No. 18 Spring 1999 30p.
Welsh
Animals Guardian
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE WELSH SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF
CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.
SWYDDOG NEWYDDIAURUR O CHYMDEITHAS GYMREIG DROS AMDDIFFYN ANIFEILIAID.
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On the original there was a photocopied photograph of Richard
Abbott here
it was of poor quality and will not reproduce.
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RICHARD ABBOTT
DURING THE SUMMER OF LAST YEAR A LADY LIVING IN A VILLAGE NEAR
ABERYSTWYTH BECAME INCREASINGLY CONCERNED ABOUT A DOG, A BORDER COLLIE, BEING
KEPT IN A SMALL SHED BY A FARMER. IT WAS CLEAR THAT THE COLLIE HAD SUSTAINED
AN INJURY AND WAS HAVING DIFFICULTY IN MOVING. THE LADY EVENTUALLY PLUCKED UP
THE COURAGE TO CONFRONT THE FARMER. HE ASSURED HER THAT THE DOG HAD SEEN A VET.
THE VET HE MENTIONED HAPPENED TO BE A FRIEND OF THE LADY, AND HE CONFIRMED THAT
HE HAD NOT SEEN THIS PARTICULAR DOG.
SEVERAL ATTEMPTS WERE THEN MADE TO GET THE RSPCA TO SEND AN INSPECTOR
TO LOOK AT THE COLLIE. AFTER ABOUT TWO MONTHS AN INSPECTOR EVENTUALLY CALLED.
HE LEFT WITHOUT TAKING ANY ACTION. A LETTER WAS SENT TO HORSHAM TO ASK WHY THE
COLLIE HAD NOT BEEN HELPED. THE LETTER WAS SENT TO THEIR WELSH H.Q. TO BE ANSWERED.
THIS REPLY, FULL OF LIES, IS PRINTED ON PAGE 3.
THE COLLIE WAS THEN RESCUED, OR AS THE RSPCA, OR THE POLICE OR
THE POLITICIANS WOULD HAVE IT STOLEN BY MISGUIDED CRIMINALS. IT WAS TAKEN STRAIGHT
TO A VET. SHE WAS SHOCKED AT ITS CONDITION. IN HER REPORT SHE STATES, ‘HE WAS
WALKING ON THE PLANTAR ASPECT OF HIS METATARSUS WITH HAIR LOSS AND MILD INFLAMMATION.
IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT THE ACHILLES
TENDON HAD BEEN RUPTURED FOR SOME CONSIDERABLE TIME AS THE TARSAL
JOINT HAD FUSED IN FLEXION. MOREOVER, BECAUSE OF HIS VERY ABNORMAL GAIT THE
CLAWS OF HIS FOOT HAD GROWN SO LONG THAT THEY WERE GROWING INTO HIS PADS. THIS
MUST HAVE BEEN CAUSING HIM SOME CONSIDERABLE PAIN. I RECOMMENDED THAT THE LEG
SHOULD BE AMPUTATED.’
THE VET ALSO SAID THAT IF THE INJURY HAD BEEN TREATED EARLIER
THE LEG WOULD HAVE BEEN SAVED.
WE HAVE TRIED DESPERATELY TO GET A PROSECUTION GOING, NOT ONLY
AGAINST THE FARMER BUT ALSO AGAINST THE RSPCA INSPECTOR. WE CAN’T BECAUSE WE
CANNOT AFFORD THE COSTS INVOLVED. THE NAME OF THE INSPECTOR IS RICHARD ABBOTT.
WE HAVE HAD CAUSE TO WRITE ABOUT THIS EVIL MAN BEFORE. IN 1997 WE BEGAN TO RECEIVE
REPORTS ABOUT HIS PREDILECTION FOR KILLING KITTENS, HEALTHY KITTENS. THEN IN
MARCH LAST YEAR ABBOTT TRIED TO TAKE ONE OF OUR OWN CATS. HE TOLD ME HE WAS
GOING TO KILL HER BECAUSE SHE WAS DEHYDRATED AND IN PAIN. THE ONLY WAY WE COULD
GET RID OF HIM AND THE POLICE OFFICER HE BROUGHT WAS TO TAKE THE CAT TO OUR
VET WHO CONFIRMED THAT, APART FROM BEING OLD THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH HER.
WE WERE UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS BECAUSE, AGAINST THE
RSPCA WE ARE POWERLESS. THEY HAVE THE POLICE AND THE POLITICIANS ON THEIR SIDE.
ALL WE CAN DO IS TO KEEP TELLING THE TRUTH, TO KEEP ON SPEAKING OUT, THE DAY
WILL SURELY COME WHEN THE ANIMALS HAVE JUSTICE, WHEN THE ANIMAL ABUSERS OF THE
RSPCA ARE TRIED FOR THEIR CRIMES AND THE MONEY WHICH THEY HAVE ACCUMULATED IS
USED TO ALLEVIATE THEIR SUFFERING.
---------------------------------
On the original there was a photocopied photograph of the
dog's leg here
it was of poor quality and will not reproduce.
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THE LEG THAT WAS AMPUTATED BECAUSE THE RSPCA COULD NOT BE BOTHERED TO TAKE
THE ANIMAL FOR TREATMENT.
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Registered Charity no. 219099
Cymdeithas Frenhinol Atal Creulondeb I
Anifeilieaid
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Patrons HM The Queen, HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Vice Patron His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury
25 August 1998
xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxx
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xxxxxxxxx
Dear xxxxxxxx
Your recent letter to the Society’s national Headquarters has
been forwarded to me for attention.
Although our Inspectors are, obviously, not veterinary surgeons,
they are sufficiently well trained and experienced to be able to make an assessment
of, for example, a dog with an old leg injury. If ever an Inspector has misgivings
about an animal’s condition – particularly in making a decision as to whether
it is suffering – he will always seek veterinary opinion. That is an elementary
part of their training and our standard procedures, and I have no doubt that
it would have happened on this occasion, if necessary.
With regard to the provision of a wildlife centre in West Wales,
this is something that has been discussed for some time. However, these establishments
are very expensive to set up and to run, and the Society already has three of
them nationally which provide support right across the country in this very
specialised field.
There are such great demands on the Society’s services in all
aspects of animal welfare that we will always need to work together with other
organisations and individuals to help animals. I am sorry that we could not
help with the fulmar when you requested it, and I am grateful to you and your
brother-in-law for what you did. I do hope that it made a full recovery.
Yours sincerely
K
J Manning
Superintendent
RSPCA Cymru Wales. PO Box 27, Brecon, Powys LD3 8WB Tel 08705
555 999 Cyflun/Fax 01874 625666
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CRUEL RSPCA MURDERED MY MOGGIE
EXCLUSIVE By Ricky Sutton and Lynne Wallis
A much-loved pet cat was put down by the RSPCA just 90 minutes
after his owner let him out.
Now tearful Paulette Stewart is suing the animal charity over
her anguish.
Her lifelong pal, Dixie was mistaken for a stray by neighbours
and taken to an RSPCA shelter.
But instead of caring for the moggie while waiting to see if anyone
claimed him, Dixie was destroyed on the spot by a worker who was about to jet
away of holiday.
Paulette sobbed: "They just took my beloved pet and put him
down without checking. What happened was so wrong.
Healthy
"If Dixie had been run over, lame or bleeding, I would have
understood. But he was perfectly healthy and could have lived for years,"
She added: "Pet owners all over the country will be horrified.
"Dixie was taken from my own street without my knowledge
and was dead in no more than 90 minutes. I had no chance to save him."
The cat was booked into the shelter in Leeds, Yorks, around 2.30
on a Friday afternoon. After he failed to come home Paulette, 32, began knocking
on doors and learned he had been taken by the RSPCA.
But when the shelter next opened the following Sunday, records
showed he had been "PTS" – shorthand for put to sleep – by 4pm on
Friday.
Paulette said: "When I asked why, they couldn’t tell me
because the staff member involved had flown out on holiday.
"Friday was also the day for all dead animals to be collected,
so you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to put it all together.
"The house seems empty without Dixie. He was 14 years old
and we had grown very attached to each other." An internal RSPCA investigation
cleared staff member Amanda Robinson for putting Dixie down. Amanda said: ""Two
or three people, I thought they were students, came in saying a cat had been
hanging around for a few weeks which wasn’t well."
Branch Chairman Peter Cressey said: "Mrs. Robinson acted
within the law and RSPCA guidelines.
Blunder
"There is constant pressure on space for younger and healthier
stray cats."
After the blunder the RSPCA offered Paulette £50 compensation
and promised to help her find another cat.
But she turned it down and declared: "That would have been
hush money.
"Going to court means they will have to show some accountability/"
Paulette’s solicitor Trevor Cooper said: "Our claim is that
the RSPCA didn’t take enough steps to find the owner and this constitutes negligence."
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RSPCA in Pet Rescue row
By RICHARD PALMER
The RSPCA is under pressure from its own staff and volunteers
to stop co-operating with hit TV programmes such as Animal Hospital and Pet
Rescue.
Staff working at the society’s 50 animal centres around Britain
have complained that the hugely popular programmes have increased their workloads
dramatically and created unrealistic public expectations about their abilities
to handle all sorts of cases. In some instances, according to critics, the power
of television has caused cruelty by prompting people unsuitable for pet ownership
to take animals home.
"You get these people coming into centres and taking pets
away because they have watched a programme and become all sentimental,"
said Lynn Horsmann a former local committee member who has resigned in protest
at the way the RSPCA is run.
"They find that they can’t cope and the animals are soon
back where they started."
Despite the criticism, the RSPCA has decided to continue working
with the camera crews in the immediate future. Alan Wolinski, manager for Yorkshire
and the North East, said: "These programmes have raised public awareness."
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Wasted Cash
Daily Mail 28-10-97
I was appalled by the number of animals the RSPCA has destroyed
in a year.
The thought that it has £119 million in the bank disgusts me.
I have been rescuing cats for 37 years and have about £105 in my special bank
account.
I have a no-destruction policy and keep the cats I cannot find
homes for – some have been here for 15 years or more.
I think the RSPCA could convert some the houses that are willed
to them into sanctuaries – as I have done with my home.
When I applied to the RSPCA for help to build my sanctuary, I
was turned down. So much for a society that is supposed to care for animals.
Yvonne Miller,
Cosy Cats Sanctuary,
Havant, Hants.
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Race claims three
Three horses were killed in one of the most grueling Aintree Grand
Nationals in recent memory, but all before Becher’s Brook on the first circuit.
Pashto was one of five horses who exited at the first fence. He
then collapsed and died.
Do Rightly, who came down at the fourth fence, broke a leg and
was humanely put down.
So, too, was Griffins Bar who broke his shoulder when falling
at the fifth.
It was the second time this week that Griffins Bar had fallen
at Aintree. He came down at the second obstacle in Thursday’s John Hughes Trophy.
Thirty one of the 37 starters failed to complete the course but
all the jockeys returned unscathed.
Bernard Donigan, the RSPCA’s Equine consultant, described the
deaths of the three horses as "one of the hazards of National Hunt racing/
"The veterinary care at Aintree is first class."
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THE POLICE COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY,
DYFED POWYS POLICE HEADQUARTERS,
P.O.BOX 99,
LLANGUNNOR,
1 APRIL 1998
CARMARTHEN
DEAR SIR,
ON THE EVENING OF MONDAY MARCH THE 30TH. WE WERE VISITED
BY RSPCA INSPECTOR RICHARD ABBOTT. HE TOLD US THAT HE HAD WHAT HE BELIEVED TO
BE ONE OF OUR CATS IN HIS VAN.
WE WENT WITH HIM TO HIS VAN AND DISCOVERED THE CAT TO BE, EMMA,
A VERY ELDERLY FEMALE WHICH WE HAD RESCUED IN OCTOBER 1989. ABBOTT SAID THAT
HE WANTED TO PUT OUR CAT DOWN BECAUSE SHE WAS IN PAIN. HE WAS TOLD THAT SHE
WAS AN ELDERLY CAT, SHE WAS NOT IN ANY PAIN. ABBOTT INSISTED WE RETURN EMMA
TO HIM, WE REFUSED HE THEN TOLD US THAT HE WOULD FETCH THE POLICE. BEING INVOLVED
IN ANIMAL WELFARE AND RESCUE WORK, WE HAVE HEARD MANY INDEPENDENT ACCOUNTS ABOUT
RICHARD ABBOTT AND HIS KEENNESS TO KILL CATS, INCLUDING HEALTHY KITTENS. THERE
WAS THEREFORE NO WAY THAT ANY OF OUR ANIMALS WOULD EVER BE HANDED OVER TO SUCH
A PERSON.
AT ABOUT 18.15 THAT SAME EVENING ABBOTT RETURNED WITH P.C. JENKINS.
WE WERE TOLD BY P.C. JENKINS THAT ABBOTT WAS AN EXPERT AND THAT OUR CAT WAS
SUFFERING, IT WAS IN PAIN AND IT WAS DEHYDRATED. WE TRIED TO EXPLAIN THAT EMMA
WAS VERY OLD, THAT SHE HAD VETERINARY TREATMENT WHEN NECESSARY AND THAT SHE
MOST DEFINITELY WAS NOT IN ANY PAIN. P.C. JENKINS WOULD NOT LISTEN TO WHAT WE
WERE SAYING AND INSISTED ON TAKING EMMA. AFTER A BRIEF STRUGGLE P.C. JENKINS
FORCED HIS WAY INTO OUR HOME, DESPITE WHAT WE HAD TOLD HIM AND DESPITE BEING
TOLD OF OUR FEARS RELATING TO ABBOTT, WHO, WHEN I PUT TO HIM THE STORIES ABOUT
HIS PENCHANT FOR KILLING CATS, GRINNED.
IT WAS EVENTUALLY AGREED THAT IF WE MADE AN IMMEDIATE APPOINTMENT
WITH OUR VT THAT WOULD SATISFY, FOR THE MOMENT, P.C. JENKINS, THIS WAS AFTER
HE HAD SEEN EMMA FOR HIMSELF. AFTER WE HAD MADE THE APPOINTMENT P.C. JENKINS
LEFT THE HOUSE.
WE ARRIVED AT OUR VETS AT SOMETIME AFTER 19.00. AFTER EXPLAINING
THE URGENCY OF OUR VISIT SHE EXAMINED EMMA. SHE TOLD US THAT EMMA WAS NOT DEHYDRATED,
SHE WAS NOT SUFFERING AND SHE WAS NOT IN ANY PAIN. A BLOOD SAMPLE WAS THEN TAKEN
AND ANALYSED TO PROVIDE SOME SCIENTIFIC BACKING FOR HER FINDINGS. THIS TEST
REVEALED AN INDICATION OF ANAEMIA, NO MAJOR HEALTH PROBLEMS, EVEN THE RESULTS
RELATING TO THE KIDNEYS WERE BETTER THAN EXPECTED IN AN ELDERLY CAT.
LATER THAT SAME EVENING, FOLLOWING AN EARLIER REQUEST, P.C. JENKINS
TELEPHONED US. HE TOLD US THAT HE HAD BEEN IN TOUCH WITH OUR VET AND HAD BEEN
TOLD THAT EMMA WAS ANAEMIC AND THAT SHE ALSO HAD LEUKAEMIA THIS SECOND PART
IS NOT TRUE. HE ALSO TOLD US THAT IF HE HAD SEEN EMMA EARLIER HE WOULD HAVE
SEIZED HER. WHEN I (MELVYN DALLAS) TOLD P.C. JENKINS THAT THE MATTER WOULD BE
TAKEN FURTHER HE TOLD ME THAT BECAUSE OF MY ATTITUDE HE WISHED THAT HE HAD ARRESTED
ME.
WE WISH TO MAKE A FORMAL COMPLAINT AGAINST THE ACTIONS AND ATTITUDE
OF P.C. JENKINS.
WE WOULD ALSO, AS A MATTER OF URGENCY LIKE TO KNOW IF P.C. JENKINS
HAD ANY RIGHT TO ENTER OUR HOME, DID HE HAVE A WARRANT?
BECAUSE WE HAVE BOTH DEDICATED OUR LIVES TO THE RIGHTS AND WELFARE
OF ANIMALS WE REALISE THAT THE ACTIONS OF RSPCA INSP. ABBOTT AND P.C. JENKINS
RAISE OTHER QUESTIONS OF GREAT CONCERN. WE THEREFORE SEEK ANSWERS TO THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS.
-
IF P.C. JENKINS HAD SEIZED EMMA WHAT WOULD HE HAVE DONE
WITH HER?
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IF P.C. JENKINS HAD HANDED EMMA OVER TO THE RSPCA WHAT WOULD
THEY HAVE DONE WITH HER?
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ARE DYFED POWYS POLICE OFFICERS INSTRUCTED TO SEIZE EVERY
ELDERLY ANIMAL THEY SEE? IF SO WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM? WE KNOW FOR EXAMPLE
THAT YOUR DOG POUNDS CAUSE GREAT CONCERN, MANY OF THE DOGS REMOVED FROM
LLANELLI HAVING PARVO VIRUS.
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IF ANIMAL WELFARE IS OF SUCH A HIGH PRIORITY IN DYFED POWYS
WHY DO ITS POLICE OFFICERS IGNORE THE PLIGHT OF THE THOUSANDS OF SHEEP WHICH
CAN EASILY BE SEEN FROM THE COUNTY’S HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS SUFFERING EXTREME
PAIN FROM FOOTROT?
-
WHY DID P.C. JENKINS TELL US THAT ABBOTT WAS AN EXPERT ON
ANIMAL WELFARE? MOST RSPCA INSPECTORS ARE EITHER EX ARMED FORCES OR EX POLICE.
THEIR 14 WEEK RSPCA TRAINING CONSISTS MAINLY OF LEGAL WORK AND LEARNING
HOW TO KILL ANIMALS.
IN VIEW OF OUR OWN EXPERIENCES AND BECAUSE OF THE FEAR OF THEM
BEING REPEATED IN OTHER CASES WE ASK THE DYFED POWYS POLICE FORCE TO STOP USING
RSPCA INSPECTORS AS EXPERTS IN MATTERS CONCERNING ANIMAL WELFARE AND INSTEAD
USE THE REAL EXPERTS, VETERINARY SURGEONS.
FURTHER TO THIS ARE YOU AWARE OF THE FACT THAT RSPCA INSPECTORS
ARE NO LONGER CONCERNED WITH ANIMALS WELFARE THEIR SOLE OBJECTIVE IS TO PROSECUTE.
THIS WAS ADMITTED BY CARMARTHEN INSP. ROHAN BARKER IN CARMARTHEN MAGISTRATES
COURT LAST YEAR. WE KNOW THAT MANY UNJUST PROSECUTIONS ARE BROUGHT BY THE RSPCA
SIMPLY IN ORDER TO GENERATE PUBLICITY WHICH IN TURN GENERATES REVENUE. BY CONTINUING
TO WORK WITH THE RSPCA THE POLICE WILL BE SEEN AS NOTHING MORE THAN THEIR FOOT-SOLIDERS.
A COPY OF THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT TO THE CHIEF CONSTABLE, DYFED
POWYS POLICE.
YOURS SINCERELY,
MELVYN DALLAS
GILLIAN FIELDS