RSPCA

I have been watching a programme about the fantastic work done by the RSPCA. Except that the work wasn't fantastic.

A woman rang the RSPCA because she had been left in charge of her son's brand new puppy. The puppy was sick and when the officer went to see it turned out that the puppy was far too young to be away from its mother. After a discussion in which the RSPCA woman tried to point out that the puppy would die without medical attention, she left, but was called back a bit later and took the pup to a vet. So far so understandable.

They looked for the puppy's mother and discovered the address of the seller's flat from the guy who had bought the puppy. The bitch and her puppies were in an otherwise abandoned flat with no furniture, on a council estate. They were thin and the mother was extremely protective. The RSPCA had to get the police to come and break into the flat which was in a disgusting state.

However - the dog and her puppies looked like pitbull type dogs. If this was proven that they were pitbulls then they would be illegal.

The tests were done.

They were pitbulls.

They were put down.

So they were rescued then killed.

What was the point? Surely there was another way? Couldn't they have found someone with a licence (I understand that some people have licences to own pitbull type dogs) to have the dogs?

It seems unnecessarily cruel to rescue these dogs who came to them with such hope and trust of being saved from a terrible fate (dog fights or being kept for breeding then just dumped) only to be killed by their rescuers.

The expression on the bitch's face as she decided to trust the RSPCA inspector who carried her pups out of the excrement filled flat, only to have them end her life like that for being the wrong type of dog. Its wrong.

I haven't been in favour of the RSPCA since they lied last summer - they said our dog was in a hot metal car when he was in a cool glass fibre motorcaravan, and that the temperature in the car was too high when they hadn't actually even taken it...

So what with the poor pitbull family and their lying about Chip last summer, I for one am not going to be supporting their charity shops or stalls, nor buying their Christmas cards. It isn't much of a protest, but it is a start.