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The RSPCA are sickening
14 years ago
As you know, I take on rescue rats.
Most of the rats I take on are referred to me from the RSPCA (for non-brits, thats the biggest animal welfare charity in the UK, our pathetic version of the Humane Society, I guess).
They began sending me rats after I agreed to take on one little girl, 8 years ago, after she was dumped with a tumour. The RSPCA were going to euthanize her, as they did to most rats that came to them as they didn't have the facilities to care for them. Luckily, I was at work there on that day, and I took her home.
Since then, they've sent me all rats they have come to them, and referred all calls about rescue rats to me.
I've been doing this work for them for 8 years now.
I had never asked for any help with funding in all that time.
A few months ago, I emailed the manager of my branch to ask if there was any possibility of getting financial help, even if it were just for vet's bills, which are arguably the biggest expense.
The manager was a lovely guy, and said he fully agreed I deserved some money, as I was essentially doing the work they didn't want to do.
He admitted that the RSPCA often overlooks small furries and it wasn't fair. He said that if it were up to him, he'd agree for me to get funding. But he needed to get clearance from the trustees.
The trustee meeting was a few weeks back, so today I emailed to ask how it had gone and where we stood on funding.
His response came via telephone, as he said he didn't want to email me some of the things he wanted to say.
Basically, the trustees had refused my request for help.
Thats fine, I can live with that. I have coped so far, I can continue to cope. I never actually expected to get funding realistically, I was just trying my luck, so I hadn't lost anything.
But it was their reasoning for not giving me funding that has me fuming.
They said, and this was quoted to me from the manager: 'we have enough on our plates with dogs and cats, rats just aren't important.'
I am not paraphrasing; this is what was said.
The RSPCA stands for the Royal Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Animals.
Not dogs and cats.
All the RSPCA campaigns show them helping any and all species, including small furries, but in reality, they clearly don't give a shit. I am frankly disgusted that the biggest animal welfare organisation in the UK, famous the world over, has openly admitted they don't place rats as important.
They bullshit the public in their campaigns, making out like they are there for all animals, when clearly from the horses mouth, anything that isn't a dog or cat isn't considered important by them.
The manager told me that he and a couple of other trustees in the meeting were appalled and tried to fight my case, but they would not agree to any funding going toward helping rats.
They're just not important.
If I did not take these rats on, they would be dumped on the RSPCA's doorstep.
Even if they then simply euthanized them, I am saving them the expense of that, at the very least. I am spending hundreds of pounds out of my own pocket to care for animals that they would otherwise have to be dealing with, and they're not prepared to even toss me a bone now and then to help me out.
I always knew the RSPCA were shit when it came to anything that wasn't a dog or cat, but hearing that come out of the mouths of the people who work there has sickened me.
Its bad enough when joe public says 'its just a rat', but when the country's leading animal welfare organisation says it, you feel totally and utterly alone.
The RSPCA is not short on funds.
3 of their MP trustees have been done for fiddling expenses...one has just been convicted.
I looked at the RSPCA accounts (as a charity they are freely available). They have so much money you wouldnt believe it - trillions! Investments all over the place; that is where people's donations go: investments.
Also there are a considerable amount of people that work for them who earn 80k or over a year.
Their intake in 2008 was £120 million.
Everyone I know has an RSPCA horror story of them refusing to come out to help animals.
They refused to send someone out to rescue a baby seal that had gotten stranded on the beach that my boyfriend discovered on a night walk.
They refused to come out to collect a stray puppy that followed me home one night, telling me I had to board it at my house instead.
They refused to come out to help a muntjac deer that had been hit by a car, saying it 'wasn't their responsibility'.
They refused to send someone out to rescue Fry, my past rat who had been released into the wild and was living in the garden of an abandoned house. I had to travel up on train, go into the house on my own with people I didn't know, put myself at huge risk, and capture him myself. The RSPCA center was 5 minutes down the road from where Fry was.
These are just the stories I know from my friends. Everyone has at least one story of where the RSPCA have failed them.
An elderly man left them a lump of money in his will, and asked them to take care of his dog when he died.
The dog was 15, had cataracts, and was overweight, but was otherwise a healthy old dog. He would have made some elderly person a lovely companion.
The RSPCA euthanised the dog the day the man died.
They regularly euthanise black cats as they are not 'rehomable'.
When I worked at the vets, they would point blank ignore any numbers I sent them for no-kill cat sanctuaries to take on the strays we had come in that they wanted to kill.
The RSPCA sell themselves as a 'no kill' rescue.
This is bullshit.
They are useless, and the worst part is that people still donate to them because they're completely suckered in by their ad campaigns that make out like they're some compassionate, noble organisation who help any and all animals. If the general public really knew how much money they have, and how they routinely pass animals off to smaller rescues to deal with, and how they kill a lot of the animals who come in, they would not donate.
They even have rats on their literature and ad leaflets. They have just admitted to me they don't consider rats important. It is the smaller, home run rescues like myself that save these animals, NOT the RSPCA.
But guess who gets the credit, recognition and donations?
Certainly not us.
My vet's bills today were £97. Thats a weeks wages for me.
The RSPCA will not help me because they are 'just rats' and taking a little from the 120 million pound nest egg would just be far too much trouble.
Yes, Im pissed.
Most of the rats I take on are referred to me from the RSPCA (for non-brits, thats the biggest animal welfare charity in the UK, our pathetic version of the Humane Society, I guess).
They began sending me rats after I agreed to take on one little girl, 8 years ago, after she was dumped with a tumour. The RSPCA were going to euthanize her, as they did to most rats that came to them as they didn't have the facilities to care for them. Luckily, I was at work there on that day, and I took her home.
Since then, they've sent me all rats they have come to them, and referred all calls about rescue rats to me.
I've been doing this work for them for 8 years now.
I had never asked for any help with funding in all that time.
A few months ago, I emailed the manager of my branch to ask if there was any possibility of getting financial help, even if it were just for vet's bills, which are arguably the biggest expense.
The manager was a lovely guy, and said he fully agreed I deserved some money, as I was essentially doing the work they didn't want to do.
He admitted that the RSPCA often overlooks small furries and it wasn't fair. He said that if it were up to him, he'd agree for me to get funding. But he needed to get clearance from the trustees.
The trustee meeting was a few weeks back, so today I emailed to ask how it had gone and where we stood on funding.
His response came via telephone, as he said he didn't want to email me some of the things he wanted to say.
Basically, the trustees had refused my request for help.
Thats fine, I can live with that. I have coped so far, I can continue to cope. I never actually expected to get funding realistically, I was just trying my luck, so I hadn't lost anything.
But it was their reasoning for not giving me funding that has me fuming.
They said, and this was quoted to me from the manager: 'we have enough on our plates with dogs and cats, rats just aren't important.'
I am not paraphrasing; this is what was said.
The RSPCA stands for the Royal Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Animals.
Not dogs and cats.
All the RSPCA campaigns show them helping any and all species, including small furries, but in reality, they clearly don't give a shit. I am frankly disgusted that the biggest animal welfare organisation in the UK, famous the world over, has openly admitted they don't place rats as important.
They bullshit the public in their campaigns, making out like they are there for all animals, when clearly from the horses mouth, anything that isn't a dog or cat isn't considered important by them.
The manager told me that he and a couple of other trustees in the meeting were appalled and tried to fight my case, but they would not agree to any funding going toward helping rats.
They're just not important.
If I did not take these rats on, they would be dumped on the RSPCA's doorstep.
Even if they then simply euthanized them, I am saving them the expense of that, at the very least. I am spending hundreds of pounds out of my own pocket to care for animals that they would otherwise have to be dealing with, and they're not prepared to even toss me a bone now and then to help me out.
I always knew the RSPCA were shit when it came to anything that wasn't a dog or cat, but hearing that come out of the mouths of the people who work there has sickened me.
Its bad enough when joe public says 'its just a rat', but when the country's leading animal welfare organisation says it, you feel totally and utterly alone.
The RSPCA is not short on funds.
3 of their MP trustees have been done for fiddling expenses...one has just been convicted.
I looked at the RSPCA accounts (as a charity they are freely available). They have so much money you wouldnt believe it - trillions! Investments all over the place; that is where people's donations go: investments.
Also there are a considerable amount of people that work for them who earn 80k or over a year.
Their intake in 2008 was £120 million.
Everyone I know has an RSPCA horror story of them refusing to come out to help animals.
They refused to send someone out to rescue a baby seal that had gotten stranded on the beach that my boyfriend discovered on a night walk.
They refused to come out to collect a stray puppy that followed me home one night, telling me I had to board it at my house instead.
They refused to come out to help a muntjac deer that had been hit by a car, saying it 'wasn't their responsibility'.
They refused to send someone out to rescue Fry, my past rat who had been released into the wild and was living in the garden of an abandoned house. I had to travel up on train, go into the house on my own with people I didn't know, put myself at huge risk, and capture him myself. The RSPCA center was 5 minutes down the road from where Fry was.
These are just the stories I know from my friends. Everyone has at least one story of where the RSPCA have failed them.
An elderly man left them a lump of money in his will, and asked them to take care of his dog when he died.
The dog was 15, had cataracts, and was overweight, but was otherwise a healthy old dog. He would have made some elderly person a lovely companion.
The RSPCA euthanised the dog the day the man died.
They regularly euthanise black cats as they are not 'rehomable'.
When I worked at the vets, they would point blank ignore any numbers I sent them for no-kill cat sanctuaries to take on the strays we had come in that they wanted to kill.
The RSPCA sell themselves as a 'no kill' rescue.
This is bullshit.
They are useless, and the worst part is that people still donate to them because they're completely suckered in by their ad campaigns that make out like they're some compassionate, noble organisation who help any and all animals. If the general public really knew how much money they have, and how they routinely pass animals off to smaller rescues to deal with, and how they kill a lot of the animals who come in, they would not donate.
They even have rats on their literature and ad leaflets. They have just admitted to me they don't consider rats important. It is the smaller, home run rescues like myself that save these animals, NOT the RSPCA.
But guess who gets the credit, recognition and donations?
Certainly not us.
My vet's bills today were £97. Thats a weeks wages for me.
The RSPCA will not help me because they are 'just rats' and taking a little from the 120 million pound nest egg would just be far too much trouble.
Yes, Im pissed.
In fact, sometimes, it even sucks to be a dog or a cat when the RSPCA are involved!
Is there anyway you can generate some extra funds? Like an artist raffle? I'd be willing to donate some animated icon slots...
Currently, I manage to get by. I do a few commissions here and there and all that money goes to caring for the rats. But I'll bear it in mind!
Really, Im not so much annoyed by their refusing me funding, more at their attitude toward rats. They could have easily just said 'we're so short on funds right now that we just don't have any extra to give out'.
It would be a lie, but y'know, at least they'd have shown that they try to appear compassionate. But out and out saying 'rats don't matter' and having the majority of the trustees agree with it is just.......beyond words.
I still can't believe that the RSPCA would be that heartless.
I'd suggest going to the papers, I had no idea that they were pulling that kind of shit. I certainly will not be donating to them in future, they're meant to help animals not invest money.
I have written a letter to headquarters, telling them about the attitude displayed by their trustees toward non-canine/feline species, and sent it to The Chief Executive Officer, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer, the Treasurer, the Deputy Treasurer, Three people who answer questions to the media for the RSPCA and the guy in charge of promoting the RSPCA.
Also sent it to an MP who is a trustee.
You send a letter to one guy, he can easily ignore it.
You send it to everyone, he will start to get scared because information he doesn't necessarily want getting out will be sent to a lot of people.
I will see where I go with this, and then possibly contact the media after.
Good luck with that, hopefully they'll kick out the people who have such a callous attitude towards certain animals.
Especially since everyone I know who keeps rats says they're lovely friendly animals to have as companions.
I've contacted them before due to the fact that they show programmes like 'a life of grime' and 'filth fighters' which are about exterminators and cleaning up dirty cities.
This shows regularly show rats being abused, killed and tortured. I've seen one episode where a rat was repeatedly hit with a block of wood until it died, another where someone was taking pot shots at rats with a gun, and several other situations where rat abuse is shown as perfectly normal and acceptable.
I emailed them to complain, saying that if this were a puppy instead of a rat, you'd NEVER be allowed to show it being beaten to death with a plank of wood in an early evening tv slot.
Their response to me was basically the same as the RSPCA's; its a rat, it isn't a puppy, its different, it has to be done'.
Well, whether or not wild rats 'need' exterminating is a whole debate in and of itself.
But even if they DO, it does not have to be shown, or glorified, and it should be done quickly and humanely.
I think the BBC would just laugh me away as much as the RSPCA seem to be doing. Im guessing channel 4 might be more sympathetic, however, as they tend to be more based in reality and not sensationalism, and they've shown a couple of rat positive tv shows recently.
The dog was 15, had cataracts, and was overweight, but was otherwise a healthy old dog. He would have made some elderly person a lovely companion.
The RSPCA euthanised the dog the day the man died."
WHAAAAT.
Augh that is terrible.
And people can be so stupid when it comes to black cats. I've had several black cats and I'm still alive. It's like omg get over that shit, it's nothing but GENETICS.
Here, the dislike of black cats is more down to the fact that they all look the same, so people find them boring. People much prefer to home a cat with unique markings, or fancy colours, and pure black cats are constantly ignored because they're not 'interesting' looking.
Personally, I love them. When I rescue a cat, which will be soon, I'll probably seek out a black one specifically.
I have a tuxedo cat, they're really cute imo. Mine's mostly black heh.
I hope someone is brave enough to give you the ammo you need.
its sickening beyond sickening, and very sad to see they have so much money yet they hardly put any of it into the ANIMALS. :C
and yanno i love black cats :c here they have the lowest adoption rate and highest kill rate. because of this 2 of our 8 kitty cats are black, and they are the sweetest things <3 it makes me sad to see them treated like nothing in shelters and by others. :c
the same goes for rats..when my two got sick to the point i had to put them down as they were suffering we could not find one vet office who would put them down for us...one vet office even went so far as to say "well you could always go get some rat poison."
i was horrified at this and disgusted. ;c we finally manged to find only 2 vet clinics who would do it, one was wanting 150$ CAD for EACH rat ontop of a 60$ exam fee, but luckily the other only charged 35$ for the one, becuase by the time we had found them my first had died gasping (i felt awful....), but we had to drive out a good hour or so into farm country to do it...but the vet was so sweet and kind it was worth the drive to have him put down in peace and treated with respect.
I wont even use rat poison on wild rats, that stuff is a hidious way for any animal to have to die "even a rat"
i cant believe someone from a vet office said that either! i would have drove my ass over there and flipped a shit.
Holy fuck
As for the black cats, I LOVE black cats, my first cat was a black cat and my girl Wijit it predominantly black as well and killing them becasue they are boring WTF!? I have no words.
i'm so appalled. i personally don't think over here is any better either. all those things you listed at the bottom, is exactly what they wont do here.. i try to help when i can and i dont exactly have a lot of faith in the human society here either. i donate to local groups and this zoo that does seem to struggle, but they really do care and dont mind me bringing in hurt wild animals to them to deal with because no one else will.
i got so angry reading this.
on a slightly off topic post, i dont know whether or not you saw this but this went up not to long ago in one of the states here. its horrible.
http://udistrict.komonews.com/news/.....ampaign/633216
what upsets me is that they are using an animal that doesn't have a chance in compared to the girl. most people would look at that and not give a second thought about that rat at all. now, if they used a rabbit, monkey or beagle that are also very common lab animals, most people might give it another thought and it would provoke more reaction. rats and mice dont have a chance. that being said, its not that i would choose a rat/dog/rabbit/etc over the little girl, but you get what i mean right? i am not so good at explaining things.
and the truth is.. most animals suffer horrifically from animal testing, and i think most animals in animal testing are for cosmetic purposes. correct me if im wrong though, i haven't done my research in awhile. many, if not most animal testing these days i think are completely unnecessary. and now that we are growing meat and body parts in freakin jars? maybe one day we can use that knowledge for testing instead of using straight up animals. but this is me talking out my ass now.
And while we can now grow certain things now, research into improving such things has been severely limited in the united states. Thats why most places who can grow flesh and body parts are in other countries. Because of the conservatives crying 'playing god', stem cell research has been all but stopped in the US except in only a couple of severely restricted labs.
That being said, testing on tissue that isnt necessarily 'alive' cannot provide the same kind of data that can be gained by a real living animal. Were a very long way off from being able to stop using animal testing in the world.
As for the billboard... Considering the pressure these research institutes come under by insane animal welfare people like PETA (Seriously, PETA is horrible. Look up on how many animals they actually rescue and rehome, and how much they spend on advertising and euthanasia), you cant blame them for needing to do something more drastic for support.
we're going to have to agree to disagree here, because even though they are plagued with psychos, they're using it in a way that just adds onto the stigma rats have. small animals, not just rats, already have it bad. its not so much direct, but extremely one sided.
i'm obviously horrible at sort of debating but i think a lot of people here(despite that its a rat community soo.. yeah we like to favor rats), but some people have bought up points from each side a hell of a lot better than i can ever hope to explain.
http://ratties.livejournal.com/7970235.html
And dont get me wrong, I love rats. Ive owned rats since I was very small. Its only in the last three years that I havent had a rat. My last little girl died of old age in her sleep three years ago, and I had five cats and two ferrets at the time and just didnt think getting another little guy was a good idea and I felt bad that I couldnt give my little girl as much attention as I wanted to because of it. So I havent had a rat since her.
And when people think "lab animal' they think of a rat or a mouse. Its nothing against them, its just the common knowledge of a 'lab rat'. I think thats the only real reason they used a rat on the billboard instead of another type of common lab animal when you think about it. You have to look at the masses and what the masses will recognize. Not just the informed people who know that other types of animals are used in testing. :3
At the same time, animals like rats are not the same as a human. Drugs don't work the same way on them all too often.
Morphine is a painkiller and sleep inducer in humans, to cat's? It's hyper juice or so I hear.
Chocolate, and onions which humans eat are toxic to dogs.
And many things like essential oils and self cleaning ovens are toxic to both birds and cats.
They can culture human cells in a lab now, there is little reason to use animals for testing, human cells are closer and give more information.
Rats are so different to us, physically. They don't have a gall bladder, we do. They can't vomit, we can.
Animals don't get certain illnesses that humans get, so they have to be artificially 'created' in that animal in a laboratory in order to test on it.
Parkinsons was artificially put into monkeys so they could test drugs on it, because monkeys don't get parkinsons. Seems absolutely ridiculous, and I can't see how it can be beneficial if you had to create the disease in the first place.
Much as I love animals, I grudgingly admitted that they had to be used in tests.
Now, however, I no longer believe any animal testing is necessary. There is so much evidence now that animal tests are not only unecessary, but that they're actually dangerous. I object to them on so many levels, only one of which is animal welfare. I object to them on the grounds of human welfare too, and on the grounds that they are holding back science.
So many people have died from using meds tested as 'safe' on one species, which then go on to cause mass suffering, death and deformity in humans. Animals are just too different to us. Rats can't vomit, we can. Rats don't have a gall bladder, we do. Arsenic causes no problems to sheep, but kills humans. Penicillin kills guinea pigs, but is safe for humans. Thalidomide was tested as safe in animals, but cause horrific deformities in newborns. Perhexeline caused no signs of liver damage in animals, but caused liver failure in humans, it was withdrawn. Fenclozic acid (and anti arthiritis med) proved perfectly safe in rats, mice, dogs and monkeys, but caused liver toxicity in humans, this was withdrawn too.
There are so many. These are just the ones I remember off the top of my head!
A General Accounting Office report, released in May 1990, found that more than half of the prescription drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration between 1976 and 1985 caused side effects that were serious enough to cause the drugs to be withdrawn from the market or relabeled. All of these drugs had been tested on animals.
To me, its crappy, outdated, innaccurate 'science', and of absolutely no benefit to us.
If I honestly thought using lab animals was the best way to help people, I'd grudgingly support it.
Its a stupid question, because for me, I'd rather see the rat live. If it were MY child vs a rat I'd never met, it'd be the child. If it were MY rat vs a child I'd never met, it'd be the rat.
Added to which, animal testing does not save human lives; it costs human lives. I wonder if they'll put up a bill board showing all the deaths and deformaties animal research has caused to humans?
The HSUS http://www.humanesociety.org/ I'm under the impression is similarly fucked up; does a ton of fund raising, enough that they could be spaying and neutering tons of critters and funding shelters and they sit on it or squander it or invests it or whatever. I think that they have an anti zoo, anti pet agenda or something. Animal rights instead of animal welfare.
Similarly and I'm sure everyone already knows, but PETA is goddamn awful.
I think that our ASPCAs vary by state and I'm under the impression in some states it's really good and some states it's horrible.
Much much better to support local and smaller groups that actually do good for animals in need.
Anyway, glad you posted this because it reminded me to do just that.
Thanks ever so much, by the way :)
Seems the only time the ASPCA does anything is when they have the camera crew following their ass to tape an episode of "Animal Cops" I respect the ASPCA, and I know full well how much is on their plate, hell, I'm at the dinner table right there with them!
But too many times they have not acted as expected
Lovely examples;
took 40 minutes to send an officer to the location of an EMERGANCY call where a man fed two cats to his dog. Nothing was done, they made the claim that there was nothing they could do. Less then 2 weeks later the dog was taken by PAC due to lack of vet care for infected and reopened scratches on the dogs face and neck.
there are a number of complaints about an officer with the ASPCA here in Illinois that neglects and abuses cats, he got alot of attention half a year ago when he strangled a cat to death with a pole-catch (the tool used to grab cats or dogs) during a half assed rescue. He is under investigation but as of now STILL works for the ASPCA!
Jessie's Pets was a pet store that failed to care for many small animals DAILY, customers calling about dead animals on display, cannibalism, and butter tubs of baby rats being left in the snake area, leaving blind newborns to starve to death. Many guinea pigs had tumours, and some of the rabbits had shown signs of high stress by ripping out patches of their own fur. Many rodents had wet-tail and were found with a genetic eye defect that was from inbreeding. Jessie's Pets also worked with a Missouri puppymill and had several small breed dogs, though one batch of rat terriers got alot of attention when one puppy was found with a major infection after somehow loosing his front paw and not recieving vet care. This puppy launched the ASPCA into action, though the store had several violations from much earlier. The ASPCA also only seized the cats, dogs, and a few parrots from the store, even though they had shut Jessie's Pets down for business. It was upto several volenteers and other small groups to take all the small and exotic animals in and give them the care they needed.
This was 12 years ago and just a fun fact, this event is where I got my dog, first foster ferret, and started caring for mice and rats.
sorry for the long post and the dash of a rant there
I cant believe they SAID that.
*disgusted*
Seriously tho, you're such an awesome person for caring for all your little guys/gals and being their advocate ;.;
As for funding, I would highly reccoment taking on a few commissions every now and then in the name of the Ratties.. maybe even making buttons/pins of your rattie art for sale to benefit the ratties.
I wonder if theres anyway you could declare yourself as a nonprofit charity or something? hm.
ANYWAY.. good luck and fight the good rat's fight! <3 <3 <3
But yes, all my commission money always goes to my rats. I've set up a new bank account now specifically for that purpose.
I did look into becoming a proper charity, but the requirements to become one are ridiculous!
You need to take in £1000 a year in donations before you can even begin to think about applying to be a registered charity, and then you need to have a board of trustees who basically make decisions on everything the chairty does. This is my understanding, anyway.
It doesn't sound beneficial to me, sadly. I'll probably never have £1000 to spare, and I don't like the idea of a board of other people making decisions for me :( Its weird though, makes me wonder how anyone ever gets to be a proper charity!
Human Society of the United States http://www.humanesociety.org/ I have heard some awful and frightening things about, and I would not give them money or the time of day.
But not to be confused with local humane societies, the quality of which seems to vary.
I feel sick when I think of people thinking this way, and some of the other horrible stories I've read in the comments.
I almost feel lucky to be in the area I'm in- we have several vets who care and are willing to work with rats for a reasonable price, we have a humane society branch that takes care of and re-homes abandoned rats, and we have several other independent rescues who foster and re-home rats.
I can never understand how people think so lowly of rats, especially when they come in contact with them as pets- I've never felt so attached to an animal like I have my rats. I've been broken up all day, and just keep thinking of how my little girl was pressed against me boggling and bruxing while we waited for the vet earlier today. I haven't been able to completely keep from crying. ... and then seeing that someone would be so cold hearted to say that these wonderful animals aren't as important as cats or dogs. ... those people need to go fuck themselves.
I said in your last journal that I wanted to donate some money to your cause when I get paid this week... and I both stand by this, and plan to do so. You're doing such a wonderful thing for those rats, and even if the RSPCA won't get off their fucking high horse and do anything to help you when they have piles of money to sit on... I'll give what I can, even if I don't have that much in the first place.
I hope you find a way to find the funding you truly need and deserve for all the hard work you put in.
I am shocked and disgusted.
As others have said, go to the media. People need to know about this.
Birds being all.
Small animals being EVERYTHING.
I would bring it to the public's eyes, and post on every RSPCA board there is. E-mail shelters and rescues their response to you.
the RSPCA is also part of the big SPCA scheme. You need to e-mail the SPCA (the general group) of their response, and go beyond that.
Oi. People.
As recent as a couple of days ago, I witnessed my neighbors shooting a jackdaw on the roof. I was horrified by this - I joyfully observe these little corvids daily and several pairs nest in the old, unused chimneys. They may not be an endangered species or even "gorgeous" birds, but hell, I like them, even if some people consider them pests.
My neighbors are two quite intimidating guys and now that I knew they were in possession of guns, I didn't dare to confront them.
It is illegal to kill any animal, wild or domestic, without being a certified hunter or an authorised vet.
The police wouldn't take me seriously, so I contacted the Danish equivalent to the RSPCA, asking for their help.
They replied with "unfortunately" not being able to help me and that "the death of one single bird isn't exactly going to harm the population".
I've had it with them. Not a SINGLE TIME have they shown significant support, not even during the introduction of our Dangerous Dog Act, which not only banned 13 dog breeds, but also deemed every single mutt unadoptable if a shelter was unable to prove (with a pedigree) that the dog wasn't of "banned blood". If the dog is a great dane, boxer or dobermann mix, it is automatically regarded a "pit bull". This has resulted in hundreds of deaths, including entire litters which were turned in to shelters. When vets stood up and refused to cull the healthy and adoptable pups, politicians ordered the police to do it instead.
Where were Dyrenes Beskyttelse (Protection of Animals, our RSPCA) during all this? Claiming they opposed the breed ban, but doing NOTHING, even though they - as an organisation - have more political influence than any other animal welfare group in the entire country! They didn't even encourage their thousands of members to demonstrate - this was something I and a few other animal welfare enthusiasts arranged. It was big enough to hit the newspapers, but not big enough to change the minds of politicians.
My full sympathy goes to you, Zig.
Go with this to the media, gain evey single grain of support you can. Find other people who have had similiar issues with the RSPCA. But (having dealt with a lot of incompetent politicians by now), here is my advice to you: Don't focus on that you believe rats are just as important as dogs/cats. I tried this with pit bulls and people did not take me seriously.
You need to focus on the hard facts, which is the only thing people seem to get. I started reading canine history, spoke with vets and even badgered the main police departments in every single region of the country until they revealed their bite statistics (which at that time revealed that dog bite incidents weren't a big problem in the first place. I recently contacted them again in order to see if the breed ban had caused any drop in bites, which it had not).
Your main issues should be this: The RSPCA gets a lot of money in and they claim to be saving all animals. Since they do not regard rats as important, they are falsely advertising themselves as an animal rescue organisation, when they in reality are only concerned about dogs and cats. To further point this out, DO mention that they euthanize the black cats for cosmetic reasons and what they did to the old man and his dog.
Show them as greedy as you have experienced them. Don't directly compare rats to dogs and cats, but DO mention that because they are suffering animals in need, it is RSPCA's obligation, so to speak, to help them out, regardless of their species.
Rats are intelligent and sensitive creatures. They are spectacular little pets. Because of these qualities alone, and not because of what qualities they apparently should share with dogs and cats to be regarded as important, do they deserve treatment.
You have been doing the RSPCA's job for 8 years. If the organisation can't even offer you a tiny compensation for all this, they are not an animal rescue organisation - they are an organisation that profits from providing the public with only the cutest, most popular pets, all guilt-free because they're not from some "big mean breeder".
If you can take the first step into digging this nasty stuff up, the RSPCA could be next "Pedigree Dogs Exposed".
Don't give up. I wish you the best of luck.