 A shaky Start
The RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is a UK organisation with affiliates worldwide which is dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to all members of the animal kingdom, whether they be pets, farm livestock or indigenous wildlife. They certainly have their work cut out for them and are entirely funded by voluntary contributions.
We originally placed an unofficial RSPCA Page on the web about 18 months ago simply because it had no representation on the Internet. It proved to be a sound move because, in the absence of any other RSPCA site, we have received hundreds of email requests both locally and from abroad from concerned netizens seeking all sorts of advice, from basic care of grass snakes to the address of the local rescue centre. Now, we are an UNOFFICIAL RSPCA site, which means we are neither endorsed by them, nor are we supported by them, and in the beginning we didn't get off to a very positive start. Click onto the letter at left for further details of that episode.
However, we don't let little things stand in the way of trying to do our little bit for the animals, so we carry on. Here's our Unofficial RSPCA Page!
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
RSPCA
Causeway
Horsham
West Sussex
RH12 1HG
Tel: 01403 264181
Fax: 01403 241048
Telex: DX 57628 HORSHAM
Email: enqserv@rspca.org.uk
Web Site: http://www.rspca.org.uk
Registered Charity No. 219099
The RSPCA is the world's oldest and largest animal welfare organisation, founded to prevent cruelty and promote kindness to animals.  So much for the blurb, but I'd like to say here and now that I have nothing but the utmost admiration and respect for the hundreds of paid and unpaid workers who do so much day in, day out, to help ease the suffering of thousands of abused animals. My particular beef (no pun intended) is with the poultry industry, in particular with regard to Battery Farming. The RSPCA is actively involved in the campaign to phase out all existing battery cages in the European Union within four years. It spells out that there are alternatives to battery farming:
but admits these alternative systems are unlikely to be adopted on any significant scale (although the  Scheme appears to be taking off) without Government intervention with tough  legislation to ban the practice. After all, battery chicken farming is by far the cheapest way to produce eggs, with production costs 10 to 50 percent lower that the alternatives, and as we all know, profit is king.
In their literature (contact them for their leaflet P45 3.94) they strongly encourage shoppers to boycott battery-farmed egg boxes with misleading labels like 'farm fresh' or 'country fresh'. In addition to this they encourage us all to write to our MPs and MEPs about this disgraceful practice. If you want more information about their campaign and what you can do to help it in the UK, call them or email them using the above details.
 There is good news as well, though. We've got two lovely rescued dogs in our family and me and Dannie would just like to give the RSPCA Animal Rescue Centre at Wethersfield a mention for helping us to find Bobby, a six month old mongrel lurcher, terrier, schnauzer, Heinz57 puppy, abandoned (possibly twice) by his owners, who could not be traced. He's now 20 months old and has eaten everything in the house that isn't brickwork or nailed down... and we love him to bits!
Finally, here are some links for those of you with an interest in stopping the worldwide cruelty to animals (let us know if any of these links fall off the edge of the world!):
At last the waiting is over! Effective the 23rd October last year (1997), RSPCA's brand new Web SITE is up and running. You can go and visit them at http://www.rspca.org.uk. It's not bad at all, with plenty of resources on issues like fox hunting, whaling and animal welfare. Go visit!
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