Adopt an animal from us
Can you give one of our animals their forever home? Dogs, cats and small animals - take a look at who's waiting to meet you.
RSPCA Officers under pressure
Posted March 2017
Our officers are under increasing pressure...
Dermot Murphy, Assistant Director of the RSPCA Inspectorate, said:
"It continues to outrage and sadden me that people can be capable of such deliberate brutality towards animals, but equally it drives me on to ensure that perpetrators of animal cruelty are put before the courts.
I believe that the figures from last year show that we’re not becoming crueler, but that people are simply less willing to stand by and do nothing if they think an animal is suffering.
People are increasingly likely to share images or footage on their social media accounts of animals they believe are not being cared for properly, while many will see material their friends have shared and then contact us about them.
Either way, our officers are under increased pressure having to respond to more calls and investigate more complaints, but it is thanks to their dedication, as well as RSPCA staff and volunteers across England and Wales that we are able to transform the lives of tens of thousands of animals each year."
In 2016 we:
- Received 1,153,744 calls to our 24-hour cruelty line (up by 3.15 percent)
- Investigated 149,604 complaints of alleged animal cruelty (up by 4.62 percent)
- Issued 84,725 advice and improvement notices (up by 3.99 percent)
- Successfully prosecuted 744 people (down by 6.53 percent)
- Secured 628 disqualification orders following prosecution (down 4.46 percent)
- Had a prosecution success rate of 92.5 percent (up by 0.1 percent)
The majority of complaints received by the us in 2016 continued to be about the welfare of dogs (84,994), followed by cats (36,156) and equines (19,530).
Did you know this about the RSPCA Inspectorate?
As a charity the RSPCA National Society is massively under-resourced. They only have 400 inspectors (just one per 142,500 people) and they receive more than 14,000 calls each week - as you can imagine they are often overwhelmed.
As frustrating as it is, they can only act within the law at all times. They are only able to remove an animal with the say so of the police and a vet. Even if conditions are less than ideal there isn’t always a law being broken. So while you might expect that they will rush in and seize the animal(s), this often isn’t possible as it would be against the law as the RSPCA have no legal right to do so.
It may be that the inspectors are working hard behind the scenes with the owner. They often try to improve circumstances for the animal if at all possible, and this can take time.
Breed specific legislation campaign
The RSPCA has recently launched a campaign calling on the UK Government to launch an inquiry into Breed Specific Legislation a law that causes the suffering and destruction of hundreds of innocent dogs every year.
The campaign has received national media coverage. The RSPCA would like to reach 100,000 signatures to put pressure on the UK Government. If you would like to learn more or to add your signature to the campaign please click here.
