Perhaps the RSPCA might like to actually help out?

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The RSPCA is a very large, very wealthy and very powerful organisation. It effect it acts as a private police force in matters relating to animal welfare. According to the 2010 Report & Accounts for this charity it has over £90 million in investments and an annual income of nearly £110 million.

Benfleet animal sanctuary is closing. Closing because the RSPCA wants it to close:

David Bowles, head of communications for the society, said: "There is a thin line between people wanting to do their best for animals and them getting into difficulties.

"When these places are set up, they get a reputation locally and get more people giving animals to them. Things can spiral out of control very quickly. That is when we tend to get called in.

"A lot of people may have run sanctuaries for a long time. They are getting old. They can no longer raise the funds that they used to raise. They can no longer feed the animals they used to feed." 

Maybe it's competition, perhaps this is just bureaucratic jobsworthiness, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't need to happen. Rather than beating up the owners of sanctuaries with the law:
 

But their life's work came to an abrupt end after the RSPCA visited on a routine inspection and accused them of animal cruelty.

Although they denied all the charges, they did not have the resources for a costly court case. To their continuing anguish, they agreed to close down the sanctuary and get rid of all the animals, in exchange for the case being dropped.

Maybe, just maybe, the RSPCA might like to consider dipping its paws into that nest egg of 'investments' - investments that were provided by the generosity of the charity's donors - to support sanctuaries rather than acting like the worst sort of bureaucratic nightmare and closing them down?

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Squirrel pie anyone? Don't ring the RSPCA

I like squirrels. The pesky little blighters have been my favourite animal since I was a small child - during which time I created a whole world populated entirely by the darling creatures. However, I recognise that not everyone shares my interest and indeed that grey squirrels (not to be confused with the Black Russian I've pictured) are quite serious pests.

So go ahead and cull them - there's plenty to go at and (as I discovered not long ago) make a pretty tasty pie. But whatever you do, don't ring the RSPCA for advice - they're clearly on some kind of deal with the pest control industry!

As Rev Douglas Drane discovered:

"I caught one of these vermin in a humane trap but when I called the RSPCA I was told I could not let it go because it posed a threat to red squirrels, which are not native to Gloucestershire," he said. I was also told I could not kill the animal myself and that risked prosecution if I did. I had to get a pest controller to come and do the job - at a cost of £70.

"I was dumbfounded by the RSPCA's response. What on earth am I supposed to do if I can't kill the squirrel or release it? I have done everything by the book. But it shows the law is an ass. It clearly needs to be changed."

And it's not just the RSPCA who are conflicted about squirrels. BBC Gardeners Question Time was accused of censoring panellists' comments on controlling pests like rats, mice, squirrels, rabbits and wood pigeons. And there are the real nutters like Animal Aid:

Their comments have been roundly attacked by Andrew Tyler, the director of Animal Aid, an animal rights group. He said: "The whole premise of gardeners killing squirrels is hateful and bigoted. It's the worst kind of intolerance. People should cherish them. But there is a concerted attempt to characterise them as vermin and a threat to the red. Gardeners who should be nurturing life and respecting life shouldn't be taking this bigoted view."

Look Andrew, if you and your mates over at the RSPCA want to hug bunnies that's fine by me. But please leave the rest of us who live in the real world to deal with the vermin and pests attacking our farms, out gardens and, in the case of squirrels, our electric wires. And, when we've killed the squirrels cook and eat them.

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Sheep stunt and RSPCA idiocy

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It may be a daft stunt to wheel a sheep into a supermarket but that is nothing compared to the stupidity of this official comment:

"We have tracked down the sheep's owner but we can't return it to its flock for six days because of restrictions on the movement of livestock."

Now I don't like the RSPCA but this kind of comment reveals the utter lunacy of our livestock regulations. Presumably the sheep is camped out in ASDA if it can't be moved?

Idiots