i have reported our neighbours twice now and so has the post lady several times. i had a call back last time from the rspca guy and he said i was right in being concerend the dogs were not at the corrsct weight and kept unclean, and he would be monitering them. i reported them again 2 weeks ago and asked for someone to ring me back with the outcome and ive had nothing! the dogs are still there and still underweight, never walked etc.

i understand that rspca are busy but these dogs are outside 24.7 and not cared for properley surely theae dogs should be taken away from the owners.

the rspca are useess i have to say they are great at dealing with anything that willget them in the press but actually helping people and animals.... well a few ppl will agree totally useless

I telephoned the RSPCA up a few years ago about a stray cat who was perfectly healthy ... except for a fighting injury on his ear, it was turning winter and i was afraid of him suffering, I had 2 dogs and a cat of my own at the time, and to be completely honest, couldnt afford to take another pet on. I telephoned RSPCA and they told me to stop feeding him and he'll go away, when i said he had a small injury that needed attention, they told me that if i forced their arm and they had to come out, they would simply put him down. I tried every 'rescue' service i found and not one person could give a flying frig ... i ended up taking him in myself but i lost all faith in so called animal charities that day.

Well... they did come out the next day for an injured pigeon that I found about 5 years ago.
Otherwise I do have to say that these days I really don't rate them, they leave animals in way less than ideal situations for far to long.
I am not all that well read on the animal welfare bill but I have to say that by the look of things it either does not go far enough, or that its not being implemented properly.
Although it also has to be said that the RSPCA is just another charity and lack of funds/manpower has to be having an impact on how well they perform, its a pity more powers couldn't be given to other groups... maybe selected rescues?

It depends on what you expect them to do. I am quite impressed with the way that they have pushed for prosecution in animal cases over the last few years, and what they have done to help the animal welfare act. But day to day this still isn't being implemented properly - most likely due to understaffing, underfunding and under resourcing. Don't forget the RSPCA has been almost non-existent in South Yorkshire for a while due to the closure at Spring Street and not having other facilities. They still have a long way to go, it would be great to see the RSPCA with the same kind of rights as the American equivalent. The power to arrest or gain a warrant to enter premises to remove an animal, without the need for the police. Then maybe they would have been seen to do more for these dogs the OP mentioned.

I telephoned the RSPCA up a few years ago about a stray cat who was perfectly healthy ... except for a fighting injury on his ear, it was turning winter and i was afraid of him suffering, I had 2 dogs and a cat of my own at the time, and to be completely honest, couldnt afford to take another pet on. I telephoned RSPCA and they told me to stop feeding him and he'll go away, when i said he had a small injury that needed attention, they told me that if i forced their arm and they had to come out, they would simply put him down. I tried every 'rescue' service i found and not one person could give a flying frig ... i ended up taking him in myself but i lost all faith in so called animal charities that day.


It is a difficult one that. You lost all faith? Even though they were only being realistic in a way, you couldn't take it in... because you were full and couldn't afford, they were only doing the same.

Too many people (and I'm not pinpointing you here Pinklady at all) have expectations for animal charities to provide a service to pick up the pieces irresponsible owners and breeders leave behind. Are they not charities? In the main they do their best to fill their role.

the situation is there are 2 rotties under weight in a pen i wouldnt put my child in. its cold the rspca guy confirmed they arent the weight they should be and they have put little if nothing on since then. sureley these dogs should be removed?

I lost the last little faith I had in the RSPCA when we had some fledgeling chicks at work. Their parents had nested in the roof somewhere and obviouly they had been killed or abandoned the nest as the chicks were very weak, had left the nest and fallen through gaps in the ceiling.

They instructed me that I shouldn't go up into the roof as disturbing a nest was illegal. To bung up all the holes so the starving chicks "wouldn't cause a nuisance to the business" and to cap it all, the best word for word quote was "they'll have to learn where they can and can't nest". How exactly does a baby chick learn such a thing - and god forbid dying creatures would cause a nuisance!

The advice was ignored and the chicks that were already down were taken to the bird sanctuary on Woodseats Road. I went back to work, climbed into the roof and retreived all the chicks I could find, and took the second "batch" to Woodseats, where David Midgely had already begun nursing the first few back to alertness and health.

Those little birds can be thankful that smaller, independant operations exist, who care about the animals more than about fund-raising days.

Call the RSPCA and invite them to rattle a bucket at an event and they'll bend over backwards.

I lost the last little faith I had in the RSPCA when we had some fledgeling chicks at work. Their parents had nested in the roof somewhere and obviouly they had been killed or abandoned the nest as the chicks were very weak, had left the nest and fallen through gaps in the ceiling.

They instructed me that I shouldn't go up into the roof as disturbing a nest was illegal. To bung up all the holes so the starving chicks "wouldn't cause a nuisance to the business" and to cap it all, the best word for word quote was "they'll have to learn where they can and can't nest". How exactly does a baby chick learn such a thing - and god forbid dying creatures would cause a nuisance!

The advice was ignored and the chicks that were already down were taken to the bird sanctuary on Woodseats Road. I went back to work, climbed into the roof and retreived all the chicks I could find, and took the second "batch" to Woodseats, where David Midgely had already begun nursing the first few back to alertness and health.

Those little birds can be thankful that smaller, independant operations exist, who care about the animals more than about fund-raising days.

Call the RSPCA and invite them to rattle a bucket at an event and they'll bend over backwards.


I took a bird to him once, he's great!

Call the RSPCA and invite them to rattle a bucket at an event and they'll bend over backwards.

My point exactly!

It depends on what you expect them to do. I am quite impressed with the way that they have pushed for prosecution in animal cases over the last few years, and what they have done to help the animal welfare act. But day to day this still isn't being implemented properly - most likely due to understaffing, underfunding and under resourcing. Don't forget the RSPCA has been almost non-existent in South Yorkshire for a while due to the closure at Spring Street and not having other facilities. They still have a long way to go, it would be great to see the RSPCA with the same kind of rights as the American equivalent. The power to arrest or gain a warrant to enter premises to remove an animal, without the need for the police. Then maybe they would have been seen to do more for these dogs the OP mentioned.

Jess, I know where you are coming from, having known someone who definately had the animal's well-being first and foremost in her mind, who went over to Ireland to work for the Irish equiveleant ISPCA. In difficult, sometimes resistant areas to ideas of compassion - farming and agriculture.

Many people in the RSPCA care passionately (whether or not you agree with the methods, we are illustrating sentiment - Robin Webb, of the Animal Liberation Press Office, formerly press officer for the Animal Liberation Front, was once on the RSPCA council)

There are things ONLY an official organisation can do, and the long slow legal campaigns are examples of such things. But when appeals for a little help over something that isn't going to raise funds, gain signatures, or make a press impression, go ignored, then SOMETHING, SOMEWHERE is wrong with the organisation. And that is not to belittle the work of individuals within that organisation.

I telephoned the RSPCA up a few years ago about a stray cat who was perfectly healthy ... except for a fighting injury on his ear, it was turning winter and i was afraid of him suffering, I had 2 dogs and a cat of my own at the time, and to be completely honest, couldnt afford to take another pet on. I telephoned RSPCA and they told me to stop feeding him and he'll go away, when i said he had a small injury that needed attention, they told me that if i forced their arm and they had to come out, they would simply put him down. I tried every 'rescue' service i found and not one person could give a flying frig ... i ended up taking him in myself but i lost all faith in so called animal charities that day.

I'm disappointed that you see an inability to help in one instance as the rescue centres not caring. I'm sure if you had visited some of the charities you'd see quite how snowed under they are trying to help in as many cases as they can, but in all honesty I would estimate that the Shelter can help in less than half of the cases when people phone. That's not the Shelter's fault and everything to do with the size of the problem and lack of rescue centre places in Sheffield currently.

To answer the OP I believe in the RSPCA as a lobbying/campaigning group for animal welfare, but they aren't the 'we care for all animals' group that lots of people believe them to be...

i have reported them again today and put my foot down and ranted a little and she has logged the call again and will make sure i have a call back.

I agree with all of your post Medusa, the rescues just don't always have the money and space for every single animal so I guess they do need guidelines and some will be turned away, and more so now that the RSPCA is not yet open.
But it does cause the lack of confidence in them that we are seeing here, what we really desperately need is more rescue spaces here in Sheffield, and more people with powers to act on behalf of animals.
I agree that the RSPCA are very effective as a lobbying/campaigning group for animal welfare and that in itself is very much needed.
The answer to this thread is not an easy one, its very hard for members of the public to stand by and watch animals suffer, knowing that they cannot help them... I think that the answer is with other agencies being able to get involved and act on the animals behalf, even if just by keeping an eye on things and advising...its all very difficult.

i have reported them again today and put my foot down and ranted a little and she has logged the call again and will make sure i have a call back.

Have you tried the dog warden service? sometimes they will get involved and visit the people in a sort of advisory capacity.
It must be very hard to have to sit back knowing that the dogs are suffering and being unable to help, I do feel for you.

To be honest, I do. Look at how many cases the RSPCA sucessfully deal with. Perhaps it's not the RSPCA who are stretched to their limit and caught up in loopholes as to what they're allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do that we ought to be ranting about.

We wouldn't even need these animal charities if human beings would stand up to their responsibilities and stop being so fickle about animals.

I know that when they can't help it drives you mad, I've been there - years ago we had a siamese cross keep coming to us and my mum phoned the RSPCA and was concerned about taking it in due to having two cats and suspecting this one had cat flu.
The RSPCA said they'd put it down so we kept it - it didn't have cat flu, but it had just had a litter of kittens - now who's to blame there? The RSPCA who couldn't help due to being stretched to the limit by selfish human beings or the owners of the cat who dumped it after it had lined their pockets nicely with siamese looking kittens to sell?

the rspca are useess i have to say they are great at dealing with anything that willget them in the press but actually helping people and animals.... well a few ppl will agree totally useless

How many millions of animals go through the RSPCA each year?? We don't get that many newspaper reports a year do we? So actually yes - there are just too many cases like this.

They have the hardest decision to make, which do you save and which don't you save?

I wouldn't like to be in their shoes.

Its not just one occasion Ive asked for the help of animal charities, Ive called them about a hedgehog (not interested, finally a friend of a friend of a friend took him) ... phoned about an injured blackbird (prized out of a cats jaw, again no one would help) a rabbit (no charities were willing to take him, finally soozie off here took him in) a cat (story told) and 2 stray dogs, again got the 'oh, were full, sorry, goodbye'
what would i supposed to do with them all? ... I dont claim benefits and have to pay full (inflated) vets prices, I am not a charity or prentend to be, I stupidly presumed the rspca would have taken in injured or stray animals in need, silly me eh?

the thig that gets me is that i first reported this september last year. and was told they would moniter them and the dogs, now there has been no changes over 6 months later. either they ared not monitering it or the inspector is not doing their jib properley.

last nigth the dogs were out on the road and i heard someone screming i popped my head out and there they were chasing a young couple up the road! the guy who owned them was just whistleing them from his yard when i had to shout him to tell him they were chasing people.