SHAME ON YOU RSPCA, ISNT THIS WHAT PEOPLE DONATE MONEY TO YOU FOR ?
A FYLDE animal-lover claims the RSPCA told her to dump a lost dog she had rescued from the streets.
Catherine Whatmough rescued the black Collie, which was wandering alone in the middle of Freckleton Street in Lytham on New Year's Day.
Catherine Whatmough rescued the black Collie, which was wandering alone in the middle of Freckleton Street in Lytham on New Year's Day.
The 43-year-old took the dog to her local police station, only to be told they had no facilities to take the dog in.She then tried to contact Fylde Council's dog wardens, but none was available.
After contacting the RSPCA, she says she was told they could not take the dog and that she should let it back out on to the street.
The mother-of-three said: "I was really worried it could cause an accident, because a driver might swerve or slam the brakes on to avoid it so I took it in.
I felt I couldn't just leave it there."I called the police, who said they did not deal with stray dogs and I needed to contact the wardens."I rang the council and they said there was no dog warden on duty.
They took my details and said someone would ring me back but no one did."I called the RSPCA emergency number and they said if there was no other option then I would have to let it free. I was quite shocked by that."I have two dogs so I didn't want to risk it staying with me.
The dog ended up staying with my dad."She was lovely and well-behaved.
The next day we managed to get in touch with the owner who had reported her missing to the council."The dog ran off on New Year's Eve because it got scared by the fireworks but the owner had similar problems trying to report her missing."He was thrilled she was safe."
A spokesman for the RSPCA stressed it was not the charity's policy to tell people to release stray dogs back on to the street and the call operator would be spoken to as "a mistake had been made".She added: "We are glad this issue has been highlighted as legislation means stray dogs are the responsibility of councils and the police."Being a charity, the issue is if we step in then we can start being used to plug the gap. If a dog is injured, then we will help but it is the responsibility of the local authority."A council spokesman said: "We have two on-call dog wardens to cover the entire Fylde and there are occasions when neither is available."If that is the case provisions are made and our call centre staff will usually be able to direct people to a dog home that will try to home or locate owners of lost animals."
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