Isn't it time we gave RSPCA Inspectors legal powers?

If you ask anyone who they think of reporting an incident of animal cruelty to and it is odds on that it will be the RSPCA. Ask them who is legally responsible for investigating and prosecuting animal abuse and you will probably get the same answer. But they do not have legal powers, but have become the default agency because no one else is interested. Why? - because when the government introduced the all-encompassing new Animal Welfare Act 2006 they failed to appoint anyone to enforce it and so official agencies like the Police and local authorities do not feel they have a statutory duty to bother. It almost beggars belief, but that is the situation.

It is an expensive niche area of law enforcement which no one really wants to get involved in. To put it into context, the RSPCA prosecute over 90% of cases taken under the Animal Welfare Act, 2006. Interestingly, the RSPCA is also the only organisation that collects statistics on cruelty and without them we would not even know the level of cruelty in the country. With no one else apparently capable of doing the job we should be congratulating the RSPCA and supporting it in every way possible, but not everyone sees it that way.

Paranoia over RSPCA powers.

In 2017 certain sections of the UK media reported, in their usual hysterical way, that the RSPCA were in talks with the police and government seeking statutory powers under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to enforce the legislation without a police presence. This led to a lot of hand wringing even though most other countries have successfully gone down this route years ago.

There are many organisations and agencies who feel that the RSPCA has muscled its way into the role as though it is an evil plot on their behalf. Most of these are those who do not want animal welfare orientated people interfering in pursuits which involve suffering to animals.

Simon Hart, UK Member of Parliament and a former head of the Countryside Alliance, an organisation dedicated to blood sports, was quick to jump in and stir up the controversy and commented: ‘The RSPCA is a welfare charity not a private police force and the development is “appalling"’. Tim Bonner the chief executive of the same organisation added “The charity’s past record in this area would make it the last organisation on earth that you would want to grant powers of this nature to.”

Most people misunderstand the status of RSPCA Inspectors who have always been powerless, which has always made it extremely difficult for them to do their job and often causes criticism of them "not doing anything".They have been accused of wearing police style uniforms, victimisation, using threatening behaviour, killing every animal they come across, trespassing and stealing animals. It is all ridiculous, but it appears that a large section of our nation of animal lovers does not want people who commit cruelty to be prosecuted and their animals taken away from them.

UK MP's, Police chiefs and the Government at one point were all for trying to remove these mystical powers which obviously do not exist. The RSPCA prosecutes under the long-established entitlement in English Law that any person or organisation can bring a private prosecution against any law-breaker under section 6(1) of the Prosecution of Offences Act (POA) 1985, so to stop the RSPCA would mean stripping every person of that right.

The national police Chiefs' Council wanted the RSPCA to "step back," and for a government agency to take over prosecutions. Luckily the government ignored all the outcry as they realised that the Police and local authorities were too overstretched and short of finance to take their place. The National Police Chiefs Authority like the idea of introducing a single statutory body funded by the Government and made up of ‘associated professionals, support networks and relevant charity sector’ to deal with welfare prosecution. Unfortunately, this would involve a large committee and we all know what happens when committees get involved - little action.

They stated that: ‘Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 there is no one agency that is held responsible or accountable for enforcement of animal welfare. This means there are inconsistencies, however the Police, local authorities and animal welfare charities do seek to work together to deal with serious cruelty to animals.’ But to complicate matters they have also suggested that the RSPCA has a conflict of interest in both investigating and prosecuting.

Who should we be reporting animal cruelty to?

So, who should we be expecting to investigate and prosecuting cruelty offenders? Don’t expect other animal welfare charities to do so because straying into areas involving campaigning against and prosecuting animal cruelty is contentious as well as expensive and risks alienating donors so most animal charities steer well clear and prefer instead to concentrate on rehoming animals and caring for sick animals.

We should in fact be reporting suspected animal cruelty to the Police, our local authorities and the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), as they do all have the powers.

Reporting animal cruelty to the Police.

Try reporting it to a Police call centre and they will automatically refer you to the RSPCA and in practice the UK police generally feel they have no statutory duty. The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) stated they are happy to: ‘signpost reports of animal welfare to the RSPCA and only provide a police response in emergency cases’.

In all fairness the Police are overstretched and are out of their depth or comfort zone when it comes to animal cruelty issues. Many officers no doubt have the attitude that they have better things to do and may not like animals anyway. They also admit that their front-line officers rarely use or even know about the Act and many forces rely on a few ‘specialist’ dog and wildlife crime officers to deal with animals.

Reporting Animal Cruelty to DEFRA.

You can also report many aspects of cruelty to the local Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) who are tasked with most aspects of the care, welfare and transport of livestock, slaughterhouses and animals in general, but the number of inspectors and inspections is woefully inadequate. In 2016 they only managed to visit 1,676 farms out of 362,151 that were due inspection for animal welfare - just 0.46%. The potential for missed cases of suffering is huge.

Reporting animal cruelty to local authorities.

Local government authorities, usually the environmental health department inspectors, are responsible for licensing premises and animal welfare in dog breeding, pet shops, riding stables and most places where animals are kept. Like the Police they have no statutory duty to enforce the Animal Welfare Act, but the Animal Welfare Act has discretionary powers for national and local authorities to appoint ‘inspectors’, but because of the cost and training required only 60% did so when the law was introduced and of these only 17% had inspectors dealing with companion animals. Many have withdrawn them over the last decade due to the costs involved. Environmental Health Inspectors are far too busy anyway trying to make sure our local kebab shops are hygienic to have time investigating animal cruelty.

Different in Scotland

It works differently in Scotland where they appear to take animal cruelty more seriously and in fact until recently had much higher punishments. The Scottish SPCA (SSPCA) are designated as a ‘Specialist Reporting Agency’, who report the facts of a case of cruelty to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. They decide whether the evidence warrants a prosecution and is in the ‘public interest’. In this way it protects the SSPCA from any criticism or blame of victimisation or conflict of interest.

Many believe this is the way forward and ensures an independent and unbiased approach, but in reality, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is yet another overstretched agency which would give animal cruelty a low priority and probably have a differing viewpoint from those who deal with cruelty daily resulting in very few prosecutions being taken.

UK lags far behind in their powers to enforce animal welfare laws.

Although in the UK there is consternation at the thought of the RSPCA being given legal powers, most other comparable countries have no such hang-ups and in this respect we lag far behind. Humane Society and SPCA officers in countries like the USA, Australia and New Zealand mostly have police powers and no one worries about them wearing police style uniforms. Many of them carry guns for protection.

New Zealand are way ahead of the game and the UK could learn a lot from them. They have 75 warranted Inspectors with exclusive powers to investigate and prosecute and have law enforcement training like the police being able to issue fines and charge people.

In Australia except for the Northern Territory, where the State authorities investigate and prosecute animal cruelty offenders, the SPCA inspectors have commendable powers to enter property and seize animals and evidence without police involvement, issue on the spot fines and warning notices and prosecute. In the USA, most Humane Society and SPCA officers have similar powers to the police and most of them are armed for protection.

When I was a Humane Society inspector in the Bahamas, I was also a Royal Bahamian police officer which was extremely useful particularly when I needed ‘back up’, which was often!

So what is all the panic about? Many misguided critics still want the RSPCA's so-called ‘power of prosecution’ taken away from them, but it's about time that we got behind the RSPCA and got in step with other countries around the world who see no problem in doing it right. Without the RSPCA it is obvious that no one else would be interested in protecting our animals from cruelty. Most people think they already have legal powers so why not allow them the tools to do their job properly and give them the backing of the law. You know it makes sense.

For more articles on animal welfare and law issues visit animalrightsandwrongs.uk.