Rspca Canberra

[BarbedWire]

Interesting article. It's beyond belief that someone can own more than 90 animals. Most of the ACT is the suburbs. One has to wonder what sort of animals they are.

The last sentence is also interesting

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-12/rspca-act-reveals-massive-rise-in-seizure-of-mistreated-animals/6542546

RSPCA ACT seized 799 animals due to mistreatment this year compared to 34 last year, estimate told

By Ewan Gilbert

RSPCA ACT have sized almost 800 live animals this year due to mistreatment, in comparison to the 34 sized last year.

RSPCA inspectors in the ACT have seized 799 live animals due to mistreatment this year, compared to just 34 last year.

RSPCA ACT chief executive Tammy Ven Dange told budget estimates that the number did not even include the number of dead animals recovered.

"Why such a huge increase in incoming animals in one year?" she said.

"Some would say that we're doing a better job, but I do fear this is also representative of an awful trend in our community that will likely only get worse and perhaps more violent without intervention."

In the latest ACT budget the RSPCA was allocated $256,000, which equates to about 17 per cent of its yearly budget.

This is a 2 per cent boost from last year, but Ms Ven Dange said despite this, the RSPCA was still at "breaking point financially".

"Had we not received the additional funding we would have had to drop services," she said.

"These are services that the Canberra community has grown accustom to us providing but which are really the responsibility of the Government and without an obvious alternative service provider, particularly for stray animals, we are really worried about what is going to happen."

'The problem is not animals... it has always been people'

The organisation used the budget estimates hearing to plead with the ACT Government to place a smaller cap on the number of animals a person can own.

Ms Ven Dange said in most cases her team were not allowed to act until someone had more than 90 pets.

"They get that 91st animal and suddenly they're not feeding them," she said.

"They're defecating on top of each other, the cages are not appropriate, they're starting to cannibalise each other because of a lack of food and water.

"That's when we have to get involved and we already have a mess."

The organisation has raided four homes this year where more than 90 animals have been seized at each property.

Ms Ven Dange also called for a collaborative effort to stop the growing trend of animal mistreatment.

"If this current trend for unwanted, abandoned, abused and neglected animals continues to rise, the cost of providing the services for everyone will also rise," Ms Ven Dange said.

"To reverse the trend we must reach out to the source of the problem to make it stop... we require a collaborative effort.

"The problem is not animals, the problem has always been people."

Ms Ven Dange said that there also needs to be a larger focus on educational programs for abuse and neglect of animals.

"We have already prosecuted eight [people] this year and we have 22 [cases] going through courts, and a lot more being put together as we speak," Ms Ven Dange said.

"We can see that the majority of neglect cases are actually woman and the majority of the cruelty cases are actually men."

[Little Gifts]

So why aren't they already spending some of their money on education? They are well and truly in the black as an organisation so where are their tv ads or print media campaigns? Why didn't they devote a segment on all their tv shows to responsible pet ownership advice?

And there are a couple of very basic spelling errors in that story. What the hell ABC?

[keetamouse]

You can only educate the people who want to be educated.

[Akayla]

Yes they had an extraordinary number come in. One lot was mostly small animals though. Birds, rodents and so on. I think it was like 300 from that case alone.

Also they do run some educational programs there and training classes.

[Simply Grand]

So why aren't they already spending some of their money on education? They are well and truly in the black as an organisation so where are their tv ads or print media campaigns? Why didn't they devote a segment on all their tv shows to responsible pet ownership advice?

And there are a couple of very basic spelling errors in that story. What the hell ABC?

RSPCA ACT is not well and truly in the black and has not been for some time. When Tammy started as CEO a year or so ago she was very open about the financial position of the organization at that time, they were bleeding money every week, operating costs were far exceeding income and the organization was from memory two months from being literally completely broke. Tammy was appointed with the edict to turn things around and I believe she has improved the financial position but I don't know the current figures. I highly doubt they have reached a point where they are profitable yet.

As Akayla said, the 90+ animals would be small animals, not cats and dogs, although there were sone seizures of significant numbers of dogs from some homes. I suspect the change of management and Inspectorate staff over the last year has impacted on the level of action taken as far as seizures and prosecution go.

Edited June 13, 2015 by Simply Grand

[Little Gifts]

I was referring to the RSPCA as a whole (rather than just the ACT), including the identified need to run educational programs to turn the situation around. I didn't realise ACT weren't being financially buffered by the larger entity - I thought they would all get an allocation from centrally managed funds, although I appreciate they would still need to prove they are viable and necessary as I doubt any national organisation is willing to throw money away. I'm really glad the new CEO there is making a difference and I hope the organisation as a whole is willing and able to disperse funds where they are most needed otherwise what is the point?

[Simply Grand]

As far as I'm aware RSPCA Australia doesn't provide funding to any of the state branches. They pay for the big national advertising and fundraising campaigns, and I vaguely remember hearing that a portion of any funds donated to RSPCA Aus through advertising of things like Cupcake Day and MPW are distributed based on the size of each jurisdiction (which means the big states get significantly more than the smaller ones, regardless of who actually needs it more), however it only goes to RSPCA Aus if the donors make a general donation without specifying a branch. MPW is obviously the biggest fundraiser and funds from that stay with the area that raises them, so for example all the entry fees and sponsorship money raised in Sydney goes to the Sydney shelters, raised in Canberra goes to the Canberra shelter etc.

RSPCA Aus is also only an administrative and lobbying (I think) body, they are not involved operationally with any of the branches, that comes down to the management and board of each branch. This is problematic IMO as it means that when you have state branches not necessarily doing the best they could be by the animals (not mentioning any names ) there isn't actually an overarching authority with the power to step in and change how things are done. It also means it's too bad if one state is highly profitable and another is broke, the funds don't get shared.

Edited June 13, 2015 by Simply Grand

[Little Gifts]

Wow, I thought they were much more inter-dependant than that. Their administrative overheads are going to be excessively high too with such a heirachical structure. It makes me understand now how/why we have some very dodgy RSPCA's and some where great staff are doing good work. I love learning new stuff from DOL!

[tdierikx]

RSPCA shelters are almost like a franchise by the sounds of things... you'd think they'd be a little more cohesive and supportive of each other, but obviously not.

T.

[BarbedWire]

Some of the posts on this thread are very interesting. Re the RSPCA ACT I have always had problems reconciling their flash up to date office headquarters in Deakin and the outdated accommodation provided for the animals at their shelter at Weston. I do realise that they will be building a new shelter shortly, but the Weston premises have been wanting for many years. I am very reluctant to support them financially.

[Simply Grand]

Deakin is RSPCA Australia, not RSPCA ACT.

Again from what I recall, the temporary set up at Weston was agree to years ago when the management at that time (I don't know who it was then) started working with the ACT government on plans for a new shelter down the track. I believe it was agreed that no significant investment would be put into infrastructure at the current site so that there would be more to invest in the new shelter.

Whilst the facilities are far from ideal for staff (basically all in demountables which are hot in summer and cold in winter!! and spread out so communication can be difficult) and there are some things to do with quarantine and infection control that are known to be far from ideal I think the set up for the animals is actually not too bad. Definitely not perfect!! But reasonable as far as comfort, safety and stress levels go.

[BarbedWire]

Deakin is RSPCA Australia, not RSPCA ACT.

Again from what I recall, the temporary set up at Weston was agree to years ago when the management at that time (I don't know who it was then) started working with the ACT government on plans for a new shelter down the track. I believe it was agreed that no significant investment would be put into infrastructure at the current site so that there would be more to invest in the new shelter.

Whilst the facilities are far from ideal for staff (basically all in demountables which are hot in summer and cold in winter!! and spread out so communication can be difficult) and there are some things to do with quarantine and infection control that are known to be far from ideal I think the set up for the animals is actually not too bad. Definitely not perfect!! But reasonable as far as comfort, safety and stress levels go.

Thank you SG, I stand corrected. Why does the RSPCA Australia have headquarters in Canberra? Where is Tammy ven Dange, the ACT CEO, accommodated? Is she at Weston?

[Simply Grand]

I'm actually now wondering how much of this stuff is known by the vocal RSPCA detractors who post on DOL and other places...

That's not aimed at anyone in this thread but I wonder whether people who say they would never support anything to do with any RSPCA based on what they know or have heard about a particular branch realise just how separate the branches and RSPCA Australia actually are.

I responded to someone on the RSPCA QLD FB page who had posted a link to an article about some issue with RSPCA Vic's actions and explained how they are all separate and I hoped that people wouldn't stop supporting RSPCA Qld because of whatever happened in Vic.

The response (not unreasonably) was that it wasn't acceptable for some branches to be good and others bad, the 'good' ones should step in and fix things with the 'bad' ones. Ideally yes, but given the set up that would be like saying for example X state police do a good job but Y state police don't and are corrupt so X state needs to step in and get Y state working better. Legally and operationally it just isn't possible unfortunately. One branch has no jurisdiction over another, and as I said RSPCA Aus don't oversee operations, the individual boards and management teams do.

ACT and QLD actually worked quite cooperatively while I was there and presumably still do, sharing knowledge and best practice, even moving dogs around if they are more adoptable in one place than the other, but that happened because of the efforts and relationships built between staff in each team. If all branches would do that, fantastic! But one branch can't force another

[Simply Grand]

Sars, I don't know why RSPCA Aus is based in Canberra. We had nothing to do with them, although I do think the CEOs and boards of all the branches meet with them from time to time.

Tammy is at Weston, in a little office in the Admin demountable :)

[BarbedWire]

Well thank you. I have been wrong for so long. Sorry Tammy and the other admin staff there.

[Sheridan]

I imagine that the RSPCA has a HQ in Canberra for the same reason other lobby groups do.

[Akayla]

There is a board so to speak so branches and important issues are discussed BUT each shelter deals with unique situations/rules/regulations so there is a lot of independence. For example the ACT branch is responsible for cats, kittens, puppies and so on. The council only dealing with adult dogs. So they do a lot of work. RSPCA ACT also broke away to allow pitbulls to be rehomed at a time when that wasn't the norm. Something we were all very proud of at the time.

SG - I remember taking in kittens from QLD because they were getting something like 200 in a week. It was always good to get to talk to other branches :D

Yeah the poor office team (including the CEO) are stuck out in that stuffy small demountable but it was quieter than the other sections :laugh: Its all run pretty well and set up as best as possible at the time( a lot better than DAS if you ask me). It was rebuilt after the fire. However obviously by todays standards there is a lot they would change. I am sure they will improve the layout with the new build.

[BarbedWire]

Thanks for the enlightenment. I think I might make a donation to them today. They do do a good job especially compared to other branches that I read about here on DOL.

Thankyou DOL, I learn something new every day.

[Little Gifts]

Yep, I too appreciate the insight. It's certainly not run the way I always thought it was and I could never understand why there were so many operational differences between facilities either.

[BarbedWire]

I have another question for the knowledgeable DOLers. I am going off topic but that's okay since I started the thread. :)

Re the RSPCA inspectorate. In the ACT there is only the one RSPCA so I assume they are responsible for animal welfare matters within the ACT, but in NSW where there seem to be more than 20 RSPCAs who is responsible for animal welfare issues? Do they have an area each with a definite boundary? Or are inspectors from NSW RSPCAs able to investigate animal welfare issues anywhere within the state?