CHARITIES COMMISSION REVEAL INCREASE IN COMPLAINTS ABOUT RSPCA

In 2007 the Commission received 9 complaints and 2 enquiries about the

RSPCA. In 2008 the Commission received 15 complaints and 7 enquiries
about the RSPCA.
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/rspca_219099#incoming-40396

Our records show that in 2009 the Commission received 31 complaints about

the RSPCA and in 2010 we received a further 31 complaints.
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/re_rspca_219099#incoming-215101

RSPCA POLITICAL AGENDA CRITICISED AS INCOME DROPS BY 20%

According to documents filed with the Charity Commission, the RSPCA has seen a steady increase in income over recent years. Annual reports covering up until December 2009 show the charity experienced a year-on-year increase in income from 2005, ending 2009 with annual income of £119.3m.
In 2010, however, year-on-year income from legacies dropped by more than 20 per cent to £59.2m

Comment from; Chris Newman

7 Oct 2011

Perhaps its time for the RSPCA to reconsider its political agenda and change direction, move away from its palpable Animal Rights objectives and refocus on Animal Welfare, some things it has disregarded for a protracted period. I would suggest the RSPCA lost public trust, and donations, “its time to wake up and smell the coffee” the public are deserting the RSPCA in its droves, the reasons are obvious, the question is the RSPCA capable of change! Sadly I doubt it!

http://www.civilsociety.co.uk/fundraising/news/content/10602/rspca_to_review_entire_fundraising_portfolio

RSPCA PROSECUTION ACCUSED OF BEING UNJUST AND A WASTE OF MONEY BY ITS OWN BRANCH

A WOMAN who agreed to adopt an unwanted cat for the RSPCA was stunned to find herself accused of neglect.

On Monday Allison Evans was found not guilty by magistrates in Barnstaple after denying causing unnecessary suffering to five-year-old Tiny.
And the RSPCA was criticised by its own North Devon branch chairman for bringing the prosecution.
The court heard Tiny suffered lesions across her body caused by a flea bite allergy and a condition which gives her an urge to scratch.
Miss Evans, 36, of Prospect Place, Weare Giffard, told the court she had no knowledge of the cat's medical history when she adopted it.
She said she asked for help from the RSPCA but it never materialised. Eventually she gave up and returned the ginger cat to the charity.
Speaking after the case she said: "I am in shock. I have always supported the RSPCA but won't now. I was completely stunned to have charges brought against me."
Miss Evans said she was asked by the RSPCA to adopt Tiny, who had been in care for three years and might be put down.
She said she was assured the cat had no medical history.
Some time later she noticed Tiny had some bald patches and asked a vet, who was visiting to look at another of her pets, a sick parrot, to have a look at her. He thought the cat had flea allergy dermatitis and advised her to treat her house and the cat with flea spray.
She said it was impossible to spray the whole house as everything was in boxes following a house fire.
She sprayed the downstairs area, treated Tiny and tried to contain her there to prevent her picking up any fleas elsewhere but it was not working.
Miss Evans said she asked the RSPCA for help but it never came and she felt completely let down by the charity.
She told magistrates: "The last thing I wanted to do was take her back to the cattery. I didn't want her put down.
"It was heartbreaking but I didn't know what else to do. She needed instant help and they were in a position to help her. I am really sad the cat suffered."
Prosecutor, Will Rose, said: "As soon as the condition developed it should have been taken to the vet. It got worse and once it was back in RSPCA care, Tiny improved 70% in a very short space of time.
"Whether the medical information was passed to her or not, the buck stops with her and not once did she take the cat to a professional for an examination."
Miss Evans insisted: "Maybe I made incorrect decisions but I would never have knowingly let the cat suffer."
Nigel Wraigh, defending, said: "It is the neglect of the RSPCA which has, to a considerable extent, caused the suffering and it has then taken criminal proceedings against Miss Evans."
Philip Clamp, chairman of the North Devon branch of the RSPCA, said the trial was unjust and a waste of funds.
He said: "I was always told the RSPCA wouldn't bring a case against anyone unless it was cast iron and I think this is totally unjust. Allison is undoubtedly an animal lover.
"She was let down by us. She voluntarily returned the cat to the RSPCA. We didn't raid her house. She asked for help and we failed her."
Peter Groves, chairman of the magistrates, said he hoped the RSPCA would now review its compliance procedures.
Tiny has since been re-homed and is now called Poppy.
http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/RSPCA-case-unjust-waste-money-says-branch/story-13428115-detail/story.html

RSPCA ENDORSED PIGS LIVE IN MAGGOT INFESTED FILTH

IF IT WASN'T, THEY WOULD PROSECUTE THE OWNERS

THESE sickening scenes show pigs fighting for space in a rat-infested barn – yards from piles of maggot-infested carcasses.

The distressed animals were secretly filmed at a Norfolk farm signed up to the Freedom Food scheme – backed by the RSPCA – which is meant to ­guarantee high animal welfare standards.
Footage shot over six weeks reveals pigs mired in a swamp of mud, faeces and urine in a dark barn.
Rats scurry up walls and pick through overflowing bins of rotting carcasses, spilling maggots into pens where healthy and sick pigs are crammed together.
Here we show a selection of the ­squalid conditions but many of our pictures are too harrowing for a family newspaper.
It’s claimed the pigs spend 24 hours a day in this horrific state until they are sent for slaughter.
http://www.people.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/2011/09/18/sickening-scenes-at-freedom-food-pig-farm-102039-23427967/

RSPCA SPEND £6M ON SPIN DOCTORS

The RSPCA is reviewing its £6 million media business, which has been held by Mike Colling & Company since 2003.The review is being handled by the AAR and led at the RSPCA by the former Rajar chief executive Sally de la Bedoyere, who joined the charity in June last year as the director of income generation.


Agencies were approached this week with details of the review, which will focus on fundraising and legacy marketing activity, as the charity is almost solely reliant on donations and legacies.
The review, which is expected to be completed by November, does not affect the RSCPA’s relationship with its creative agency, Whitewater, or Rocket, which provides media support on a project basis.


http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1091972/agencies-line-6m-rspca-media-task/

FOI SUBMITTED TO ENGLISH AND WELSH POLICE FORCES RE UNLAWFUL RSPCA DATA SHARING

Dear Metropolitan Police Service (MPS),


I am very concerned about the extent to which private information and data held by the police is being provided to private organisations, such as the RSPCA.
The RSPCA is a private organisation. Its employees are ordinary members of the public. Yet, I believe that there are constabularies which have private arrangements with the RSPCA for the provision of
information to that organisation of private and sensitive information about individuals, which information might be of use to the RSPCA and its ruling Councillors in their political and other objectives.
As you may know, the RSPCA is run by a ruling Council of 26 persons. At least 18 of these people are either members of, or actively support, an extreme animal rights organisation called Animal Aid. I am concerned that data concerning individuals who do not support the extreme animal rights agenda of the RSPCA and Animal Aid may be falling into the hands of those organisations, and their "partners".
I understand that the RSPCA are able to use the police radio network, called Airwave, but that requests for such things as PNC checks are sometimes handled directly by the RSPCA's Political Headquarters in Horsham.
As you may be aware, the RSPCA has a close relationship with many journalists - I am concerned that any
channel for information to be obtained unlawfully from the police and/or provided by the police in an unregulated manner should be closed off.
Would you therefore please provide me with data, detailing how many requests for information from the police have been received by the Constabulary from the RSPCA annually during the last five years
broken down annually.

Yours faithfully,
Richard Martin

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/freedom_of_information_request_i_21#outgoing-149292

RSPCA CHALLENGE CONSERVATIVE PARTY

David Cameron was facing political embarrassment last night after a leading member of the local hunt he has ridden with was charged with illegal foxhunting.

Julian Barnfield, 47, the professional huntsman with the Heythrop hunt, will appear before magistrates next month on two counts of unlawfully hunting a fox.
The prosecution, which is being brought by the RSPCA, will reopen political divisions over hunting and increase pressure on Ministers to overturn the ban introduced by the Labour Government in 2004.
The Prime Minister has ridden with the Heythrop six times and the hunt is popular with fellow members of the Chipping Norton Set – an influential group of MPs and media professionals who live close to the Oxfordshire market town.
Prominent supporters include Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, and her husband Charlie. Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has allowed the hunt to ride on his land.
Several leading members of the local Conservative party are also members of the hunt and in the past Mr Cameron has been keen to declare his support.
In 2003, he described the then proposed ban on hunting as ‘illiberal and bossy’.
The hunt is supported by Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson
He also recalled a day out with the Heythrop, saying: ‘Nothing had prepared me for the sheer terror of a day’s hunting. I battled in vain to control my powerful steed and careered through trees and bushes completely out of control.
‘Trying to hover at the back of the field, I ended up at the front as a fox broke cover from behind.
‘A 15-minute gallop along narrow paths in a forest followed, during which I thought death (for me at least) would be a release. The fox escaped. Having survived two-and-a-half hours without being unseated, I dismounted and collapsed in a heap on the ground. My horse had hardly broken a sweat.’
In their 2010 manifesto, the Conservatives promised a free vote in the House of Commons on whether to overturn the ban, but many political insiders doubt it will happen. They say the Liberal Democrats are opposed to the proposal, and earlier this month. The Mail on Sunday revealed that a growing number of younger female Tory MPs, called the ‘Blue Foxes’ are also against any plans to lift the ban.
Barnfield, who is a fulltime employee of the hunt and a friend of Mr Cameron, is a fierce opponent of the hunting ban. Before its introduction, he said: ‘I will not stop. I am proud of what I do.’ In a subsequent edition of the Heythrop Hunt magazine, he listed ‘hounds in full cry’ as his favourite music and said his preferred hobbies were stalking in Scotland and hunting mink in Ireland.

This is not the first time the huntsman has been charged with offences under the controversial legislation. In 2008, he became the first person in the country to be prosecuted by police for allegedly killing a fox. But the CPS withdrew the charges following a High Court ruling which made a distinction between searching for a mammal and actively hunting it. The RSPCA’s case is based on video footage of the Heythrop hunt gathered by anti-hunt monitors.
Barnfield, who is a full-time employee of the hunt, is a friend of Mr Cameron's and a fierce opponent of the hunting ban
Barnfield in particular and the Heythrop in general have become regular targets for monitors since the hunting ban was introduced.
In 2009, he said: ‘To be frank, I am plagued by them. It’s not just that they film me and the hunt, openly and covertly. Some are verbally vile, too.’
Barnfield said the hunt had raised concerns about the filming directly with Mr Cameron, adding: ‘He [Mr Cameron] doesn’t hunt with us any more but he supports us.’
In their 2010 manifesto, the conservatives promised a free vote in the House of Commons on the ban
Penny Little, an anti-hunt monitor who gathered the footage, said: ‘We are delighted that the RSPCA has decided to mount a prosecution.’
An RSPCA spokesman said last night: ‘Julian Barnfield is scheduled to appear at Banbury Magistrates’ Court on September 16. He is charged with two offences of unlawfully hunting a wild mammal, namely a fox, with dogs, contrary to section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004, on two occasions in Oxfordshire in February and March. As proceedings are ongoing we are unable to make further comment.’
Simon Lawrance, the joint master of the Heythrop hunt, which operates in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, last night said Barnfield was uncontactable because he was on holiday in the Scottish Highlands. He added: ‘The hunt is fully supporting Mr Barnfield and the main message we want to get across is that the Heythrop hunts within the law.’
Barnfield’s solicitor Tim Hayden confirmed his client was due before magistrates. But he said he was unable to comment further until the RSPCA had disclosed full details of the case to his client.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2030971/Camerons-embarrassment-Chipping-Norton-Sets-favourite-huntsman-faces-court-illegal-hunting.html?ito=feeds-newsxml