Rspca pull out of Crufts & Discover Dogs
Yes I know - it's now old news, but how refreshing to see a charity really going for it! How long before the others follow?
I would have blogged it sooner, but just as I started writing I got a call from the Times and then I had to write it for them and pick the kids up from school...
Here's the links to their pages, very efficiently already published this evening. Tomorrow's news today!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4761471.ece
and
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4761473.ece
Don't forget the petition:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ReformtheKC/
Already over the 200 mark, please do keep spreading the word!
I would have blogged it sooner, but just as I started writing I got a call from the Times and then I had to write it for them and pick the kids up from school...
Here's the links to their pages, very efficiently already published this evening. Tomorrow's news today!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4761471.ece
and
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4761473.ece
Don't forget the petition:
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ReformtheKC/
Already over the 200 mark, please do keep spreading the word!
Comments
Beverley Cuddy, editor of Dogs Today magazine and a newspaper columnist is well respected in animal-welfare circles and a fierce critic of the world's most famous animal charity. The RSPCA are like a police force with their rows of studs and epaulettes and short hair and uniforms she says. Nor does she believe the RSPCA is interested in promoting animal ownership. "They are totally negative, and obsessed with making prosecutions." RSPCA policies are, she says, very inflexible: living in a flat or being over 65 is likely to count against a prospective pet owner who wishes to take a cat or dog off the RSPCA's hands – as is, says Cuddy, simply living in an unconventional way. (Cuddy and others are concerned at the RSPCA's plans to run a new dog licensing scheme, Favoured by Labour which they fear will give the charity powers to decide who is a suitable owner
"People like the vet and breeder Helen Hein are prosecuted for keeping animals in filthy conditions Yes, Helen is eccentric but in her defence she was living in the same conditions as her dogs and the notion that dogs appreciate cleanliness is ludicrous! She wasn't cruel, or evil, but if the RSPCA think you're odd, a bit anti-establishment, you're unsuitable. If you haven't got electricity or running water, you're done for." Cuddy says what Helen needed most was constructive advice. "instead there was a costly prosecution. But for the RSPCA, it's another statistic, and the tabloids loved it. What a good story: a house full of shit and Helen demonised as a 'monster'. Judges and magistrates never question the RSPCA precisely because of who they are."
The RSPCA has been around a very long time and we've often crossed swords, but 11 years ago they didn't have a chief vet called Mark Evans. I'm hopeful that the new-style RSPCA will be much better, think I'm not the only one that have found their recent stance remarkably refreshing!
http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/press_office/pressreleases/2008/dt-not-at-crufts.htm