This beautiful dog has been living like this for at least a month in Accrington, Lancashire. The local RSPCA have refused to help. Others are now involved, which I cant mention here so hopefully he will be rescued soon. For those who can't see the dog for the rubbish, he's in the left hand middle side, lying on the blue tarp.

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/...psf6108901.jpg

I hate this RSPCA bashng that goes on. Can you tell us why the RSPCA refused to help? Often the RSPCA tries to work with the owners to get the conditions upto standard, despite people's ideals they don't, and can't, just march in an take an animal unless it is in a near death state. Animals are still seen as property in the law and its very difficult to cease them. I agree the conditions look awful, but if they are that bad why are you taking pictures and not going in yourself! If I was concerned about a dog enough I'd be over the wall getting him myself.

I am no advocate on the RSPCA red tape and policies but I will stand up for the branches, the people on the ground do as much as their company will let them, and they have limited funds.

Almost all of the RSPCA-bashing that goes on seems to emanate from fox-hunting fans who think that discrediting to organisation will help them to resume their primitive bloodlust.

Looking at the picture tells me that the yard is in a disgusting state. The dog, so far as one can see, doesn't look to be in bad condition although a closer shot might tell otherwise. I wonder if this picture was taken from the OP's window? If so, it might be that she's trying to involve the RSPCA as a tactic in a dispute with her neighbour regarding the yard; it's certainly nothing I'd like to look out upon and it probably smells too. Whatever, I'm pretty sure there's more going on behind this post than meets the eye.

Most of the bashing I see actually comes from animal lovers who have had dealings with the RSPCA at some point. Having been told to put a stray dog back where we picked it up as they did/could not deal with it (motor way hard shoulder) we realised they had lost their way badly. A year later we rang about a duck that was obviously starving as it's bill was taped and it couldn't eat and being told someone would try to get out to it, only to see that duck fade over the further week and die with no one prepared to even come and see it rather cemented that thought in my mind.

I am anti hunting BTW

I'm not a fan of fox hunting. I have no agenda against the rspca. The photo comes from a facebook post linked to a rescue site where the photo taker has appealed for help to save this dog.

I have however had personal experience of trying to get the rspca and other authorities to help in the past and just get passed from rspca to council to environmental health and back again. For example a neighbour who keeps 6 cats and a dog in her dirty smelly flat and believes its ok for the cats to spend 23 hrs a day living in small cat carriers. the rspca said that because she feeds them there is nothing they can do.

I don't know exactly why they've refused to help with the dog but the fact that he's been fed regularly is probably why. But there are numerous items he could hurt himself on in that yard.

there are hundreds of small independent rescues in this country who take dogs off the rspca's hands every day to prevent them from being put to sleep. then they can end up spending thousands on vets bills which the rspca could and should contribute to.

incidentally i believe there would be a lot less bad feeling towards the rspca if they didn't spend thousands on high profile ad campaigns where they make out that they are some sort of emergency service.

That is so sad. That poor dog. I hope someone comes to help it soon, and it gets a good home.

Working in the veterinary industry, and having many futile attempts to get the RSPCA to anything of use, combined with being very anti the dangerous dogs act and and any form of breed specific legislation, I find them, for the most part, dispicable. The memories of their part in 1991, ripping dogs from families to basically murder them haunts me to this day.

the dog probably isn't skinny because its obviously being fed every day, as evidenced by the hundreds of empty dog food cans, but i'll bet its not getting any exercise. also where are the toys and treats and love that all dogs need? so sad. if i was the neighbour i would be over that wall and would take the dog and sod the consequences.

I hate seeing things like this Hopefully the rescue will get the dog removed ASAP.

I'm not a massive fan of the RSPCA, they havent been very helpful to me in the past yet I still donate monthly as I hear of good things they do. Maybe I'm wrong, i dont know.

The RSPCA (in Australia, England and Wales) never fails to disgust me. They are a bunch of money pinching hypocrites. They turn a blind eye to the extreme cruelty in Greyhound and horse racing. They never target the huge problem of over breeding within those ‘sports’ or address the fact that they fund horrific experimentation programs. They only have jurisdiction in England and Wales. The main animal welfare charity in Scotland is the Scottish SPCA. The two organisations are completely unrelated. The latter has a strict no-kill policy. Whereas (as you already know) the RSPCA murders thousands of perfectly healthy animals every single year. They even kill dogs with captive bolt guns! The RSPCA also claims that it never advertises out of England and Wales. However, their adverts can be seen on national television, all over the web, in national magazines/newspapers, and their merchandise can be found in a number of Scottish stores. They never make it clear that they do not help animals in Scotland. This has resulted in Scottish people (unknowingly) donating money to them. The average annual donations they receive from Scotland could run the Scottish SPCA’s Glasgow centre for a year. To contrast; the Scottish SPCA NEVER advertises out of Scotland. Its adverts are confined to regional television/radio stations, Scottish newspapers, and leaflets/letters distributed to Scottish addresses. Unlike the RSPCA, the SSPCA do not waste money on big advertising campaigns and extortionate salaries for those higher up the chain. They make each and every penny they receive go as far as possible to actually help animals. The RSPCA has also been known to reduce kennel space while ‘upgrading’ facilities. Additionally, they like to kid on that they have great powers, but the reality is they have none. They can only search and seize with the assistance of the police. Unlike the SSPCA which is a specialist reporting agency to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Their inspectors can enter a property and carry out a search and seizure by themselves. The RSPCA has nothing on the SSPCA!

I do hope the other organisations can help this poor dog. He is living in squalid conditions (if the back yard is anything to go by, then it is safe to assume the house inside won't be any better). The dog looks very overweight and that is itself a welfare issue. The fact that this has been ongoing for at least a month means the owner hasn't been taking any notice of the RSPCA (if they have indeed been 'advising') and they won't do anything until it's too late. We should perhaps send the photo to national newspapers and TV news programmes. The RSPCA might do something then. Just look at all those poor horses, ponies, and donkeys at Spindles Farm. The RSPCA had been notified about them on several occasions and did nothing. It wasn't until the media started sniffing around that they actually did something. It's not just the RSPCA that wait until it's too late. I was left fuming after an episode of Animal Cops: Houston. Investigators had repeatedly warned a horse ranch about its treatment of some of the horses (especially a very laminitic Arabian). It wasn't until at least one of the horse's pedal bones had pierced the frog of one his/her hooves. They removed the horse then only to put the poor horse to sleep.

Take a look at the closure of the Red Lion abattoir. It was forced to shut after it breached a number of welfare guidelines. It failed to kill horses in a competent manner and also killed several ponies in full view of each other. Now look at the RSPCA. It unloaded more than 40 sheep into an inappropriate inhumane make shift pen at Ramsgate just before they were due to be shipped to the continent for slaughter. Some of the sheep were showing signs of being lame. They declared them unfit to travel, but instead of finding them homes and getting them veterinary treatment (according to vets lameness in sheep is fairly easy to treat), they shot them with a captive bolt gun. This was not done out of sight of the other sheep. They killed them in the same pen. They released a photo of the dead sheep and announced that this was the horror of live transport. What they failed to mention is that it was they themselves who killed the sheep. The photo also showed the sheep covered in blood and blood spatter on the surrounding walls. There should have been no blood if they had been shot correctly. They have remained tight lipped as to why they did this and no action has been taken against them for their gross incompetence. This is what they did to those sheep. WARNING: Very graphic photo.

I truly abhor the RSPCA.

The RSPCA are rubbish.
They say as long as the animal is:

1. Freedom from Hunger and Thirst

2. Freedom from Discomfort

3. Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease

4. Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour

5. Freedom from Fear and Distress

Then they won't bother doing anything.
From the look at the picture the dog most definitely needs to be rescued.

Thats the LAW not the RSPCA's decision, no charity, organisation or individual can do anything about an animal that is being kept to those minimal standards. This is where people get all upitty and blame the rspca, when its not their fault, its the legislation in the UK to blame, if the laws were better then the RSPCA could cease more animals. But then you have the question of what to do with them, as GG said above they shot a load of sheep rather than rehoming them, but you've got to consider the other side of it - they were not fit to travel, so firstly how would they get them to medical attention, then they'd have to rehab them, meaning many hours/days/weeks/months of isolation, treatment and general poor welfare, then there is no guarantee of success, lameness in sheep is reoccurring and difficult to treat, especially when it gets to that state. Then you have the issue of where to house the well sheep? does the RSPCA have facilities for such a large amount of sheep for long term boarding? Who pays for the food, staff, facilities, veterinary care, worming etc? Where do they rehouse them to? Who rehouses non-socialised sheep? What farmer will want sheep that have lameness? none.

Its all very well to shout at the RSPCA or other charities for doing a bad job, but no-one ever looks at the difficult decisions they have to make. Yes they PTS many dogs/cats with behavioural problems, so do blue cross and many other charities, why? because there are so many dogs that need a home, those with severe behavioural problems cannot be safely rehomed and face a stressful life in a kennel - how is that kind? its not. Places like dogs trust can say they never put a healthy dog down, because they pick and chose who they take in, those that don't meet thier criteria are either refused or passed onto other rescues quick (where they may well be pts).

I have to agree with Yorkie gal about the advertising, yes an awful lot of funds go into it, but it also brings in many more donations, without it, funds would dry up. ALOT of funds go into legal issues, and don't reach the ground sadly, which is one of the major issues, they need to have more inspectors, more facilities and more welfare officers.

Why are there so many negative stories? Because they are the biggest organisation out there, they are the first ones called by everyone whenever there is an animal in trouble, and they simply cannot help everyone.

How is it then that the Scottish SPCA (that does not have huge advertising campaigns, that does not take donations from the rest of the UK, and that does not rely on media publicity) can afford NOT to kill healthy animals? As for behavioural problems in dogs. A great many of them can be rehabilitated. Cesar Millan has been campaigning relentlessly for American shelters to stop killing healthy animals. I do not want to pounced upon by Millan haters because he proves time after time that there is no need to kill them. Far too many behaviourists and trainers who only ever use positive reinforcement would rather see a dog dead than to try other methods. Victoria Stilwell is a prime example of this.

As for the sheep. Did they even bother to try and look for homes or seek vet treatment for them? No - they did not. They could have transported them (in smaller loads) to the nearest farm/smallholding/appropriate vet clinic and had them treated. A lot of sanctuaries take in farm animals and some of them could have taken the sheep. But, no, the RSPCA did not want any outside help and took the easiest most cost effective option. They also lied about the photo. They are a disgrace!

I hate that they put animals with behavioural problems down. Some can be sorted out in time. My cat came from the RSPCA and she had major behavioural issues, she would lash out, hiss, growl, attack for no reason, she nearly took my eye out once, I have scars from where she took swipes at my hands, legs and feet. She was in fact quite vicious and on top of that she was Feral(and I remember having feral cats in the garden when I was a child and they were nothing like she was). With a bit of love and lots and lots of patience she is now a completely different cat. In those first few years though she really wasn't very nice.. I hate to think what would happen if she was like she was then and there now.

Not just dogs with behavioural problems my friend lost her little westie on a walk, huge efforts put into finding him, RSPCA informed etc. She got a call from a neighbour who was visiting the local branch and swore she saw him in the kennels so off we went to see. Sure enough tiggy was in their care. She identified him, they agreed he was hers but wanted a fee so she went to the bank, took us 30 minutes tops to get to the bank and back with cash in our hands only to find they had killed him while we were gone. He was not just well trained but a hearing dog for the deaf dog. No good reason to kill him at all.

Funny that, because I know plenty of people who find fox-hunting abhorrent (myself included) who have issues with the RSPCA and how they go about their business.

And year on year they make money - more and more money. Hmmm perhaps time they admitted they are unable to help and handed over to another organisation to do the work IMO

Firstly gg of you want your posts taken seriously you need to back up your claims and 'knowledge' with more than Internet research. The moment you try to use Milan to prove your point you've lost.

The reason RSPCA and MANY other rescues don't rehome severe behavioural problem animals is obivous. Firstly the chance of them being rehomed is slim, secondly the risks of renaming an animal with issues that are likely to cause injury are too high. Ellie, it's great that you've taken on a behavioural issue animal, but she injured you, what if that had been a child, or if you'd lost your eye, what if it had been a gsd that lashed out or any big breed? Yes they could try to rehome to a family with no children, but no one can guarantee that an animal will not come into contact with a child, be it a visitor, a passerby etc. who do you think would be blamed if that happened? The RSPCA for rehoming it.

Then there's the welfare of the dog and any other animals it comes into contact with, mollie what if I told you the bull mastiff you fear was a RSPCA rehomed animal, rehomed with known dog aggression, would that make you less fearful of him? Would that be ok? No.

Gg- how do you know the RSPCA didn't consider rehoming those sheep, how do you know the vet on site didn't agree that euanasia is best? You don't. You pick up on Internet outrage and run with it, without any background information, and thus provide an option with no depth.

The RSPCA get a lot of red tape wrong, but I repeat, the people on the ground, are largely in it for the love of animals, and they are the ones you bash when you attack the RSPCA.

the rspca has now agreed to get involved, no doubt after being bombarded with phone calls all day. lets hope they don't just settle for having the owner clean up the yard and instead manage to get them to agree to give their dog up.

One of the most ridiculous generalisations I have ever read on these forums.

If you are a regular reader/contributor to this pets forum, you would know there has been plenty of perfectly constructive criticism of the RSPCA
by genuine animal lovers with no agenda on fox hunting whatsoever.

Perhaps best stick to politics and showbiz threads.

some more info about this poor dog. The owner is apparantly a dangerous person, the house covered by cctv and the dog kept as a status dog. Not safe for any member of the public to go in and rescue it.
Thanks to sterling work by some experienced dog rescue charity staff, who contacted their local mp's, who in turn persuaded the rspca to get out there and treat it as an urgent case tonight.

Hopefully the dog will be safe and sound soon if not already.

Please keep us updated. Would love to hear good news about the dog.

Unfortunately, if the dog is indeed kept as a 'status dog', there is a good chance he will be deemed 'dangerous' and killed. Not exactly the news I wanted to hear.

So, all the information I have learned is useless because I learned most of it online? But, if I had learned the exact same things in a classroom, then I would have more credibility? You might as well say that sitting in a classroom reading textbooks is useless as well because textbooks are usually compiled by experts in the exact same way that the information I have read on the internet is compiled by experts too.

As for the RSPCA. Former veterinary advisers to the RSPCA have spoken out AGAINST their actions and have said that lameness in sheep is fairly straight forward to treat! Look at what they did when a man died leaving behind ten German Shepherds. Instead of contacting breed rescues or bringing in behaviourists to evaluate the dogs, they shot them with a captive bolt gun! This quite rightly sparked an outrage. As for the truth behind the sheep. Why are you not condemning the RSPCA for lying about the photo? You know - kidding on it was live transport that killed them instead of themselves!

As for me 'losing' for mentioning Cesar Millan. The man has (like it or not) PROVEN that is possible to rehabilitate dogs that others have given up on. As for the so-called cruelty. I have yet to see any evidence of it. If there was any, his show would have ended long ago, and he would have been prosecuted for cruelty. However, The Dog Whisperer ran for more than 100 episodes and he has a new show called Cesar Millan's Leader of the Pack. Additionally people aren't killed for having behavioural problems, but it's perfectly okay to kill 'inferior' dogs? Do orphanages kill badly behaved kids for fear of them causing problems in a home? Heck no! I am sick of humans that think dogs should die because of behavioural problems. Even ex-fighting American Pit Bull Terriers are being rehabilitated successfully. Just look at Michael Vick's dogs. Most of his 50+ dogs were successfully rehabbed! A lot of them went onto be pets and therapy dogs!

If you want to harass somebody, go over to that horrendous dead dog thread, and let loose there!

A boxer rescue has already made it clear to the rspca that they are happy to take this boy on. I would imagine though that it depends on whether the owners contest any decision to remove him from their home.