TRAGIC DOG OWNERS ANGERED AT RSPCA RESPONSE
TWO pet dogs drowned after being swept into a drainage gulley while out with their owners on a canalside walk.
Lesley Weare and her husband Paul, of Scotland Road in Melksham, were left shocked and angry after losing their dogs, Lady and Kaitlyn, during the torrential downpours on Saturday.
Their pets were swept into a drainage gulley and tunnel running under the Kennet and Avon Canal near The Barge Inn in Seend, by floodwater pouring off nearby fields. They had been on a towpath walk heading towards Bradford on Avon when the tragedy happened.
After realising their pets had been swept away, the distraught couple called police for help and were directed to the RSPCA charity.
But Mrs Weare, 40, and her husband, 41, were unhappy at the charity’s call handler’s response, and were left trying to find the bodies of their dogs alone.
She said: “I ran down the field sobbing to where the tunnel came through the other side.
Lesley Weare and her husband Paul, of Scotland Road in Melksham, were left shocked and angry after losing their dogs, Lady and Kaitlyn, during the torrential downpours on Saturday.
Their pets were swept into a drainage gulley and tunnel running under the Kennet and Avon Canal near The Barge Inn in Seend, by floodwater pouring off nearby fields. They had been on a towpath walk heading towards Bradford on Avon when the tragedy happened.
After realising their pets had been swept away, the distraught couple called police for help and were directed to the RSPCA charity.
But Mrs Weare, 40, and her husband, 41, were unhappy at the charity’s call handler’s response, and were left trying to find the bodies of their dogs alone.
She said: “I ran down the field sobbing to where the tunnel came through the other side.
All I could see were branches and debris and concrete blocking up the exit, the water was so fast.
“In the meantime my husband had rung the police who directed him to the RSPCA and this was where our anger started.
“The woman at the RSPCA told my shaking, freezing cold, distraught husband that if he thought the animals were probably dead then there really wasn’t a lot she could do.”
Shortly after, the couple found the body of their four-year-old springer spaniel Lady before heading to the nearby Barge Inn to see if they could find out who owned the fields next to the towpath to continue the search for Kaitlyn.
Mrs Weare said staff were very helpful and both they and a local farmer offered to go back to the scene the next morning to search for Kaitlyn, the two-year-old offspring of Lady and another of the couple’s dogs, golden retriever Boomer.
They found Kaitlyn’s body at about 8.30am on Sunday.
Mrs Weare said they were furious at the response of the RSPCA.
She said: “I can say now that the RSPCA will never get another penny of my money. Why didn’t they help us when it mattered?”
An RSPCA spokeswoman said: “We received a call at 14.25pm from the police passing on a message from a member of the public that two dogs were trapped in a tunnel. No mention was made of water but it was still logged as an emergency.
“In the meantime my husband had rung the police who directed him to the RSPCA and this was where our anger started.
“The woman at the RSPCA told my shaking, freezing cold, distraught husband that if he thought the animals were probably dead then there really wasn’t a lot she could do.”
Shortly after, the couple found the body of their four-year-old springer spaniel Lady before heading to the nearby Barge Inn to see if they could find out who owned the fields next to the towpath to continue the search for Kaitlyn.
Mrs Weare said staff were very helpful and both they and a local farmer offered to go back to the scene the next morning to search for Kaitlyn, the two-year-old offspring of Lady and another of the couple’s dogs, golden retriever Boomer.
They found Kaitlyn’s body at about 8.30am on Sunday.
Mrs Weare said they were furious at the response of the RSPCA.
She said: “I can say now that the RSPCA will never get another penny of my money. Why didn’t they help us when it mattered?”
An RSPCA spokeswoman said: “We received a call at 14.25pm from the police passing on a message from a member of the public that two dogs were trapped in a tunnel. No mention was made of water but it was still logged as an emergency.
1 comment:
"...logged as an emergency..."
Well that obviously helped...almost as much as doing something.
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