http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/23_09_08_fo4_rspca.pdf
BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION RADIO 4
TRANSCRIPT OF “FILE ON 4” - “RSPCA”
CURRENT AFFAIRS GROUP
TRANSMISSION: Tuesday 23 September 2008 2000 - 2040
REPEAT: Sunday 28 September 2008 1700 - 1740
REPORTER: Allan Urry
PRODUCER: Paul Grant
EDITOR: David Ross
PROGRAMME NUMBER: 08VQ4271LH0
THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED
FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE
DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC
CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY.
URRY: The RSPCA claims thousands of suffering animals are
waiting to be rescued and it wants your help.
EXTRACT FROM RSPCA ADVERT
PRESENTER: This is an urgent public appeal for the RSPCA …
URRY: The world’s largest animal welfare says it needs to
recruit more inspectors to implement new laws.
MAN: The fact is, we need more money to cope with this
extra workload. I don’t intend to let one animal down – and I know you don’t either.
URRY: But File on 4’s uncovered serious concerns about
some of its investigations and prosecutions.
RICH: I’m very troubled by the sort of defendants that are
almost becoming typical in RSPCA cases. The idea of criminalising children, the mentally
ill, pensioners is something which really scares me in
our society. I think that I – and a lot of other people – wouldn’t be bringing cases like that in
the numbers that we’re seeing.
AAS: These types of questionable police actions by SPCAs are happening all over Canada and the U.S. In BC, they began happening in 2003 with the questionable seizure of Heather Graham's dogs in Port Alberni. AAS has spoken to many lawyers over the years and they invariably described the SPCA's actions and prosecutions they are involved in as an abuse of power. AAS's concern has always been for the welfare of animals the SPCA has seized (as well as a concern for some of the people who the SPCA has prosecuted and a concern for the eroding of the rule of law by law enforcers). We know that the SPCA killed many of the innocent and helpless animals it seized, for reasons as specious as mange. The welfare of some animals the SPCA seized would have been better met by leaving them where they were happy, but imposing improvements, as the PCA Act allows and the SPCA's own Manual strongly urged. AAS alleged that the SPCA was making seizures more for the donations they attracted than for the welfare of the animals it seized. It isn't unreasonable to think that telling the media that some seized animals are in the worst physical condition it [the SPCA] has ever seen, and then later, on payment of thousands of dollars, quietly returning the animals to the alleged abuser, is more about money than animal welfare. AAS collected some of the most egregious cases of what we believe were abuses of power, and posted them at http://www.animaladvocates.com/seizures/. At "Schwab" we have video of the SPCA seizure made secretly. After the SPCA saw the video, the prosecution was dropped. At "Materi" we have video of the seizure made by the SPCA. The seizure of Gwen Wilson's animals and the SPCA's ruthless prosecution of a kind woman dying of cancer is particularly disturbing.