Diary for week 21 January - 27 January, 2002

On top at last.

Spent most of the week moving case animals to re-home centres and laying information at court. Work loads eased, normally does this time of year. Still lots to do though.

Football, not to bad a week. Newcastle won, Man U lost and Palace didn't play.

Saw Lord of the Rings on Sunday, great film. If your looking for something see at the flicks it's got to be this one.

Check back for more up dates soon, some of the court cases are up this week (11 Feb - 18 Feb)

Diary for week 11 February - 14 February, 2002

Short Week This Week.

Only working four days this week, seems good but I have to do six days next week and with being away on a horse course last week there was plenty to keep me going.

Monday - General complaints dealt with, dogs kept in scrap yards, a reptile problem in a pet shop and a cat with a skin condition. Made further enquiries regarding a dog abandoned before Christmas and made loads of telephone calls giving advise on various problems.

Tuesday - Managed to get some of my re-home cats into one of our animal homes. The rest of the day was spent with administration.

Wednesday - First of my two court dates this week, nothing happened as the defendant was not served with the summonses. New date was given so we have to try and find them and get them into court this time. After court it was a drive to one of our centres to give a talk on some of the exotic problems we have. It seemed to go well.

Thursday - More paperwork as well as some complaints followed by the second court case. Sadly the defendant failed to turn up, even though they had been handed the summons. Because of this a warrant was issued for their arrest, it's a shame that we are forced to take this action as the cost increases with each attendance at court. It's a costly business and is only done as a last resort, although in some cases is totally necessary.

Well that's me for this week, got the next two days off so some R&R involving football on Saturday, ready to start again on Sunday.

Check back soon to see what goes on next week.

Diary for week 17 February - 22 February, 2002

Long week this, Sunday to Friday.

Sunday - Started with a malicious call to an address without any animals, then moved on to one refusing access, at this point I thought the day was only going to get worse but I Solved it through my usual methods of persuasion, said I'd come back another day. Attended an address with an old cat, sad this one, the owner lost his dog not long ago and now he had me on the doorstep telling him to take his cat to the vet knowing it would probably be put to sleep. After this off to another area to pick up a hamster that had been left by a lift shaft in a box and carrier bag. As usual no one saw anything and so the chances of finding the owner are nil. We hold on to the animal for seven days then, and if I don't think the owners will be found it's re-homed.

Monday - Not much happening today, group meeting, this gives us a chance to discuss new instructions from HQ and any problems we have operationally. After this I attend a Local Council meeting regarding the issue of a licence to one of the pet shops in my area. Over the year a protest group have complaining about the way the shop treats is animals, unfortunately they would do better to lobby parliament for a change in the law than concentrate on this one shop. The shop had its licence granted as no justification for changes could be found.

Tuesday - Visited a new exotic re-homer, only small but will of great help to use. Exotics are becoming a problem, changes in legislation are needed urgently to control the import and sale. Rest of day spent on administration.

Wednesday - I have been getting a number of calls about some horses kept on Water Board land, most people were concerned that that they had no water, of course as soon as I get there I can see both water and food. That's not to say that the callers were wrong to contact us, but had they checked they could have saved what ended in being a two and a half hour call. My next call involved a dog in a scrap yard, thankfully nothing wrong other than there was no warning about a guard dog on premises.

Thursday - Spent most of day chasing up case evidence and completing more admin.

Friday - More horse calls, different area this time, but once again all was ok. Helped a number of people who had contacted the branch for animal re-homing and neutering vouchers.

So end of week, all starts again in two days time. See you then.

Diary for week 25 February - 01 March, 2002

Long week this, Sunday to Friday.

Monday - Part of a Student Inspectors training is spent "Out in the Field", that's to say that they spend time with Inspectors doing their normal job, as well as visiting some centres that assist with their training. Today I had one of the Student Inspectors, and because I work closely with the Police in my area, I was able to take her around a Police Station showing her how the system works. During the visit the student was shown all aspects they will have to deal with in their normal day to day work, from the custody suite to the cells, interview room and sector offices. We also spoke to the School liaison, wildlife and reprimand officers, all of which they have to deal with once finished training. After this we visited a local reptile centre, where students are given training in identification and handling of various reptiles and snakes. We then made a quick visit to a farm and that ended the day.

Tuesday - Spent most of the day chasing people to serve summonses on, never found any of them. Helped the local branch with a neutering problem and had to make a hard decision regarding some of my ex-case animals.

Wednesday - Spent all day driving and giving a talk to some of the people you speak to when you contact the RSPCA form information or report cruelty. Good news from the Government, the Prime Minister is to allow a free vote on Fox Hunting, you never know we may at last get a ban of some sorts on the near future. To keep up to date with this issue keep coming back here or visit www.rspca.org.uk/

Thursday - Late shift today most of my time was spent moving animals, chickens and ducks, form one place to another, at least they have a nice new home now. The end of the day was mainly telephone calls to various people regarding the outcome of calls I had dealt with, or checking information before attending calls.

Friday - The most of the day was dealing with the usual monthly paperwork we have to do to inform Headquarters of the work completed the previous month. Included in this are our overtime, expenses and vehicle returns.

A quick catch up on the past year:

A number of cases taken to court have now ended with the following results:-

A woman who threw a pup from her bedroom window was given a 12-Month Conditional discharge, £250 costs to pay and a three year disqualification from keeping any animals. The pup has been taken to Battersea Dogs home for rehoming.

In another case, a woman was Fined £300, ordered to pay £3000 in costs and disqualified from keeping animals for three years. She appealed the decision unsuccessfully and was ordered to pay a further £1000 costs. The same woman was prosecuted a second time, again given a similar sentence, however the appeal is still to be heard on this and as soon as I have the result it will be posted in the web diary. The offences committed by this person were failing to get proper and necessary vet attention for a cat and her kittens, as well as causing cruelty to over 20 rats in her care.

Some cases are still ongoing, these involve dogs being set on cats, a man who left a number of exotic animals abandoned when he moved home and a large number of cats left behind when a family moved out of the area. As soon as I have any news on these investigations I will update the diary.

As usual the media have been covering the work of the Hospitals, Ambulance drivers and Inspectors with Animal Hospital, Pet Rescue and Insideout showing many of the problems we deal with.

A number of big campaigns have gone on this year, the most coverage going to the anti fox hunting campaign. As well as this we have been publicising the problems faced by exotic animals, such as Iguanas, snakes and chameleons, puppy farming which has now moved to Ireland from Wales. New legislation is going to be presented to parliament updating the present old acts which are very out of date.

There are a number of events being organised in this branch area that it is hoped will have Inspectorate attendance, this will be your chance to meet and ask questions of the local Inspector.

It is hoped that a weekly update will take place from now on of the Inspectors diary so keep coming back to see what is going on in your area

February 2003

Sunday:

A chance to get some of my paper work up to date in the morning. Called to a rescue at a railway station, a pigeon had become caught up in the netting on one of the platforms. An Ambulance driver was in attendance but could not get to the bird without a second pair of hands. Unfortunately it’s not always possible for us to carry every piece of equipment you need for many varied incidents. The main thing needed today was a stepladder. After knocking at some houses we were able to borrow a set of ladders and soon after the bird was cut free. After a short while resting the bird was able to be released without any ill effects. No sooner had I finished with the bird rescue, I was off to Kenley, a report had come in of a dog being left for over five days without any food or water, thankfully when I arrived the owners were there and the problem was not as serious as first thought.

After a patrol of my area and a visit to a couple of pet shops, I returned home to be on stand by, this to cover any serious complaints of cruelty during the night. Thankfully I was not needed.

Monday:

Started my shift at Noon today, this because I’m on Stand-by again. More paperwork, monthly returns – mileage expenses etc. done at the start of the day. Its my job to keep an exotic’s directory up to date for the London area so time was spent today completing this, finding vets, re-homers etc. Found a number of possible places to put animals so will contact them and arrange
visits over the coming weeks.

Tuesday:

Met up with one of the other Inspectors in my group today to visit an exotic establishment. Had good news about one of my outstanding court appeals, the defendant has decided to withdraw her appeal, this means the original sentence stands. This was a three-year disqualification, as well as a fine and some costs being awarded. The sad thing is that she will continue to own animals in
contravention of the court order, this means we will be forced to take further action against her, some people will not learn. Trouble is the cost, at a minimum it will cost the RSPCA £500 to take this person to court for breach of the court order, most of this money will not be awarded by the
court, so funds that should go towards more important projects is lost. I’m sure you will read about this woman again in the future.

Wednesday:

Spent the morning making enquiries into some outstanding cases then did some research into various exotic problems. Its sad that many owners of exotic animals feel we, the RSPCA, are out to get them. This could not be further from the truth, we are trying to get a dialog with them to ensure that the animals are given the best deal possible and were this is not the case we are able to take appropriate action to stop the cruelty.

Thursday:

Made more case enquiries today, as well as looking for a man who has a dog while disqualified. He lives rough so its hard to find him, he keeps moving each day so when we get a report about where he is we have to get there quick. Up to now he’s managed to be one step ahead. I looked into a number of complaints, one of which I found very frustrating. An informant called saying a dog was in very poor condition, weak, thin and out in the garden all day. When I visited the address I found the dog in the house, very lively and as fat as butter. It always confuses me when people do this, if they have a problem with a neighbour they should deal with it in a proper way, not use services like us and the police to wind people up. It wastes valuable money and time and could take any officer attending away from a real emergency.

Friday:

Usual Friday problems, people moving house and leaving animals behind. Thankfully in most cases the owner was contactable and the situation resolved.

Saturday: Click on small images to view large photos.

At weekends the staff levels go down to a minimum, just me on for the one group during the daytime and then from 5pm I cover the whole of south London from Kingston to Sidcup down as far as Biggin Hill. The day shift was steady, calls regarding abandoned animals as well as ones about animals kept in dirty conditions. Sadly many things we deal with are not against any laws, however they are morally wrong. Its my job, when something is not right, to try and persuade the owner of an animal to change the way they keep the animal, not only to improve the animals welfare, but that of the owner and people around. The photographs show one of the problems I came across today.

Sunday:

Off duty today, hooray.


Monday:

Started the day at midday making my first call an interview of a suspect in a cat abandonment, I’m not able to say much more as the enquiry is still on going. One good thing, the cat and some fish were signed over, so they can now be found new homes. Called into the group office to make some phone calls regarding a couple of Iguanas and a Water dragon needing new homes. After over an hour of ringing round homes were found. Then got a call about some Hamsters left on a train, it appears they were running around loose in the carriage before a passenger caught them and handed them in at Sutton. Anyone with any information should contact the RSPCA Cruelty Number as soon as possible. The rest of the day was spent transporting all this lot to kennels and new homes, after which I went home and spent the night On Call.

 

Tuesday:

Dealt with a few calls regarding abandoned animals, on one address the seals had been broken, so its not as bad as first thought. Assisted a colleague with a call about a number of youths fighting dogs. Sadly by the time we arrived everyone had gone.

Wednesday:

Photo call outside London City Hall, this was called to remind everyone that we are going to have to pay the congestion charge. This will cost us an extra £15000 per year, money that was given for animal welfare.

 

 

Thursday:

Made some further enquiries regarding ongoing cases as well as dealing with more new complaints. Still receiving calls requesting new homes for exotic animals, it would be nice if the people who criticise us would offer help with rehoming.

Friday:

Collected a hatchling/yearling Boa constrictor for rehoming, it was

 

What’s happened in the last two weeks...............all sorts. The 17th started with an investigation into alleged cat poisoning. A number of cats have gone missing in the Carshalton area and one of the owner's thinks it may be due to one of the neighbours putting poison down for the foxes. We get quite a few calls like this, and thankfully they normally turn out to be unfounded. The first cat found in this case was taken to a vet for post mortem, the result showing it had been involved in a road traffic accident. Since the investigation started no other cats have been presented that have died in strange circumstances. The investigation continues and I will update you later.

Another couple of calls dealt with over this period were regarding cats being kept outside and not let in the house. To many this is not the way to keep your animals, however, as long as they are fed, watered and have some form of shelter, there is very little we can do. On most occasions I will advise the owner of the animals needs and try to monitor the conditions as best as possible.

After almost two years in kennels I was pleased to transfer one of my case cats to a rehoming centre. The case is finally over with appeal periods expired and therefore no chance of any further claims by the previous owner. I reported the case result in an earlier report. I would have thought by now the cat is re homed and at last receiving the care and attention it deserves.

As with most weeks much of my time has been spent chasing people who have left cats when they move. I have at present three ongoing enquiries regarding this subject. Sorting out any animal problems is one of the easiest things before you move or, as in many of our cases, you are evicted. All it takes is a phone call to our office, or a word with a friendly neighbour and the animals can be re homed or looked after until you get into your new home. When investigating many of my cases, I have found that a neighbour would have been willing to look after the animals, for a short time in some cases, while people sort out their problems. Sadly I believe
people feel embarrassed and because of this take the wrong option and leave the animals to their own devises. If we find the owners, we would prosecute if the animals were left in a way that causes them any suffering.

I covered a couple of Stand-By’s in this period, one being very busy and involving assisting the police with a search of a prisoners property after allegations of Budgie and fish ill-treatment. Glad to say all was well with the animals. I also assisted the ambulance service with some of their calls, these were a cast involved in a road traffic accident in Dulwich, sadly this one died, and some kittens abandoned in Hern Hill. The kittens were taken to the Putney Animal Hospital as they had breathing problems as well as nasal discharge.

Attended court in Worksop in a case I assisted transporting the case animals in. Drove up the night before so that I was fresh for my performance giving evidence, only to find when I got to court that the defendant failed to attend so the case would be heard in his absence and I was not needed. This happens quite often and costs in many court cases are high because of
defendants delaying at the last minute or failing to attend as in this matter. He was found guilty and there’s now a warrant for his arrest outstanding.

As usual a number of exotic animals have come through the ambulance base, mainly snakes during this period. All have been found homes via our normal system. I’m glad to say that more possible homes are being found after appeals were put out in the press. Exotics are a major problem for us, the more people wishing to re home animals for us the better.

Well I have a full weekend off for a change and intend to enjoy it. See you all soon.

March 2003

Monday:

Started the week off by moving one of my ex-case cats to a re-homing centre after the enquiry had ended and the cat was signed over. After this I managed to catch one of four abandoned cats, two have already been caught. This was taken to secure kennels pending further investigation. Off to SW16 next to collect an unwanted Blue Tongued Skink. Very well kept in a nice size vivarium, sad that the owner can no longer keep him. This animals was taken to a reptile rescue centre were it will be kept and the owners will be able to visit if they wish. Made a few enquiries then on to the office to do some paperwork.

Tuesday:

Informed that I am covering a larger area than normal for the time being as one of the other groups in London is short of manpower. Made my way to a nasty incident regarding a dog that received a burn to its back, due to the case possibly going to court I am unable to say any more at present, I will however update you as and when able. Sometimes we have equipment donated to us by well meaning people, however it is not always possible for us to utilise it properly. When this is the case we will give it to other animal charities that assist us in our re-homing problems, this can be anything from vivarium's and tanks to office furniture and chairs. I moved some of this equipment to on of the wildlife centres in our area and they were very pleased for the donation. My next job of the day involved some horses said to be in a poor state, as usual with the horses in question all was well. Its always better to call us with a concern and it turn out to be nothing, than leave something that
later is found to be serious and the animal suffers.

Wednesday:

Today was a day of meetings, the first discussing the changes being made within the RSPCA and the second was regarding the Regional Exotic Animal Coordinator responsibilities, equipment and numbers.

Thursday:

Out on the road making various enquiries in connection with a beaten dog and a dog in a garden without any shelter 24 hours a day. No reply at either of these calls but they still take quite a bit of my time as they are at opposite ends of my new area. The afternoon is spent at yet another meeting,
glad to say I’ve got no more planned over the next few weeks.

Friday:

Started today off with follow up calls at addresses I visited yesterday, more luck with the first one than last time, glad to say nothing wrong with the dog so moved on to the next call, this time to do with a horse. Once at the location I was told that the owner had moved the horse on and nothing
was known about them. Next stop was to a pet shop, this shop gets more complaints made about it than any other in my area, however it operates within the law and there’s nothing we can do about things that area morally wrong. I have suggested that the people who protest and contact us make
representations to their MP’s asking for a change in legislation. This would be the only way things can be changed. As usual all is in a legally acceptable condition. After the pet shop I move onto collect a couple of snakes that are going to a new home, one is a Californian King Snake and the other a 10’ Burmese Python. Both are re-homed to a centre out of the normal area due to closer
places being full. It takes much of our time moving animals around, even short distances can take hours depending on the time of day, this was no exception, I left the base at 5:30pm and did not get to my home until 11:30pm. The round trip was only 70 miles but it still took six hours, the roads are mad on Friday’s!

Well off on Saturday for some football and then back on Sunday, hope you all enjoy your weekend. See you next week.

Sunday:

Very busy day today, calls took me from one end of my area in Morden, to the bottom of my temporary area in Caterham. The calls all involved a rabbit kept in a front garden in a small hutch. An allegation that a large fish was being kept in a tank too small for it, this was found to be incorrect. Another call was in relation to a dog hit by a car, it was said that it had not taken to the vet by the owner, this enquiry continues. More dog problems, this time some jack Russell terriers were said to be terrifying the local wildlife, advice was given to the owners on keeping the dogs under control. The final call dealt with was to a dog left in a house on its own, after leaving a note at the address the owners contacted me within a short time so the concern by the informant was undue. I finished the day compiling a report to headquarters relating to pet shop problems in my area.

Monday:

Off Duty.

Tuesday:

Off Duty

Wednesday:

Every year we attend various refresher courses, today was the Ladder training course. The reason for this is to ensure we are competent and confident when climbing and working with ladders. Although we don’t carry ladders in our vehicles we do have access to small sets and also on some occasions have to use Fire Service equipment. After the training I made a number of calls, the first being to pigeons trapped behind netting at a
railway station. This is a regular problem and in most cases the birds are able to get in and out under their own steam. The problems occur when the netting is repaired with birds still trapped and the contractors not removing them correctly. After dealing with this I was off to check a dog in a car, yes people still leave dogs in cars thinking that just because its winter its possible to do this. Even at this time of year cars will get warm, if a dog is left without water in this situation it can suffer in some cases.

Thursday:

Mixed day today, usual calls ranging from dogs in gardens without shelter, to snakes kept in small vivariums. In most cases there was only a need to give cautionary advice. Picked up a Soft Shelled Turtle for rehoming, this will go to a charity in Southend who have made a pond for it. Last call of the day was yet another dog in a car, this was more of a concern than normal as it was an Old English Sheep Dog, the windows were closed and were steaming up. It was obvious that the dog was feeling discomfort. After speaking to the owner he accepted that he should not have left the dog in the car and assured he would not do so again in the future.

Friday:

Off Duty today, but still working. As manpower is low on a Friday, I decided to transport the turtle to Southend in my own time, how much of a good boy am I.

Well I’m not working Saturday so I think I’ll go to the football again. Back on Sunday, hope you all enjoy your weekend. See you next week. Sorry for the lack of photos this week, its not always possible to take them when your rushing around.

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