After Making A Report To The Rspca...

[BlackJaq]

I thought I would post here since a lot of DOLers seem to have experience with the RSPCA, positive and negative.

About 4 weeks ago I made a report to the RSPCA about 2 horses, one of which was in extremely poor condition, the other one was not as bad but getting there. My area has not had much rain this year and even last year and the year before, when we had plenty, those two horses were not looking that good, although not bad enough that I would feel it was necessary or even helpful to report them.

So, the lady on the phone told me somebody would be in touch in about a month to let me know what happened...

Yesterday I drove past and the only thing that seems to have changed is that instead of being locked in the one pasture, the horses now appear to have the run of several pastures, all equally as grazed off as their first. Obviously I cannot tell from looking at them whether they are being hand fed or wormed or seeing a vet etc but I cannot see any change in condition so far. I have previously had horses arrive here in very poor condition and made the experience that they will start to gain weight rapidly once their teeth are done, worms dealt with and many small meals are fed each day. Obviously this only works if there is no other underlying condition.

Anyways, today I called the RSPCA with my case number to see if contact had been made with the owner and the lady on the phone told me yes, there has been contact made and all she can tell me is that it is "under investigation". They will not be able to tell me anything else because of the privacy act, which is fair enough, however I will not sit by and watch these horses die. The lady also said that usually they do not call you back to tell you what happened, which made me wonder why the first lady said they would?

So, what I am wondering now is that other people who have made reports seem to know the outcome of their report. They either say the RSPCA told them "their hands are tied" for various reasons (food on premises or whatever) or they were told what steps the owners/RSPCA were taking to improve conditions. What have your experiences been so far? Is it true they cannot say anything? If so, how can anybody know when to re-report animals? Or are you expected to simply forget about them once the report was made as it is now in somebody else's hands?

[tdierikx]

The only time I got the RSPCA to act on something was when I took the animal to them... they had already refused to come and get it themselves. The owner was fined and made to surrender his dog to the RSPCA.

The above was a neighbour's dog who had escaped her dismal outdoor pen and came over to our property to have her pups. The bitch was severely underweight and had a massive infected wound on her leg that smelled rotten. The infection alone was bad enough, but to also have a litter of pups to feed, and being so underweight already... *sigh*... I just packed them all up in my car and took them to the RSPCA so that something would be done about the owner who let her get into that state.

T.

[WreckitWhippet]

I've reported an emaciated and roaming dog.

Council were pretty slack in their actions and should have called the RSPCA in ( but that's another story)

I called and the followed up a couple of weeks later to be told that they had issued a notice. That was all good, except the next thing the owner did was lock the poor dog in a shed 24/7 so no one could see it, it cried all day and all night.

I called them again and then the owners removed the dog from the property, who knows there the poor thing is now.

[Dame Aussie]

Ive never had to report anything thankfully, but I would not be surprised by anything when it comes to this organisation.

If I noticed there was no change in the horses condition I'd just keep reporting it over and over until something changed.

[Loving my Oldies]

I made a report some years ago. It was obvious that the RSPCA had done something because the dog I saw regularly was in better condition, but I wasn't kept UTD by the RSPCA.

[Xyz]

Did you try to contact the owners of the horses before calling the RSPCA?

They could be just older, and in fact well cared for..

[Pretty Miss Emma]

Keep reporting it if you are concerned.

Unfortunately the way laws are written they usually don't accommodate what many of us think is not caring for animals properly. In Vic if the animal is being checked every 3 days, there is evidence of feeding and water and vet care there is nothing that can legally done. There is often a lot of slamming of what the RSPCA should do, generally they do what they are legally allowed to do - it's the laws that are really crappy and we should be harrassing the government to make the laws such that intervention can occur before a problem becomes too extreme and there is a greater onus on the owners to do the right thing. oh and harsher pentalies from judges that actually reflect that an animals life has some worth would also be good, I'll just keep wishing for that!

But as Xyz has said it may well be that the animals are old and just showing signs of aging.

[BlackJaq]

The skinnier horse is a one on the Henneke scale, that is a one out of nine, it is pretty much a walking rack of ribs. Old horses do not generally look skeletal if they are well cared for... I do not know the owners and it is a rural area, so you can't just drive up people's driveways since there are locked gates and I do not even know where their house is.

An animal does not just get this skinny because it is old, medical issues and chronic pain make an animal this skinny and should be either dealt with or the animal should be humanely euthanized. I would not mind if the owner decided that they either cannot afford vet care and food or didn't want to to cough it up for other reasons as long as they put the poor animal out of its misery. Sometimes it is quality over quantity in my opinion.

I will probably call again in a few weeks if I see no improvement. Hopefully they will improve by then though

ETA: I am slightly amused whenever somebody says something along the lines of "have you contacted the owners" when there is a perceived welfare issue with an animal. I don't know what people are like in the rest of this country but around here anybody who sticks their nose in other people's business is not very popular. I have animals of my own and I do not need to make them a target for retaliation by whatever means this person may or may not deem necessary...

Edited March 9, 2013 by BlackJaq

[darlingdog]

If you can find out who the owner is perhaps an offer to buy the horses ?? might be worth a try...at least then you could either try to get them healthy again or have them put down. I know that is a cost you should not have to shoulder but it would be in the best interests of the horses if they could be legally owned by a responsible owner.Just another way of looking at things.

[YOLO]

Unfortunately in such cases it is the squeaky wheel syndrome. Ring the RSPCA every day that you see no change or improvement.

You might also try the local council, and possibly even the local media. Ring your community talkback radio and send photos to your local newspaper.

[griff]

Might of been wiser to call AWL .

[Crisovar]

RSPCA have been either non responsive or so slow to act that horses have died in my experience. Try a group such as Horse Welfare Inc"]Horse Welfare Inc.[/url].

[tdierikx]

Might of been wiser to call AWL .

The AWL have all the same powers as the RSPCA... and are probably more likely to actually come out when called.

T.

[redangel]

Im not really a fan of the RSPCA. I know of one case where two emaciated horses (one with gaping sores & had been down for a fortnight) both were rescued privately, the person responsible reported. The horses recovered after much care & veterinary attention. To this day no charges have been laid to the best of my knowledge despite documented evidence. For what reason I am unaware.

[MelodysMum]

Might of been wiser to call AWL .

The AWL have all the same powers as the RSPCA... and are probably more likely to actually come out when called.

T.

I have found the AWL more helpful in situations like this. We have reported horses on a couple of occasions, and they have gone out there and actually gotten back to us to let us know what happened.

On the second occasion they actually seized the horse and let us know. We went to visit it at the AWL and were very pleased to see how much better it looked.

You can't contact the AWL now as you have already contacted the RSPCA, but maybe next time. :) I would always trust the AWL over the RSPCA.

[Xyz]

Just asked if you had tried to find the owners as I have 2 friends that both have 30+ yo horses, extremely well looked after, fed suitable quantities of appropriate food (usually gumnuts), regularly drenched, hoof trimmed and vet checked, but both look like walking coat hangers... Their vets (in 2 seperate states) are happy with their conditions, and in one case has written a letter for the owner to show anyone who enquires. She doesn't mind when people approach her, as it does show they care. The other keeps a rug on as she got sick of explaining to ppl!!

Efs

Edited March 11, 2013 by Xyz

[BlackJaq]

Damn I just lost my whole post somehow.. Anywhoooo I was basically saying that I wish I'd known about the AWL beforehand but it's too late now. I am thinking (hoping?) that I can see a minuscule change in the skinnier of the two horses, hopefully good improvements will soon become apparent, otherwise I will keep calling.

I do suspect that those horses are probably older and there is another cow in fat condition on the property (as well as a dead one, which went down one morning when I drove past and was dead by the time I drove back, had never noticed the critters on that place before that day so not sure what condition the cow was in prior to its death, it was impossible to say once it was down.. wonder if the RSPCA noticed and commented on the carcass?), but that is no reason not to give them additional feed if they need it. Last year around this time when we had better pasture about and they were in better condition than now, so I doubt this is the best condition they could be in at this time.

As to horses that look like walking coat hangers, I honestly doubt that those animals are having a good quality of life but cannot really comment without having seen them. Vets will say many things when there is money to be made or customers to be pleased so I would not necessarily rely on their judgement when an animal is in such poor condition but they say it's all cool anyways

[Xyz]

Vets will say many things when there is money to be made or customers to be pleased so I would not necessarily rely on their judgement when an animal is in such poor condition but they say it's all cool anyways

Ummm, not when the case could be bought before RSPCA/awl... Believe it or not some vets have the animals best interests at heart- who'd have thought... :confused:

[BlackJaq]

I meant to say "many vets" but yeah, not every vet loves animals or even likes them. I know plenty who actually don't. Many of those simply like the money.

[kelpiechick]

Just asked if you had tried to find the owners as I have 2 friends that both have 30+ yo horses, extremely well looked after, fed suitable quantities of appropriate food (usually gumnuts), regularly drenched, hoof trimmed and vet checked, but both look like walking coat hangers... Their vets (in 2 seperate states) are happy with their conditions, and in one case has written a letter for the owner to show anyone who enquires. She doesn't mind when people approach her, as it does show they care. The other keeps a rug on as she got sick of explaining to ppl!!

Efs

Absolutely true. My 30+ plus boy was exactly the same and we got an inspector knocking on our door one day which I was not very impressed about - especially when someone could have just knocked on our door and asked if they were concerned - which the inspector was not when she heard how old he was and went up to see him. I would have been more than happy to show anyone what he was getting fed, what medications and care he received, etc etc if they had asked.

Have the guts to approach someone personally if you are truly concerned - or at least get the facts before you make a report.