Love Mutts

http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/make-the-rspca-accountable-and-answerable-for-their-actions

The petition is to make the RSPCA accountable for their actions and lack of action in general, it is not really focused on their kill rates, as I said it was started due to lack of action in a case of horse neglect. The RSPCA annual reports have a good majority of information on their kill rates and surplus funds etc.

Do some specific research & you'll find you've over-generalised. You need to match your good intentions about a petition re RSPCA NSW, with accurate information on the nature of the problem. It's not just a case of 'too many dogs'.... it's degree of risk factors around their being bred, raised & homed. At lower risk for developing behaviour problems & being dumped, are those puppies bred & raised, with much thought & planning, by breeders who socialise their dogs well (in a more home-style setting, where their efforts are not commercial). This tends to fit registered breeders.... as UQ research actually sussed out. That same research showed that these people also tended to have better control over number of litters. Diva posted an excellent example of this. It's for that reason that RSPCA Qld.... in one of their newsletters, urged people buying puppies/dogs to go to breeders who socialise their dogs well....or to their own shelters or to responsible rescue groups. Higher risk dogs.... that is, those more likely to develop behaviour problems (like timidity or aggression)... tend to come from unregistered breeders like backyarders & the puppy factories. US research, not surprisingly, found that puppies homed from petshops are more likely to develop such problems. Because their source is not those that tend to socialise well.... but like backyarders & puppy factories. With a next possible pit-stop being dumped in pounds/shelters.... like the RSPCA run. So the dogs they finish up with, are slanted towards those who were born/bred/homed to be at higher risk. Which means that behavioral testing & rehabilitation are critical. As Aphra posted, some pounds respond by being innovative. So numbers, alone, do not tell the whole story. PLEASE, please give references so people can look things up and decide for themselves! Naming an institution is NOT a way to reference unless you're talking to an in group.

The pound in the ACT has a very low kill rate as well as the pound and the RSPCA work together along with rescue groups to ensure a low kill rate.

If you go to savingpets.com you will find all the stats you need from most pounds including that one. The issue is that when it was run by others the kill rate was much lower than run by the RSPCA. This is a pattern in most RSPCA run pounds. The RSPCA in the ACT have implemented most of the no kill strategies and their kill rate is much much lower than most. Yes the over population of pets is mostly a myth, however banning puppy farms and dodgy BYB would certainly help lesson the load on pounds and shelters and stop the poor breeding dogs in them from being treated so poorly.

I cannot find anywhere that features impounded RSPCA Rutherford animals. AFAIK they have the contract to hold strays for a couple of councils, where are these animals? How are owners supposed to find their dogs when they can't all go in and check every day. Then you can write the owners and public off as irresponsible and PTS 49%. It's wrong.

Thank you. :)

Yes the Penderlea horses were what drove me. That on top of what I already knew about the RSPCA made me decide to do something. Their kill rate in most states is around 50% way to high, their behavioural test isn't fair on an already stressed out dog, a child size doll shoved in front of a dog out of the blue does not indicate wether or not a dog would be good with children. I have seen copies of their tests and most family dogs would fail it if they ended up in a strange environment and were then tested. RSPCA in most states have surplus each year in excess of $10 million dollars but say they can't afford to lower kill rates or offer cheap desexing etc. yet the AWL with a fraction of their budget does more to help including encourages pet shops to promote adoption of puppies and dogs or buy from legit breeders. The RSPCA in the other hand in NSW and QLD indirectly support puppy farms by allowing pet shops to sell the pups in partnership with the RSPCA. (Ask me if you want details it's to long to write) There is no avenue other than a parliamentary inquiry to make the RSPCA answerable for its actions and it takes a lot if work to get one.

I agree that a good breeder is not hurting the kill rates at all in shelters. It's the ones as mentioned above who decide they just want a litter of pups and mix breed them without care that do the damage along with puppy farms breeding designer dogs. I have no issue with people shopping through a breeder where parents can be viewed and they are breed for health and bloodlines etc. My other big concern is the constant BYB of certain dog breeds when they make up the largest percentage of pound dogs. My favourite breed being one of those ( Staffies)

I breed. Well one litter so far, but I intend more. I didn't just 'allow' my dog to breed. I tested her value to the breed in the show ring, undertook all recommended health tests, didn't make the final decision to go ahead until I had owners lined up, looked far and wide for a suitable stud, and eventually imported semen from the US for her. I feel every responsibility for her puppies and always will. I feel no responsibility at all for the dogs in the pound. I am sorry for them, but my being a breeder has nothing to do with them being there. Some of us are very specific in the dogs we want to live with. We are not a home waiting for just any dog. Take away our options and you take away that home, it is not going to filled by anything else. I really don't get why my breed should cease to be bred in this country because there are irresponsible owners who treat their dogs like disposable commodities and who are never held account for it, and irresponsible breeders who cater to them - it is that call for no breeding at all that has seen me drop all my donations to rescue organisations, which used to be significant. Back to the OP - I agree the RSPCA needs to be more accountable, and I will look at the petition in more depth, thank you for posting it. Well said, just because someone buys a puppy doesn't mean a shelter dog died because that person chose to buy a puppy from a breeder! Chances are they would never of gotten a dog from rescue anyway. I will never understand that line of thinking: don't breed or buy whilst others die. Of course I feel badly for them, but how abt hating on the low life's that dumped them there in the first place instead of ppl who take the time to find lovely homes for their dogs and take responsibility for that dog for its whole life, whether it be 5 months or 15 years. I know it would be impossible to police but I would love ppl who dump dogs at the pound to be put on a list so they can never own a dog again! As someone else in this thread said, owning a dog should be a privilege not a right. Sorry for going off topic OP

I actually started that petition and just wanted to clear up the misconception of why I started it. It was started due to the RSPCAs 20yr lack of action in a horse neglect and hoarding case, it definitely wasn't started because if cessnock pound. A lot of people who signed it were concerned about a shelter in SA which is why there are so many comments about dogs on it. The horse neglect case is finally being death with and so far 54 charges of neglect etc have been laid with more to come. It's just a shame that no matter how many reports they had in the past they chose to ignore them and many many horses and foals died needlessly. I was saddened when I read some of the comments from your members saying they felt no compassion or responsibility for dogs in pounds and shelters. I feel we are all responsible not because people breed dogs etc but because we aren't fighting hard enough to stop puppy farms and dodgy back yard breeders. Nor are we fighting hard enough for no kill shelters to be implemented, this doesn't mean dogs with servere behavioural issues aren't put to sleep but that every dog is given a chance to be rehabilitated if needed and adopted and that no healthy dogs are put down without reason beyond lack of space. Every dog I've ever owned has been a rescue dog, I have trained all of them and currently have a hard case on my hands for which I brought in a dog behaviouralist to help, he is only 2yrs and friendly and happy but has no lead manners. With work he will be fine, not everyone who adopts ignores training and not everyone who buys purebreds cares about training. There are plenty of purebred dogs in pounds, my second rescue dog was a Basenji who was an ex breeder, she was in the pound with her mate, she had no manners what so ever when I bought her and was probably one of the hardest dogs to work with I'd ever had. Most no kill shelters and advocates like myself have no problem with purebred breeders we just discourage buying from places where you can't view the parents and the living conditions of the dogs. The only reason you shouldn't be able to do that is if you are adopting from a shelter or obviously buying a purebred from interstate etc.