Another Rspca Cock Up!

[centitout]

Fences were obviously NOT the issue,as they allowed her to care for the horse for7 MONTHS!!!!!!!

The monthly vet check was something needed as horses,dogs etc that have been severely malnourished can often have ongoing problems due to malnutrition-you cant just pump them full of feed-severe laminitis would be one complication,so it is a process that takes months to get condition on them.She looked in pretty good order to me for a horse that had been formerly starved and she did the responsible thing in having the horse monitored monthly.

I have seen horses that lived in junk yards etc all their lives,never a scratch,and then seen several TB'S rip their throats/chests out when they ran full gallop into the million dollar post and rail 6 ft high fences and they broke and impaled them,or broke their legs when they kicked their stables.I have seen a TB paw at the straight wires that ran through the post and rail fence,hook it on its fetlock and pull out 200 mts of it,and its tendons in the process.I have also seen a TB yearling filly that didnt want a needle, totally destroy a vet crush built to very expensive TB standards,this crush was designed for the clydies that were also bred there,so how much safer can you make it?

Fencing/colic was not the issue,and everyone knows it.If the horse was deemed to have such severe ongoing issues,it would have been assessed by the idiots and something done about it way before 7 mths-funny how they waited till the horse was in "adoptable" condition before it was taken and put up fpr adoption.There apparently was a lot of public interest in the horse according to the newspaper,and the RSPCA SAID THEMSELVES "FIRST IN ,BEST DRESSED",they sure as shit didnt say anything about checking out potential homes for fencing suitability.

[MissMolly]

Alarm bells started ringing in my head when I read they had removed Brandy from the property...

RIP Brandy...

[~Anne~]

How sad. It seems someone's ineptitude was responsible for the needless death of a horse.

What causes this 'windsucking' thing?

[Dogawne]

Maybe a NEW society needs to be set up that is for NON profit australia wide because this one has carte blance and is a law unto themselves.

[WoofnHoof]

Centitout your response may have made sense had my question been: "how many TBs have you seen hurt themselves on good fences?". But it wasn't the question was "would you rehome a TB to a place with those fences?". It's like saying it's perfectly ok to rehome a sibe to a place with 2 foot fences.

ETA since the horse's leg was bandaged in later photos it suggests something happened, perhaps the RSPCA didn't authorise the continued treatment of the horse?

Edited April 27, 2010 by WoofnHoof

[centitout]

What difference does it make if its a TB,clydie,pony or arab? She has other horses as well,maybe ask her vet how many times they have had to treat fence related injuries?

And i have broken in TB'S,owned TB'S and worked with TB'S nearly all my adult life,on and off the track.They are no different to any other horse,yes,you will get ones that are idiots,but you can apply that to any breed,type of horse.Its a blanket statement that all TB'S apparently are idiots and should only go to a home with special TB fencing,sort of like saying that all pitbulls are dangerous.

I have also broken in/ridden many other breeds and crosses,and some of them were absolute nightmares to handle on the ground or on their backs or in the paddock.

[goldchow]

Have to agree with MissMolly, and could predict the outcome as soon as they removed the horse, from personal experience the horse would ultimately die, punishment for the foster carer for going public.

Jed is quite correct re Mark Townsend, might be a nice bloke but 'run with hares, hunt with the hounds type', wouldn't bank on fair and just investigation in that area.

[WoofnHoof]

So saying that fencing is inappropriate for a TB is comparable to the PB situation? Puh leaze! You've worked with TBs I get it who hasn't? They are different to other breeds saying they are no different to other horse breeds is like saying all dog breeds are the same.

Either way I still wouldn't put a full size horse of any breed in that fencing, you might get away with it with a pony but even then it's not horse fencing it's sheep fencing and once the RSPCA formally adopted the horse out they may have been found liable. Who knows maybe the carer was planning to chase the RSPCA for reimbursement for the money she had spent, perhaps they seized the horse to prevent her incurring more vet bills for a horse that was technically their responsibility? What happened to it's leg that required bandaging?

Thing is we only have one side of the story the RSPCA has admitted there was miscommunication due to staff turnover at the time, I agree that seizing and putting the horse down without consulting the carer was inappropriate but that is all we can really deduce from the information we have.

[WoofnHoof]

How sad. It seems someone's ineptitude was responsible for the needless death of a horse.

What causes this 'windsucking' thing?

It's fairly common in stabled horses there are a number of theories on how it starts could be boredom could be gastric ulcers as a result of high grain diets (why it's often seen in racehorses etc) could be both. Once it's become an ingrained habit it can be very hard to dissuade the horse from doing it because it gives them a bit of a 'high', ie releases opiates, it's also believed to be a way of temporarily relieving pain in the gastric ulcer theory.

It's hard to say whether the colic was exacerbated by moving, colicky horses are moved to vets for treatment all the time, given the colic was recurring at the carers property it's hard to say whether the horse wouldn't have died at some point in any case, and can depend very much on the underlying cause which hasn't been clearly identified. Colic can go from mild to severe and potentially fatal before your eyes.

[tivins]

RIP Brandy..

..ok r$pca, u put the horse down, fine..but at least give it a proper burial...NOT DUMP IT IN THE DUMP!!!??? WTF? Totally no respect for another life!!!

:) .. As a carer n to have witness that, would be so devastating..

[poodlefan]

Colic in horses is an absolute nightmare of a thing to deal with. If this girl came down with severe colic, then a vet's decision to PTS would have been a merciful release.

What I can't understand is why they needed to move the horse to supposedly vet check it. Vets usually travel to horses, not the other way around.

I wonder if she was colic prone or recommenced windsucking once moved.

RIP Brandy - it does seem to have been an unnecessary death.

[Jed]

Maybe a NEW society needs to be set up that is for NON profit australia wide because this one has carte blance and is a law unto themselves.

Absolutely.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[Jaxx'sBuddy]

Maybe a NEW society needs to be set up that is for NON profit australia wide because this one has carte blance and is a law unto themselves.

Absolutely.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

and this is what has happened here. we can watch them but who can or how can we get this sort of thing changed? who do they answer to?

[casowner]

I keep thinking about this and I just can't physically get my head around the thought that anyone would be so cruel as to euthanase an animal out of spite, especially if the story was in the media it just does not make sense to me. Why would the RSPCA incur extra veterinary and disposal fees just to be pricks? There has to be more to the story, I understand that a lot of people have had bad dealings with them and have ingrained dislike of the organisation so trust is a major issue which I fully understand. It would have been a simpler and easier option just to sell the horse back to the carer and then the bad press goes away, surely the people at the RSPCA did not take delight in purposely slaughtering a horse that had been in care for seven months.

Just another question - are members of the public allowed to walk into an animal carcass dump? This also seems unusual to me, surely there are health restrictions etc that would not permit this.

Regarding burial of the body many shelters/vets etc send all deceased animals to a refuse company that dispose of the bodies, however I was under the impression that the bodies were incinerated. I do not know of shelters that actually bury animals themselves.

I am in no way supporting the actions of the RSPCA but my head can not get around this story as it just seems to, well to put it honestly evil if the comments are true.

[mita]

Mita,

How can you and some others support this vile organization when things like this happen every day and are just covered up.

I take each issue as it comes & look for evidence before reaching a conclusion.

A summary:

A woman has fostered a horse for a lengthy period for the local RSPCA. Understandably comes to love it.

Decides to adopt it. Is told by the local RSPCA that the adoption cost will be $500.

I would've paid that.....just as I've insisted on paying the registered breeders who wanted to give me their retired showdogs for nothing.

Just my personal value....something I wouldn't impose on everyone else.

So the woman was right to have a different value.....that she'd fostered for so long that surely she could just adopt.

I've no quibble in her speaking out & getting support for her view. A newspaper even offering to pay the sum.

The issue is taken up by the CEO who accurately says what's happened is sure not good customer service.

Then matters are in train for a resolutiion.

No hanging offences for anyone, so far, is my conclusion.

Then a turn of events, for which I'd like details of evidence.

The horse is taken back to the RSCPA with media report vaguely saying that matters had to be attended to so its health was OK for adoption.

After a period of being in their care, the report is that the horse had to be PTS for colic.

There's no evidence in the media report of actual vet-reported details of what this 'health' trail was. So I haven't reached any conclusion on this part of the story. I'd need to know what veterinary notes said on the genesis of the horse's condition.

Edited April 27, 2010 by mita

[mita]

Jed is quite correct re Mark Townsend, might be a nice bloke but 'run with hares, hunt with the hounds type', wouldn't bank on fair and just investigation in that area.

Again, I disagree.

[Crisovar]

Jed is quite correct re Mark Townsend, might be a nice bloke but 'run with hares, hunt with the hounds type', wouldn't bank on fair and just investigation in that area.

Again, I disagree.

He certainly seems to either have no control over the cowboys in the outfit, has no idea what they are doing, or simply chooses to pay lip service to those that question.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Crisovar

[mita]

Jed is quite correct re Mark Townsend, might be a nice bloke but 'run with hares, hunt with the hounds type', wouldn't bank on fair and just investigation in that area.

Again, I disagree.

He certainly seems to either have no control over the cowboys in the outfit, has no idea what they are doing, or simply chooses to pay lip service to those that question.

He indicated, accurately, that when the woman took the insistence on payment issue further....that it had not been good customer service.

A resolution was in train.

Then came the issue of the genesis of a health problem leading to PTS. For which I'd like to see the vet notes evidence.

Edited April 27, 2010 by mita

[Crisovar]

This is not the only case, though this one smells.

It is not good when the people at the top either don't know, don't care, or can't fix.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Absolutely disgusting. I'm appalled at their treatment of the horse and the lady who loved her. It stinks, BIGTIME.