more apparent that it wasn’t. I tentatively approached it and ended up fussing it through the security fence – it now appeared to be quite young (less than 12 months), despite being a large beast – it was very friendly though and desperate to get to me through the fence.

So, first call – local Police. Not interested, told me to ring the RSPCA, totally unwilling to help and surprised that I couldn’t instantly memorise a 10 digit phone no. No worries, I got the number for the local RSPCA from my smartphone.

2nd call – RSPCA. Whilst the operator seemed irritated that I’d bothered to wake her up, asked a series of totally irrelevant questions, came across as totally irksome and difficult, she eventually managed to log my location, acknowledge why I had called and even realised that she had been a bit of a pain and thanked me for my call and my patience – someone would be in attendance shortly.

Half an hour later, a call from a different member of the RSPCA. Quite bluntly she told me that as the animal wasn’t being treated cruelly, or in any immediate danger (bear in mind I initially selected the option for a trapped animal) that I had to contact the dog warden, as they weren’t going to deal with it. I explained that I’d now spent an hour of my day (whilst I was being paid and supposed to be working for a customer) to really devote any more time to this. Not their problem apparently, at which point I pointed out that I had informed them of an animal in obvious distress and surely they had (if not a duty of care) at least some responsibility to deal with the situation.

Apparently not – “we are a charity, the dog warden gets paid” was the response. Right, I’ll just leave it there then shall I? I said. This was met with (don’t quote me, but) something along the lines of – do what you want, we won’t be attending. At this point I put the phone down, as not to swear.

So, I eventually get hold of the local dog warden – guess what? “Sorry, it’s on private property, we can’t attend.” Fortunately my exasperation struck a chord at this point and some sensible thinking came into play. Based on the possibility that if the dog escaped, it may possibly end up on the motorway, they overruled protocol and decided to attend. They did stress that if I/we could get it out somehow it would be of a great help.

I’ll go on, and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of I struggle with long sentences, but some might like to know the ending….

Don’t think I went through all this without investigating an escape route – a colleague had previously looked and couldn’t find a way in/out. Anyway, a slightly less stupid(??) colleague had now found a way in and approached the pooch – fortunately, it was pleased to see him and didn’t rip his face off. He tried to lead it out, but my new best friend wouldn’t go unless I followed it along the fenceline. It came straight to me when it came out and had a good fuss. A bloke from the demolition site (who’d been phoned by the warden) came out and said he’d take it to a cabin for a warm and a drink.

The final chapter – after HATO had been scrambled for assistance (by the dog warden, warning of the possibility of a loose dog on the motorway), everyone turned up on site – I was prepared to take my new best mate home if it was going to the pound to be destroyed. It seems the bloke who’d taken it onto the demolition site had taken a shine to it and was now it’s new owner. Exactly what had been sorted with the warden was done before I came back. I don’t think some owner was sat at home distraught – the general concensus was that it was a pikey dog. It was very smelly and seemed pretty much untrained.

Flame forth with critiscism, but that’s just how the day went. I think it was a blessing it didn’t come home with me – as I spent 2 and a half hours sat in a jam on the M1 because of a loose pig nr Leicester!

Summary: You now have a pet pig?

I’m sure my wife would love one, but even that had been captured and the motorway re-opened, seemingly at the exact minute the queue reached the point of the incident.

So there was an escape route all along?

Well good on ya. It’s always hard getting someone to respond to a dog which isn’t in imminent danger. At my previous job, there was a small dog hanging around all day. We fed it and watered it, for which it was pathetically grateful. It wasn’t in good shape and had a really nasty open sore on its back.

At the end of the day, everyone got in their cars and drove off – there was no way I could just leave it shivering in the dark and after a few calls (much like yours) I got fed up, put the smelly wee thing in the passenger footwell and dropped it off at the local nick. Literally left it at the desk and walked out. And IME, all paid dog wardens are rude, obnoxious and massively unhelpful.

RSPCA only turn out for badgers these days.

From my experience. The RSPCAs MAIN focus is prosecutions that help/raise profile for fundraising.

‘Call the council’

Was their stock response.

Good on ya, as a fellow ‘Dog Lover’, I’d like to think I’d do the same.

Also actual LOLing occurred when I read Druidh’s post.

OP sounds like the sort of thing my mother would go through. We’d then have another animal at home to be fed. And, like many of the others, they’d be untrained and unpredictible.

Even now, she’s more concerned about the welfare of her rescued sheep/horses/dog to spend much time with her only granddaughter.

Just have the animal put down.

RSPCA do make it hard to contact them…the only numbers in the phone book (pre smart phone!) were that of their shops. As far as I can tell they are not interested in stray animals wondering across main roads as that isn’t ‘cruelty’. I had a different experience with the police as straight away they told me to bring it ( a stray dog) down to the station and were happy to take it in (and pass it to a dogs rehoming charity i..e not the RSPCA). I will never give money to the RSPCA but instead to the smaller local places that struggle to survive and larger orgs like The Dogs Trust.

Standard for rspca they focus on investigating and prosecuting what they believe to be cruelty . They are a money focused business there is a lot of money in a costs order on a successful conviction none in saving a stray dog . They will rescue cute fluffy animals if local news cameras are their though.

I can appreciate both sides of this. My wife is an RSPCA inspector, so I get all the gory details on how unbelievably cruel people can be and these people do need banning from owning animals.

Good on you for helping but it’s not what the Police are there for or the RSPCA, the clue is in their name, not sure who’d I’d called but would have probably just got it out and taken it to local Police station.

Well done for seeing it through mate.

I’m sure you’ll get your own dog one day.

Well done for seeing it through. To be fair the SSPCA will great with us when we found a somewhat damaged hedgehog.

They are a money focused business

No, no, they’re not. They’re a charity. Big difference.

And, yes, they need to raise money. There seems to a myth developing in some places that charities can magically do what they do on hot air and warm sentiment. If only.

druidh – Member
Summary: You now have a pet pig?

😆

curiousyellow – I already have a dog, just didn’t want this one to be taken away and destroyed, hence the dog warden not being my initial point of contact.

If it’s not what the RSPCA do, then fair enough – you would think the welfare of all animals would be of some concern to them though, regardless of the circumstance. However, it’s their timewasting and general attitude that annoyed me – bear in mind I pointed out that this dog was obviously distressed and initially they were going to come out. I’ve had bad dealings with them previously when we wanted to adopt a dog and in the end we sacked them off and went to the far more helpful Dogs Trust. With hindsight, I should have probably rang them instead.

OP sounds like the sort of thing my mother would go through. We’d then have another animal at home to be fed. And, like many of the others, they’d be untrained and unpredictible.

Even now, she’s more concerned about the welfare of her rescued sheep/horses/dog to spend much time with her only granddaughter.

Just have the animal put down.

But seriously though, how do you really feel about it?

😉

curiousyellow – I already have a dog, just didn’t want this one to be taken away and destroyed, hence the dog warden not being my initial point of contact.

What makes you think the Dog wardens put the dogs down?

Well, I doubt they do instantly godzilla – however as I always understood, there was more chance of it happening with them – could be wrong though.

Well done for seeing it through. To be fair the SSPCA will great with us when we found a somewhat damaged hedgehog.

The SSPCA is a completely separate organisation – and yes, they’ve been brilliant the couple of times I’ve dealt with them.

The SSPCA are also rightly a bit annoyed when the RSPCA pretends to be a national organisation and campaigns for donations from Scotland…

As above all the rspca want to do is have stupid tv programes promoting themselves, and geting prosecutions, to raise cash.

Ring the council, ask for names and reference numbers/log details,perhaps even say calls are being recorded .

PDSA if you want to support anyone.

Yes there are staff that care on patrols/investigate cruelty in the RSPCA however too many news stories out there along with personal experience that makes me feel that the organisation is steered by people bent on revenue generation with shock-promotion/images etc etc..

Dogs Trust

Next time you ring the rspca, ask them what they do to promote the welfare of farm animals used for eating by humans, and the transport of cows and sheep overnight in tightly enclosed lorries.

Mmmm! Meat.

[/quote]TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR – Member
Well, I doubt they do instantly godzilla – however as I always understood, there was more chance of it happening with them – could be wrong though.

Not that it was stray (unfortunately the definition of a stray dog is one found to be roaming on public land, hence their comment that they couldn’t do anything) but usually dog wardens will try and locate the owner, and if unsuccessful they’re taken to council dog pound kennels, where by law they have to keep them for 7 days. After which they can be PTS if not claimed by their owner or rehomed.

I remember when we were viewing a house to buy a few years ago and noticed out of the back window a sorry looking dog in a garden of another property nearby, and it seemed to be pacing back and forth like a disturbed polar bear in a zoo enclosure might. The grass had been worn where he was pacing, so it was obvious this is something the dog spent a long time doing. Very sad to see 🙁 Hubby rang the RSPCA and sadly I don’t remember them doing much about it either, something about the fact it had food and shelter and other bare bones minimum necessities.

Good on you for caring about this poor lad though.

As above all the rspca want to do is have stupid tv programes promoting themselves, and geting prosecutions, to raise cash.

I think that’s a little unfair and I doubt that you really think that that is all they do. Again, I would point out that pretty much all charities that do things need to raise funds in order to do them.

Inclined to agree with the OP.

Had a problem with a neighbour abandoning 2 cats while neighbour was overseas for 6 months. Neighbour left inadequate feeding provision for cats and RSPCA simply weren’t interested. Local PAWS were – provided other street neighbours with food for cats.

When neighbour returned she couldn’t understand why cats wouldn’t go back to her (I understand cats choose their owners) after they had got used to Whiskas from the other neighbours in the street. Cats disappeared for a few days. It came to pass neighbour had locked cats in garden shed. It was a very hot couple of days. RSPCA again couldn’t care less.

Neighbour intervention sorted the problem eventually but I can’t help feeling the RSPCA are only interested in serious headline grabbing cases.

@benc yeah, heard about that. Poor show!

wouldn’t agree with what’s being said about the rspca only being interested in headline grabbing cases, a friend of the wife who’s an rspca inspector spends half her time in court dealing with shit like someone who let her chickens die.

They’re a charity. Big difference

More like a Hedge Fund masquarading as a charity.

In all my years of dealing with them when involved with Ferret Rescue they came across as at best hopeless, at worst dangerous and potentially fatal to the ferret. I would never give them a penny.