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KTee

Surprised by the RSPCA

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I don't support the RSPCA any more, reason being when we moved house (and area) we were very concerned about our cat..not at all friendly and never in the house. I spoke to the RSPCA to see if when we moved we had a problem catching her they would come and set a trap for her and then we would collect her. I offered to pay for any inconvience to them and the response I got was to catch her and have her put down, that way they would not have to come out!

 

In the end she was in a cattery for 3 weeks, caught her when we could and shipped her their...at least she was alive and safe!

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but I believe they are a subsiduary and get no funding from the main group

 

It's my understanding that not only do local branches not receive any funding from the RSPCA nationally, but they also have to pay an annual 'fee' to affiliate to the national organisation!

 

Rob

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but I believe they are a subsiduary and get no funding from the main group

 

It's my understanding that not only do local branches not receive any funding from the RSPCA nationally, but they also have to pay an annual 'fee' to affiliate to the national organisation!

 

Rob

That does seem to account for the very variable responses from different centres.

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Well I take my words back. Having sung their praises I am now completely disillusioned. I rung them up yesterday for some advise on the guinea pigs that I have taken on. The person who answered the phone was the one who had been so nice when I went there and who was apprently so fond of one of my baby boys. She just passed me across to someone else - didn;t want to know or ask after them. The other person I spoke to was equally dismissive. I am begining to think they were just glad to have somebody take 5 GPs and a difficult to home rabbit off their hands. Unfortunately I was left with the impression that I was completely misled.

 

I am not wanting to rehome any of them, but I really did need some advice and thought they were the best people to go to since they came from there

 

It unfortunately leaves you with the feeling that you wouldn't want to go back there in a hurry

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That is sad to hear - you'd expect any centre worth their salt to offer at least some level of 'aftercare'. By the way, I've just joined the forum, this is my first post and since I'm also a piggy owner in Canterbury I thought I'd add my 10 pence!

 

I've got nothing but praise for a centre in Sandwich (not sure how specific I'm allowed to be but you may know who I mean). I didn't get my piggies from them but I boarded two of them there over Xmas and they were fantastic, really dedicated and helpful and nothing was too much trouble. Although this could be the place you mentioned that didn't get back to you - it's unfortunate that people get such different impressions of these places.

 

Hope that you got the advice that you were looking for in the end!

 

fi

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I think it is the same place Fi! Oh well - maybe I came across as a nutter! :lol: I'm glad you had a better experience than me. To this day I have never heard back from them. Do you have boys or girls? I would be interested to know more. Whereabouts in Canterbury are you? If you aren't too far from me I am sure I can always help you out with piggy-sitting!

 

PS - welcome to the forum - they are a great bunch here. The only thing that is asked of you is photos of your pets!

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Hi! That is a shame - They're usually pretty sharp at replying and I actually had an email from them today, they've got an open day in a couple of weeks which I was thinking of going along to.

Thanks for the welcome and I'll get around the photos soon, I promise! I think we're due another piggy photoshoot, if I can get them to sit still for the required half a second :D

 

I have six girls: Petal, Buttercup, Nelly, Dotty, Peggy and Poppy - we're in Wincheap living very cosily in my little house! Much as we love them it makes it hard to do the holiday thing, so a reciprocal piggy-sitting arrangement would definitely be worth looking at. Whereabouts are you?

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Yesterday our temporary resident cat Harry caught a wood pigeon in the garden. I managed to chase the cat off and after a prolonged chase caught the pigeon which had lost every tail feather and most of it's flight feathers. Consequently, it could barely get off the ground - but it tried.

I got it into a box after checking that it did not appear to have any other injuries.

Mindful that stress is probably the greatest killer of birds subjected to such an attack and knowing nothing much about them I grabbed the phone directory to contact the RSPCA as quickly as possible. 3 phone books later I had still drawn a blank. The RSPCA don't appear to want to publish themselves even though I knew that they had a rescue place a few miles away in Salford.

To cut a long story short I spent 3/4hr contacting the animal welfare/rescue places that I could find but with little success. Eventually one of them gave me the RSPCA number, upon calling it I was informed the "Sorry we don't do birds." They gave me the number of a possible sanctuary however it was a defunct number. Finally another animal welfare organisation gave me a contact number for an individual who can handle wild birds. He took it away after a careful examination and was confident that in 3-4 weeks it would be flying again.

I realise that many people don't have much regard for wood pigeons but it was an eyeopener just to realise how little assistance there is for wild creatures in distress.

The biggest surprise was that the RSPCA is so limited in it's interests and so reclusive. They don't make that plain when seeking funds.

There was a light hearted aside. I contacted one bird sanctuary only to be informed that it was a Bird of Prey Centre and "our inmates eat wood pigeons!" Oops.

 

\A couple of years ago we also rescued an injured pigeon from a cat.We also rang the RSPCA who advised us that they have an arrangement with a local vet and we were asked to take it there.Although it was easy enough to do this cos I drive, they (the RSPCA),said they wouldn't come out, so I'm not sure what would have happened otherwise.

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A couple of years ago during the same summer, we found a young Thrush and a young Collard Dove, I too rang the RSPCA and they said they didn't do birds, I had to look up other places myself, in my area of Nottingham theres a place that collects and treats wildlife free, although they put a sad face on (which is understandable) so you give them a bit of petrol money, but at least the birds went off to be mended.

 

My son is 11 in a couple of weeks, once on the way to take him to nursery (so he'd be 3 at the time) I was walking through an alleyway towards the school when a ferret ran out from under the hedge. I love animals but I am very wary of ferrets (although last summer I did hold one and I was fine) I couldn't get past it and it was obviously a tame one that wanted to be with me but I had to walk all the way around the block to get the other way. When I got home I rang the RSPCA to ask them to come out to catch the poor thing, but they wouldn't come out unless I CAUGHT IT - me! I had my 3 month old daughter in a pushchair I wasn't able to run around peoples front gardens after a ferret, so the poor thing I suppose had to fend for itself, poor mice and birds really !

 

I know they are very busy and do a great job but I do think sometimes they need to support others too.

 

Dyan

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i am not suprised by your post. we had to pass every day some horses belonging to travellers and in the summer they never had any water and a foal and mare were always left out in the hot sun. i kept reporting and in the end they got them moved but now those same travellers are racing horses with small carriages down the road near our work place and nothing is done.

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Vets will treat wild animals for nothing - well we do and all the ones we know do so. If an animal needs treatment then it gets treated and the vets take an oath to do do. Try them rather than the RSPCA first

It has taken me a (very) long time to spot the above. Many thanks.

It is well worth noting for the future.

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