By Nick Craven for The Mail on Sunday and Lynne Wallis
Published: 22:05, 29 December 2012 | Updated: 16:01, 8 January 2013
- Shock figures reveal 3,400 animals put down for 'non-medical reasons'
- Whistleblower claims she shot healthy dogs 'because there was no room'
- Statistics show 10,000 fewer animals were rehomed in 2011
- But charity's prosecutions of rogue pet owners leap 20 per cent
- Countryside Alliance says charity should lose right to call itself Royal.
The RSPCA destroys nearly half the animals it ‘rescues’ each year, with thousands being put down for non-medical reasons, shocking figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday reveal.
The animal-welfare charity destroyed 53,000 animals last year – 44 per cent of those it took in – leading critics to claim that the organisation spends too much time on prosecuting cases of neglect and cruelty and not enough on finding new homes for animals.
The charity insists the vast majority of the animals were put down to end their suffering, but it admits that last year alone 3,400 animals were destroyed for ‘non-medical’ reasons, such as the lack of space in kennels and catteries.
The number of animals re-homed has dropped from 70,000 in 2009 to 60,000 last year, while the number of convictions secured has leapt by 20 per cent. Figures obtained for the past five years show that 46 per cent of animals rescued by the charity were put down.
And today, The Mail on Sunday reveals a whistleblower’s account, raising concerns – denied by the organisation – that the charity kills more healthy animals than necessary.
Former RSPCA inspector Dawn Aubrey-Ward, who worked for the organisation from 2008 to 2010, said she came across numerous examples of animals destroyed because there was no room for them in shelters.
‘If there wasn’t any room in the nearby RSPCA home or one of a number of approved charities, we were supposed to euthanise them,’ she claims.
The figures have also revealed the charity is rehoming fewer pets, with 10,000 fewer finding new owners in 2011 (file picture)
"RSPCA whistleblower claims she was forced to put down fit pets during her time with charity"
A former RSPCA inspector claims the charity is killing more healthy animals than necessary by branding them ‘unsuitable for rehoming’.
Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, Dawn Aubrey-Ward says she was forced to put down many healthy pets during her two years with the organisation.
Ms Aubrey-Ward claimed large numbers of animals, particularly dogs, were put to sleep after being classed ‘unsuitable for rehoming’, but that the definition could be widely drawn to often include older animals, those needing veterinary care, dogs deemed ‘aggressive’ or larger dogs which were ‘hard to home’.
Ms Aubrey-Ward, 44, a divorced mother of four from Martock, Somerset, joined the RSPCA as a trainee inspector in 2007. But she soon found herself at odds with what she described as its ‘antiquated military-style’ regime which placed ‘prosecution and persecution’ of owners ahead of protection of their pets.
Ms Aubrey-Ward went on: ‘The RSPCA’s image was that they care for animals, prevent cruelty and help and advise people with animals. I was horrified when I learned we were going to have to put down healthy animals because we didn’t have room for them. It didn’t fit with their public image.’
She won an award from the RSPCA for her part in the rescue of a lamb and received glowing reports for her good work. But when she began to question the practice of putting healthy animals to sleep, she says she found her job was at risk.
‘If there wasn’t any room in the nearby RSPCA home or one of a number of approved charities, we were supposed to euthanise them,’ she said.
Early in her training, Ms Aubrey-Ward says, she saw a young rottweiler put into an RSPCA van for a check-up.
‘The dog, which was surely frightened, growled at the inspector with me. The other inspector said, “That’s it – this is an aggressive dog.” It was put down soon afterwards.’
Later, she rescued a heavily pregnant ‘staffie’ bitch from a cruel owner, along with an aggressive male dog. ‘With some TLC in a nice kennels, and someone to work on her behaviour, she would have been OK. The dog warden and I tried hard to find a space for her but we couldn’t,’ she said.
Beginning to gain an understanding of the current issue surrounding dog euthanasia in the UK. RSPCA are the main organisation of which rescue unwanted and re-homing pets. Despite the RSPCA being criminalised in this newspaper article, I believe not all is what it seems. There will be an underlying reason - Why is there overcrowding? Is there an increase in animal cruelty and abandonment? What needs to change?
(Craven, N. and Wallis. L., 2012. Updated 2013. RSPCA destroys half of the animals that it rescues' - yet thousands are completely healthy. The Mail On Sunday [online]. 9th January 2013. Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254729/RSPCA-destroys-HALF-animals-rescues--thousands-completely-healthy.html. [Accessed on 1st October 2014].)