Revealed: RSPCA destroys HALF of the animals that it rescues - yet thousands are completely health

• Shock figures reveal 3,400 animals put down for 'non-medical reasons'
• Whistleblower claims she shot healthy dogs 'because there was no room'
• Statistics show 10,000 fewer animals were rehomed in 2011
• But charity's prosecutions of rogue pet owners leap 20 per cent
• Countryside Alliance says charity should lose right to call itself Royal

The RSPCA destroys nearly half the animals it ‘rescues’ each year, with thousands being put down for non-medical reasons, shocking figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday reveal.

The animal-welfare charity destroyed 53,000 animals last year – 44 per cent of those it took in – leading critics to claim that the organisation spends too much time on prosecuting cases of neglect and cruelty and not enough on finding new homes for animals.

The charity insists the vast majority of the animals were put down to end their suffering, but it admits that last year alone 3,400 animals were destroyed for ‘non-medical’ reasons, such as the lack of space in kennels and catteries.

Figures have revealed the RSPCA routinely puts down healthy animals, with 3,400 destroyed in 2011 for 'non-medical reasons (file picture)

Death sentence: Human bolt guns, like the one pictured, are often used to kill pets

In 2009, the RSPCA, which is one of Britain’s biggest charities and receives £120 million a year in donations, stopped accepting stray animals and unwanted pets.

The number of animals re-homed has dropped from 70,000 in 2009 to 60,000 last year, while the number of convictions secured has leapt by 20 per cent. Figures obtained for the past five years show that 46 per cent of animals rescued by the charity were put down.

And today, The Mail on Sunday reveals a whistleblower’s account, raising concerns – denied by the organisation – that the charity kills more healthy animals than necessary.

Former RSPCA inspector Dawn Aubrey-Ward, who worked for the organisation from 2008 to 2010, said she came across numerous examples of animals destroyed because there was no room for them in shelters.

‘If there wasn’t any room in the nearby RSPCA home or one of a number of approved charities, we were supposed to euthanise them,’  she claims.

The figures have also revealed the charity is rehoming fewer pets, with 10,000 fewer finding new owners in 2011

The RSPCA insists that euthanising animals is always a ‘last resort’, but a Mail on Sunday investigation has unearthed others criticising the charity’s approach.

Kent vet David Smith, who worked for the organisation for 12 years, said: ‘It seems to be all about prosecuting people now.

‘The RSPCA seems to have lost sight of its role as a charity that was set up to help people and animals.’

In the past two years, convictions secured by the charity have increased from 2,579 to 3,114. Last year, spinster Georgina Langley, 67, of West Hougham, Kent, was raided at her home by the RSPCA and had five of her 13 cats put down.

The charity prosecuted her for neglect, but Mr Smith, 62, came to her aid. After sending two of the cats’ bodies to the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) for an independent post-mortem, he said: ‘There appears to be no good reason why the RSPCA allowed these animals to be put to sleep.

‘The RVC post-mortems concluded the cats were healthy, with no signs of incorrect feeding or major problems with fleas or other illnesses.

‘They were very heavy-handed with an elderly lady and kept her standing out in her garden in the rain for hours while they searched her house.

Despite fewer animals being found new homes, the RSPCA's prosecutions of rogue pet owners shot up by 20 per cent 

‘All the cats required was some flea spray. When I started doing work for them, the inspectors rarely prosecuted people – it was mostly about helping people to care for the animals. They would go and check on OAPs  and make sure they have flea treatment etc, and that just never happens these days.

‘They always seem to want to go for prosecution, no matter what, and I hear the same story from other vets.’

Following a three-day trial in May 2012, the RSPCA dropped 11 of the 13 charges against Miss Langley.

She pleaded guilty to failing to get veterinary care quickly enough for two of her animals. An RSPCA spokesperson said: ‘Five of the cats were put to sleep on veterinary advice. The reason we had to get these cats out of the property is  that the conditions they were in were appalling.’

Another former RSPCA employee, Angela Egan-Ravenscroft, shared Ms Aubrey-Ward’s misgivings about the RSPCA.

The Countryside Alliance has called on the RSPCA to lose its Royal name, after the charity prosecuted the Heythrop hunt, pictured here on Boxing Day, for illegally killing foxes

Ms Egan-Ravenscroft was branch co-ordinator for the RSPCA London region between 1990 and 2000. Disillusioned with the way the charity was being run, she left and went to work for the Countryside Alliance.

She said: ‘Healthy, well-adjusted, rehomeable animals were being destroyed, and I didn’t want to be part of an organisation that did that. 

‘The RSPCA has badly lost its way and all of its reasons for being set up in the first place have been subverted. The grass-roots animal welfare no longer exists.’

A spokesperson for the RSPCA said: ‘It is simply not true that the RSPCA routinely puts down healthy animals.

‘We do need to put animals to sleep when it is in their interests.

‘Nobody who works for the RSPCA wants to have to put rehomeable animals to sleep but it is a sad reality of the work that we do.

‘Although the trend is in decline, the RSPCA sometimes has to put some rehomeable animals to sleep simply because they cannot be found good homes.’

Not all organisations feel that it necessary to destroy healthy animals, however.

Dogs Trust, for example, still takes in strays, but refuses to euthanise healthy animals.

COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE: 'CHARITY SHOULD LOSE RIGHT TO CALL ITSELF ROYAL'

The RSPCA has become a ‘politically motivated animal rights organisation’ and should be stripped of its Royal name, according to Sir Barney White-Spunner, head of the Countryside Alliance.

He spoke out after the Heythrop, David Cameron’s local hunt in Oxfordshire, was convicted of illegally killing foxes after a private prosecution brought by the RSPCA. 

The case cost the RSPCA almost £327,000 which the judge said was ‘staggering’ and suggested ‘members of the public may feel RSPCA funds can be more usefully employed’.

Sir Barney said: ‘Why is this Society still Royal? I don’t want to involve the Royal Family, but I will raise it with the relevant committee in Whitehall.

‘It was once a great institution. But the direction it’s going is very sad. The RSPCA is becoming a politically motivated animal rights organisation and I don’t think that’s why people give it money. We will look to the Charity Commission to investigate if the RSPCA is in breach of its charitable objectives.’

The RSPCA said: ‘The RSPCA and its trustees have acted entirely within the society’s charitable objectives and procedures and Charity Law.’

RSPCA whistleblower claims she was forced to put down fit pets during her time with charity

A former RSPCA inspector claims the charity is killing more healthy animals than necessary by branding them ‘unsuitable for rehoming’.

Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, Dawn Aubrey-Ward says she was forced to put down many healthy pets during her two years with the organisation.

Ms Aubrey-Ward claimed large numbers of animals, particularly dogs, were put to sleep after being classed ‘unsuitable for rehoming’, but that the definition could be widely drawn to often include older animals, those needing veterinary care, dogs deemed ‘aggressive’ or larger dogs which were ‘hard to home’.

Proud: Dawn Aubrey-Ward receives an RSPCA award for rescuing a lamb. She has accused the charity of killing animals that are fit and healthy

The RSPCA strenuously denies Ms Aubrey-Ward’s claims, describing her as a ‘disgruntled former employee’.

Ms Aubrey-Ward, 44, a divorced mother of four from Martock, Somerset, joined the RSPCA as a trainee inspector in 2007. But she soon found herself at odds with what she described as its ‘antiquated military-style’ regime which placed ‘prosecution and persecution’ of owners ahead of protection of their pets.

Ms Aubrey-Ward went on: ‘The RSPCA’s image was that they care for animals, prevent cruelty and help and advise people with animals. I was horrified when I learned we were going to have to put down healthy animals because we didn’t have room for them. It didn’t fit with their public image.’

She won an award from the RSPCA for her part in the rescue of a lamb and received glowing reports for her good work. But when she began to question the practice of putting healthy animals to sleep, she says she found her job was at risk.

‘If there wasn’t any room in the nearby RSPCA home or one of a number of approved charities, we were supposed to euthanise them,’ she said.

Early in her training, Ms Aubrey-Ward says, she saw a young rottweiler put into an RSPCA van for a check-up.

‘The dog, which was surely frightened, growled at the inspector with me. The other inspector said, “That’s it – this is an aggressive dog.” It was put down soon afterwards.’

Later, she rescued a heavily pregnant ‘staffie’ bitch from a cruel owner, along with an aggressive male dog. ‘With some TLC in a nice kennels, and someone to work on her behaviour, she would have been OK. The dog warden and I tried hard to find a space for her but we couldn’t,’ she said.

Caring: Dawn Aubrey-Ward with her pets

‘The warden took the dogs to RPSCA Hillingdon, where a vet said they should be put to sleep if nowhere could be found for them, and they were killed round the back. The dog warden noosed them and I shot them.’

Ms Aubrey-Ward said she was reprimanded for giving help and advice instead of issuing cautions, including the case of an ill, elderly man whose cat lay dying on his lap.

She took the cat away and put it down and was then upbraided for not cautioning the cat’s devastated owner for neglect.

 SHE said: ‘The RSPCA won’t work with people – they see every case as a chance to prosecute, to generate publicity  for themselves.’

Her career with the RSPCA ended when her bosses accused her of ‘stealing’ a rescued tortoise which she’d taken home ready to take to an animal centre.

Eventually, after a year of negotiations, she resigned, suffering a mental breakdown and a wrecked marriage, partly caused, she said, by her being posted away from home for long spells.

An RSPCA spokeswoman said: ‘Animals in our care are never routinely euthanised on the spot, and certainly not because there are no spaces. Our inspectors regularly go out of their way to find a place many miles away. Over 70 per cent of “on the spot” euthanasia of animal casualties the RSPCA is called out to deal with involve wildlife.

‘RSPCA inspectors are not allowed to use euthanasia drugs on companion animals. They are taken to a veterinary surgeon, who makes an expert assessment.

‘Prosecution is always a last resort. Only a small percentage of the cases the RSPCA investigates end in prosecution.’

The RSPCA’s chief vet Dr James Yeates said: ‘We rehome thousands of animals, but we cannot keep up.

‘So we do the best thing in a  bad situation, and sometimes  this means having to put to  sleep rehomable dogs, cats  and rabbits.’

The RSPCA added: ‘Dawn Aubrey-Ward is a disgruntled former employee who was subject to a disciplinary investigation for alleged theft of animals. She left with matters  still pending.’

Lets just hope a few more 'disgruntled former employees' come forward and blow the whistle on what's really going on at the EVIL RSPCA.  How many animals have suffered in their care. They are an utter disgrace and should face prosecution for fraud and cruelty under the Animal Welfare Act.

By NICK CRAVEN and LYNNE WALLIS

RSPCA FRAUDSTERS LOSE GILL CASE

RSPCA loses court appeal against £2.35m will ruling

Charity failed to reverse high court decision that overturned a will leaving them a 287-acre farm in north Yorkshire

Congratulations to Christine Gill and may those money grabbing fraudsters at the RSPCA now leave her alone in peace

The RSPCA has lost a court of appeal challenge against a ruling thatoverturned a will leaving them a £2.35m farmhouse and land in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

University lecturer Christine Gill, 59, an only child, had won a high court battle to overturn her parents' will that left their 287-acre farm to the charity, after claiming her "domineering" father coerced her mother into making it.

Gill said in a statement: "It was a matter of huge regret and disappointment to me and my family that the RSPCA chose not to accept the original decision, forcing us to endure another court hearing."

She added: "We can now settle back into our lives on the family farm that I love, and which I have dedicated many years to maintaining."

Before the appeal, a number of charities said they were "very concerned at its possible implications for the charity sector".

Wonder who is picking up the tab for the courts costs.

£120m in a year in donations and still scrounging. Remember that this money does not go the the branches, which are all independent franchised businesses responsible for their own fundraising

Remember that in 2009 the RSPCA killed a total of 63,000 animals - a rise of over 3000 on the previous year. Nice to know how your donations are spent

Guardian

ANIMAL LOVERS FURY OVER RSPCA'S TREATMENT OF STRAY DOG

No surprises here since they no longer help stray dogs. Too expensive to actually help a needy animal with so many fat cats to look after at H/Q

ANIMAL lovers who discovered a dog almost dying in the street called in the cops and the RSPCA – but were shocked to be told by the charity to “let it go, and it will find its own way home”.

Last night they lashed out at the RSPCA for not turning out to help the pooch, which was in a terrible state.

Tina Fitzpatrick, who was one of those who found the French Bullmastiff dodging traffic on Queslett Road in Great Barr, Birmingham, said: “The dog was in awful condition.

“It kept collapsing. It had belonged to somebody but had been badly neglected.

“It was dehydrated, underweight and had marks around its neck from where it had been kept on a chain.

“Its mouth was full of ulcers and all its teeth had gone from gnawing at the chain. It was terrible to see.”

The passers-by rang the police, who managed to get the dog to safety at the side of the road and then contacted the RSPCA.

What happened next outraged Tina, 41, of Kingstanding, who has three dogs herself.

“The RSPCA said they didn’t have any wardens free to come out and collect the animal,” she said. “The police officer asked, ‘what shall I do with the dog?’ and the RSPCA told him, ‘just let it go and it will find its own way home’.

“He was shocked and couldn’t believe it. There was no way you could let the dog go. What would have happened if it had got hit by a car or run into the road and caused an accident?

“It wasn’t a small dog. It was enormous, the size of a small Shetland pony.”

The dog stayed with a friend of Tina’s overnight, and they rang an emergency vet.

Yesterday Tina rang Birmingham City Council, which despatched a warden to collect the dog to take it to a vet for treatment. It was later due to be transferred to Birmingham Dogs Home.

“I know the dog wasn’t injured,” said Tina. “But we told the RSPCA it was in a bad way and kept collapsing. They still refused to come out. For them to tell us to let the dog loose on a busy road was irresponsible and unforgivable.

“I’m disgusted by their behaviour. I used to give money to them, but won’t anymore.”

But a spokeswoman for the RSPCA said the organisation would never have told anybody to release a dog on the road.

“If a dog is injured or in danger then we always try our best to get there,” she said.

“If an inspector is not available then we advise the caller to contact the police, or call out a vet. We would never, under any circumstances, tell someone to just let the dog go, because that would put the animal in danger.”

In this situation, she said, the dog was the responsibility of the council’s wardens because it was not injured,

“If there’s nothing wrong with the dog then it’s the local authority who should take it,” she said.

“They receive money from the Government for this service.”

So where were your inspectors this time Mr Waas? Of course, no cameral rolling, no mileage in this case.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. ...

Sunday Mercury

JAILED FOR DROWNING CATS YET RSPCA GET AWAY WITH BRUTALLY SLAYING 10 GSD'S

Oxfordshire woman jailed for drowning eight cats

Julie Carter claimed she could not afford the phone call to have the animals rescued

The RSPCA couldn't afford the phone call or maybe couldn't be bothered, to help the 10 German Shepherds left on their own after their owner died in 2009.

An Oxfordshire woman who admitted drowning eight cats in a bath has been jailed for 12 weeks.

Julie Carter, 43, of Bicester, told RSPCA staff she could not afford a phone call to have the cats rescued so killed them one by one over a week.

The cats were all aged between one and three years old. Another three were later rehomed.

Carter told Banbury magistrates she had killed the cats because housing officials had told her to remove them.

The RSPCA said that when an inspector later visited her property, she had initially lied, saying the animals had been put to sleep by a vet.

'No choice'

She later confessed, saying she had not had enough money to contact any animal charities, and had drowned the pets in a baby bath instead.

She told the inspector "she felt she did not have any other choice," the RSPCA said.

Carter, of Herald Way, who had admitted a charge of causing unnecessary suffering at an earlier hearing, was also banned from keeping animals for life.

Speaking after the case, RSPCA inspector Doug Davidson said: "The callous and brutal drowning of her eight pet cats is not acceptable in the 21st Century.

So the slaughter of 10 German Shepherds with a captive bolt gun after their owner had died by an RSPCA inspector, wasn't callous and brutal!! It seems that there is one rule for them and another for everyone else. Nice to know how your donations are being spent.

"She did not even attempt to seek help to rehome the animals, and instead caused them unnecessary suffering by drowning them."

Propaganda media

RSPCA KILL BAMBI FOR BEING TOO TAME!!!!

RSPCA volunteer quits after ‘miracle’ deer is put down

Hands up those that thought the RSPCA were an animal welfare charity!!

A FURIOUS animal charity volunteer has resigned and launched a scathing attack on the RSPCA after it put down a young deer that miraculously survived a car accident.

Mervyn Symonds, aged 63, said the RSPCA had “lost its way” after their specialists killed the healthy male fawn because it was “too tame”.

The deer was hailed as a miracle when it emerged unhurt from its mother’s womb after a car accident in Chapeltown Road, Turton, in June.

The story came to a sad end, however, when RSPCA deer experts at a centre in Norfolk tried to release the fawn into the wild.

They said the young roe deer had to be put down because it was too tame and posed a danger to humans.

Now Mr Symonds, who has spent the last five years volunteering for the RSPCA, has quit because he is so angry and upset.

Mr Symonds, of Newbury Road, Little Lever, said: “I felt that I was helping animals by working for the RSPCA.

“I thought they were against cruelty to animals, but the shocking story of them killing this poor defenceless deer has really stunned me.

“Even I know organisations that would have taken this poor animal in, so they must be able to think of alternatives.

“I could understand if it was ill or injured, but this was a healthy animal. I think the RSPCA have lost their way.

“They’re more interested in money than helping animals.

“To kill this poor animal goes against everything they should stand for — it’s cruel, and I’m quite upset about it.”

Mr Symonds, a retired carpet shop owner, volunteered twice a week at the RSPCA shop in Chorley Old Road.

He handed in his letter of resignation yesterday, along with a furious letter of complaint about the RSPCA’s handling of the matter.

An RSPCA spokesman said: “We are obviously disappointed to hear this individual no longer wishes to be a volunteer.

As the work we do to rescue, rehome and promote animal welfare attests, we do care about animals.

“Obviously this particular incident is very sad. Our staff spent many hours over the last five months hand-rearing the deer in the hope he could be successfully released back into the wild.

“We took the chance we could rear it knowing we might have to euthanase it if it sadly proved unsuitable for a life in the wild.”

BOLTON NEWS

Yet in another article:

Chief Insp Ian Briggs, of the RSPCA’s special operations unit, said: “People have this idea that poaching is just a little old man getting a few rabbits for the pot from under the gamekeeper’s nose, but it’s not.

“A lot of the time, it involves gangs armed with firearms and dogs which are specifically bred for taking down game.

“It’s a massively serious problem from the RSPCA’s point of view.

“The people who do this like killing wildlife and the fact they can make money on the side is a bonus.”

That just about describes the RSPCA perfectly - they kill and make lots of money out of doing it!!

BIRMINGHAM POST

RSPCA TAKING OUT THE COMPETITION - ANOTHER SMALL RESCUE RAIDED

Sanctuary could be shut by RSPCA cruelty probe

Yet another raid on another small sanctuary. It seems that the RSPCA like to target smaller rescues. Is it an attempt by them to make it increasingly difficult for small rescues to exist thereby forcing many to close? Just think, soon they will control all rescue which means more money for them and more animals for them to kill!!!

AN animal charity which has saved the lives of countless creatures, could be forced to close after 30 years.

The Rescuers Wildlife Sanctuary in Benfleet has been told to stop taking in poorly animals, pending the outcome of an investigation by the RSPCA.

It is bringing 17 charges of cruelty against the founders of the charity Veronica Mepham and her husband Rye.

The sanctuary is home to about 40 owls and parrots, formerly kept as pets, as well as foxes and rabbits not able to survive in the wild because of injuries.

Veronica, 70, who lives at the centre in Watlington Road, strongly denied the charges.

She said “We have put 30 years of blood, sweat and tears into the sanctuary.

“We are devastated by this. Looking after animals has been our lives. It’s our passion.

“I would never have harmed an animal.”

Despite suffering three strokes in recent years, Veronica has still maintained her work at the charity.

She does all the fundraising to pay for the care of the animals.

The couple and helpers nurse back to health abandoned baby foxes, hedgehogs, squirrels and other wildlife and always avoid putting an animal down unless absolutely necessary.

Veronica added: “I dread to think what will happen if they close us down.

“There is nowhere else for animals to go in this area.”

The charity is well known in the community and Veronica regularly goes to schools for free with her animals to educate youngsters.

Squirrels from the sanctuary even became movie stars when they starred alongside Johnny Depp in the remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The creatures were handpicked to be in the 2005 Tim Burton movie for the famous nut room scene.

Yesterday she was due to visit Funhouse Pre School in Laindon, to show the pupils some hedgehogs. Veronica has now had to rehome all her hedgehogs, so could not make the appointment.

The RSPCA court hearing is due to take place in November. A spokesman for the RSPCA would not confirm details of the charges at the time of going to press.

ECHO NEWS

MORE SHOCKING FOOTAGE FROM AN RSPCA FREEDOM FOOD EGG FIRM

An investigation by Sky News and Viva has uncovered evidence suggesting Britain's largest egg producer is contravening strict guidelines on animal welfare.

Noble Foods own hen farms accredited to the RSPCA Freedom Food scheme, designed to offer particularly high standards of welfare for farm animals.

But footage obtained by Sky News and Viva from two farms in Fife, Scotland, suggests the guidelines are being breached.

An employee for Noble Foods was covertly filmed revealing electric wires are used to control the hens, who are also encouraged to remain indoors until 80% of them are laying.

The Happy Egg website projects the image of a playground for its hens

Another worker admitted at least one barn was infested with red mite, a parasite that causes skin irritations.

On a second visit to the farm, investigators filmed dozens of birds which had lost feathers due to disease and being pecked by other hens.

For their Happy Egg brand, Noble Foods portrays an image of welfare standards beyond the requirements of the Freedom Food scheme.

The investigation into The Happy Egg Company shows a very different picture - one of disease, incarceration, short lives and electric shocks.

Justine Kerswell from Viva

The company's website states hens are given activities to enhance their natural surroundings such as "an adventure playground and sandpit".

Yet on two separate visits to the farm Sky News discovered muddy surroundings and a water-logged sandpit.

The reality of the hell inside Noble Foods

A Noble Foods worker was recorded admitting the farm had problems with soil drainage and conditions for the hens were different to those officially portrayed.

Justine Kerswell from Viva, told Sky News: "Contented hens pecking at the ground and enjoying a dust bathe in the sun - that's most people's view of free range egg production.

"Viva And Sky News' investigation into The Happy Egg Company shows a very different picture - one of disease, incarceration, short lives and electric shocks."

In a statement, Noble Foods said: "We take the treatment of our hens extremely seriously.

"As soon as we were made aware of the video footage the company instigated an internal enquiry.

"Last night, at our request, both farms involved were audited by RSPCA Freedom Food inspectors and both were given very positive reports.

"We will continue to work with RSPCA Freedom Foods to ensure the highest possible welfare standards across our farms."

The RSPCA told Sky News they take any potential breach of welfare standards very seriously and would be suspending the farms in question from the Freedom Food scheme pending their own investigation.

Noble Foods supplies Happy Eggs to supermarkets including Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Ocado.

Sainsbury's welcomed the RSPCA investigation while Ocado have announced they will de-list Happy Eggs from their range as a precautionary measure.

SKY NEWS