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The local RSPCA Branch received the following e-mails (responses attached)and I hope that a more balanced view can be obtained of the work we do to support members of the public - like The Monk,
who as the owner of the cat in question - has a legal responsibility to meet the needs of their pets.
Whilst the RSPCA receives donations from the public to help animals in greatest need, such resources have to be prioritised to prevent cruelty & suffering to animals. The great majority of owners accept their responsibilities as pet owners and hopefully as you can see from our responses, we try to balance need and animal welfare matters, so that the funds are directed towards the purpose for which they were donated.

E-mail Sent: 30 August 2011 21:54 to RSPCA local Branch

Dear Wirral RSPCA

I contacted you a few weeks ago reference our rabbit smelling badly and asked if you could help and possibly offer us a voucher to pay for him to be castrated and because we are not people to claim from the government you wouldn't help us and you even told us that having him castrated wouldn't necessarily help with the smell which we have been told different by three different vets around the Wirral area that your information is wrong.

We also have a cat now who has scabs all over her body and we do not know what is causing this and she is also being sick and wanting to be fed more often than we can possibly cope with and also losing her fur badly.

This is now out of control and cannot afford to have our animals treated and you will not help us, so i will now be making sure my donations to the RSPCA stop along with my families donations that they give you monthly.
Can you now tell me if you can take both of our animals into your care ASAP.

I look forward to your response.
Thank you.




RSPCA BRANCH response – 31st August 2011- 11.45 a.m.

Thank you for your email.

When you contacted us a few weeks ago I seem to remember suggesting you took your rabbit to the vet to get him checked, as there may have been another reason for the smell and thought it best to get him checked in case of any infection. We do not have a vet here and would never advise as such.

I advised you that as you are not on any state benefits we are unable to assist with the neutering of your rabbit, but I seem to recall asking if you were on any housing benefit as if you were we would be able to help you. As yet I have not had a response to that question, so I find it difficult to understand when you say we are not willing to help. Regarding the cat, I cannot find any correspondance at all, what help did you ask from us and what were you told?.

We rely solely on public donations to help sick and injured unowned animals. Without this support we wouldn't be able to help these animals who have no one. Of which, we successfully rehomed over 900 last year.

I look forward to your response.

Kind Regards
Animal Care Manager



E-mail Sent: 31 August 2011 15:34
To: RSPCA Branch
Subject: Re: RSPCA Not Willing to help
Hi

Firstly lose the attitude.
Yes you say go and take the rabbit to the vet and i recall telling you there is no money here to pay for this and this is the whole problem. Please don't let me to have to repeat myself to you.
In answer to your question we can get housing benefit but not sure how much and as yet we have not looked into this.

You say all the rubbish at the bottom of this email about rehoming and looking after sick un-owned animals but you have no idea how many people i know including my mother and auntie who have come across injured animals and as always when contacting the RSPCA they cannot help or want you to wait ridiculous times which is no good when the animal in the past we have reported have been dying.

Please when replying do not come back with the same attitude or i will contact the RSPCA CEO about you and your replies.
As we have said to everyone if you work and try and deal with bills the best you can and have problems then there is no one willing to help with charges unless you are a government scrounger and then you get everything free.




RSPCA BRANCH response - 31st August 2011 – 17.03 p.m.

Firstly, there was no intended attitude, but if this is your perception, then I apologise.

As I am sure that you are aware, as the owner of the pets you have a legal responsibility under The Animal Welfare Act to ensure that they receive veterinary attention as they need it. Whilst I understand that finances may be strained, you still have to ensure that your pets do not suffer unnecessarily and from your e-mails, it is clear that they need to see a vet as clearly they have conditions that need treating. Failure to do so places you at risk.

Whilst the Branch does have a scheme in place to help people who have financial difficulties, it needs to be demonstrated that this is the case and the easiest way to do this (to avoid wasting money donated to us on needless admin), is to use those government schemes already in place that help to determine hardship. It appears, however, that you are not in receipt of benefits or housing benefit and unfortunately, therefore, do not qualify under our scheme.
You state that you can get housing benefit but haven't looked into this yet. If this was looked into & confirmed, then we may be able to help, but it sounds as though your pets need seeing by a vet sooner rather than later - which is still your responsibility. As the owner, you cannot rely on the availability of schemes that may or may not be in place by animal welfare organisations such as our own.

Whilst we are grateful to you and other members of your family for donating to the RSPCA, we would rather that you cancel these donations if they enable you to afford the necessary vet treatment for your pets.

The "so called" rubbish that you refer to - is factual and we have hundreds of satisfied re-homing clients who are grateful for the work that we do. The examples you relate to of injured animals waiting to be collected etc, is sometimes true as there are limited numbers of Inspectors and Animal collection officers available trying to deal with the hundreds of thousands of requests over the year, which is why many members of the public, help us by taking the injured animal to the nearest vet, where this is possible.

Although you don't qualify under our scheme, as a one off and to help your rabbit and cat get seen by the vet, to at least diagnose the problems, I am willing to assist with part of the cost of the consultation fee, if you confirm which vet you are taking your pets to see and the date & time. I will then be able to fax a voucher over to them for £20.00. Any amount over and above this, for the consultation and treatment will have to be met by yourself.

Cheers
Branch Manager

Despite this offer - we are not aware that the owner has as yet taken the cat (and rabbit) to the vets. Which may be why the local Inspector was called out to the house.

You did mention the rabbit in the first e-mail and how you needed money from the RSPCA because the rabbit smells and you needed it castrated so maybe this is why they had to check onit. After all don't they have a care of duty to check the animals?

You also said you wish you knew where the officer lived. Why is that? No wonder the RSPCA are reluctant help some people when they have this attitude and be threatening.

And by posting the E-mails they have every right to when you're claming they weren't intrested but they offerd to donate a fee to your vet bills and when you couldn't pay them they took the animal off you.

Seen these messages via Google and if this is the animal care officer from the Wirral RSPCA then take this with a pinch of salt because there is many local people if you look around Facebook and other sites and there traitors and full of complete crap.
The Wirral have the worst RSPCA staff in the UK and don't deserve the prise they ask for. Remember the lady in Birkenhead looking after all them cats and the RSPCA stormed in and took her to court and she had done nothing wrong and all the animals were in perfect health.

Stop the adverts and use the money on the animals you load of pratts.

You did mention the rabbit in the first e-mail and how you needed money from the RSPCA because the rabbit smells and you needed it castrated so maybe this is why they had to check onit. After all don't they have a care of duty to check the animals?

You also said you wish you knew where the officer lived. Why is that? No wonder the RSPCA are reluctant help some people when they have this attitude and be threatening.

And by posting the E-mails they have every right to when you're claming they weren't intrested but they offerd to donate a fee to your vet bills and when you couldn't pay them they took the animal off you.

No this is sent to a company so there emails being shown on a public forum or internet page is very different, it does just show how unprofessional they are after seeing this.
And beleave me the rspca officers and other staff arnt as tuff when seen a public place out of uniform confronted them many of times and they wouldnt say boo to a snail.

I'm perfectly calm

Would it be right to request compensation from a charity were the money could be spent on a poor pet that the money is really there to be spent on?