to be peed off being hounded by RSPCA for money... just because i ALREADY pay them money?

[juicychops]

i was targeted a year ago and read out some story about a poor abused dog which after MUCH pleading by the man i agreed to a monthly donation of £3.

Over the last 3 months i have had a number keep calling me literally about 20 odd times. i haven't answered because i didn't recognise the number. anyway the last time they called i rang the number back to see who it was and as it was the RSPCA, when they called AGAIN today i answered, thinking it was to just say thanks for my continued support.

but no

i had another story about another poor dog and then was told that others who already sponsor rspca have agreed to up their donation to £10 per month and would i like to?

i said no.

another story about another dog, then asked if £5 would be ok?

i said no again.

then, some MORE stories about how terrible dogs have been treated and figures from the last year. then asked if £3 would be ok?

by this time i was getting a bit narked and said politely i already give to the dogs trust which combined with rspca totals £10 per month i cant afford any more. she finally got the message and said goodbye.

i know animals get badly treated every day and my money is needed, but it is also needed by my ds too and these calls i find really uncomfortable because of the sob stories they read out to emotionally blackmail you. i just find it really annoying that i was targeted before and persuaded to pay because i wasn't already, but now targeted again BECAUSE i already pay them, and obviously not enough by their standards.

i am too polite to be firm at the start of the call so i cant help but let them go on and on

AIBU to be annoyed?

TigerseyeMum... You've just reminded me of a programme my Mum was talking about last week. I don't know when it was on but it was about the WWF and the fact that they look after the animals only that are in the 'public eye'. They produce fluffy toys and have a huge expenditure behind the scenes. It was on a documentary recently, I didn't see it.

WSPA is a charity that I try to support when I can; no bad publicity surrounding them as far as I know.

I also support a local Greyhound charity; lovely dogs who need all the support and help they can get.

Oh yes, WSPA always look good. Their adverts are so sad though :( I think sometimes that a sad advert puts me off because I avoid watching as it stays with me for ages.

We also sponsor donkeys in UK and Cyprus.

I had a hedgehog last weekend. It had been out on the field in daylight for 2 days. I didnt know they dont come out in the day. Anyway the kids said mam the kids are poking the hedgehog with a stick. I ran along, put it in a box and rang the rspca at 6ish. No problem somone will collect.

It had yellow discharge runnig from its ears, nose and one eye. The other eye was closed. It stank to high heaven and was covered in fleas.

3 hours later, call off rspca. They cant collect till tommorrow. A mad dash at 9pm trying to fiind somone to help the hedgehog. I spoke to a man who rescues but he was stuck at work. He put me in contact with a lady who rescues but had no transport. She rang round trying to get a lift. Unfortunately she couldnt. She gave me instructions on what to do. I wrapped him in a blanket and put him in the downstairs Lav with dog food and water.

He was alive still in the morning but not looking good. Breathing but not moving. Rspca came at 8ish and took him away.

I spoke to the man i had spoken to the previous night. He was furious and said the RSPCA are notorious on a weekend and they would probably only put him to sleep anyway.

We cancelled our charity direct debits and send the money directly to a mother in Uganda instead. No management or advertising costs at all. She's the sister-in-law of a friend so we know exactly where it goes and trust her to make the best decisions for the children she looks after.

TigerseyeMum... YY to the WSPA advert... where the baby orangutan (I think) is stroking the vet's face whilst he's listening to his heart. The donkeys chained up too... so sad. :(
I wonder if it would be possible to run a bit of an auction here, on the charities section, for some of the independent charities that are close to our hearts?

I rang the RSPCA yesterday to report a dog that lies on the window ledge of the house opposite night and day - never gets walked - I could weep everytime I see its forlorn little face pressed up to the glass - never even gets to go out in the garden. It doesnt even wag its tail or react when its owner comes back in - only when strangers walk up the path which obviously gives it hope of maybe a walk at last - but then it flops back down as they walk away resigned to another day in the window. It obviously knows its owners not going to take it for a walk , hence the lack of reaction to her.

So I finally succumbed yesterday and phoned the RSPCA and told them of its sorry plight. Guess what people - thats not cruelty apparently and they cant do anything about it. I was actually made to feel like a vindictive nuisance for reporting this. They can only intervene if an animal is without food water or shelter I was told very assertively.
Imprisonment 24/7 without any love, affection, interaction, exercise, fun or socialising is fine apparently.

So pleased some of you are donating to smaller charities. Especially those related to greyhounds - yes they are indeed beautiful dogs inside and out and give so much loyalty and love in spite of sometimes having had very sad lives.

Mine is snoozing happily on his bed while I watch Lewis and mn. If greyhound rescue hadn't found him a home I dread to think where he might be now.

"I spoke to the man i had spoken to the previous night. He was furious and said the RSPCA are notorious on a weekend and they would probably only put him to sleep anyway."

This certainly rings a bell. We reported a pony who had such bad laminitis he couldn't stand, poor thing must have been in agony. We then spent an entire bank holiday weekend taking it feed and water as it lay in the boiling hot sun because the RSPCA didn't turn up until 4 days later.

Then there was a cat I spotted trailing a broken leg. I rang the RSPCA to ask for some help catching the poor thing (it was living wild on a farm) but they wouldn't lend me a humane trap or help in any other way. The woman on the phone said those exact words "we will only put it to sleep anyway". I eventually managed to catch her myself when she was too thin to run away. The PDSA did the best they could for her leg and 10 years later she's happy and healthy despite being a very old lady with a pronounced limp!

The RSPCA would have been happy to let her starve to death. Not exactly 'preventing cruelty' IMO.

The problem with big charities is that regardless the intention when they were set up by one person in their back room, or whatever - they become businesses. Their business model is to get you to give them money so that they can carry on operating and pay whacking salaries to their top brass and carry on employing people to get you to give them your money...

They lose sight of what it is that they were supposed to be doing in the first place and become organisations that exist to raise money to ensure that they continue to exist.

Little of what you send actually goes to the 'cause', as far as I can see.

I mean, do you have any idea how much has been raised 'for africa'? Probably billions globally.

So why isn't there a borehole every 10 feet, for a start? A borehole can be built for £10,000.

It's in their interests to NOT solve the problem. No more problem - no more charity - no more top brass on massive salaries.

I hate charity collectors. One came to my house the other week, selling some magazine. They come here all the time I think because they see the wheelchair lift and make a beeline he actually tapped the lift and said, 'You'll be interested in this.' And then when I said we couldn't afford it he was so scornful - really going on, saying, it's saving you money! You buy your car insurance through us, you buy your holiday through us... I told him we can't afford a car or holidays or any of the things he was selling and he made me feel so ashamed and weak. I hate them! I hate them!

I give what I can afford by direct debit and I really can't afford any more. And we're better off than a lot of our neighbours who are asylum seekers or very old ladies etc, so if we can't afford it, they certainly can't. They deliberately target these deprived areas - I never had so much hassle when I lived in Chorlton. Ugh. Charities.

We lend money through http://www.kiva.org/ - much better, I think.

how many people have said "hounded" before me

Oh gosh sorry.

[shcok] at these stories.

I have more or less the same experience of many here: but with British Red Cross. I often donate to the so that must be how they got my number.

The woman rushed through her script and then asked for £20 a month. As I am not working said I would be happy to set up DD but for less. She just returned to a more forceful version of the script. Also said I had to give CC details over the phone straight away. I asked for a form to be emailed to me so that I could read and check before giving details. But, they don't do this.

I emailed Red Cross to complain. They did confirm that the company who makes these calls do indeed ask for credit card detials over the phone. No amount of reassuring info. about how secure this is would persuade me to do this over the phone to someone who had cold called me. Who would do this ? Only confused or vulnerable people.

Charities employ companies to do this and are very happy with the money that rolls in. I think everyone needs to complain and tell the charities they are are working on behalf of that this gives them a bad name. But, we are all busy. That's why it carries on

I won't give to the RSPCA anyway - a) they employ chuggers = automatic "no chance buddy" by my rules, b) the way they're structured means it all goes nationally to feed the advertising behemoth while local branches get bog all and I think I pay enough directors' salaries with things like utility bills etc already, c) for all they try the abandoned cute kitties in adverts stuff - they refuse to take these animals in and fob them off on local rescues, while trying to hog all the animal-lover fundraising for themselves, d) they aren't no-kill.

I've also heard some utter horror stories about their rehoming policy locally which basically seems to involve if you have a pulse and a fenced in garden you can get what you like - the pensioner who could barely walk who got an Akita with "issues" being a noteable one that I heard of recently.

I won't even home a dog via them to be honest - I don't want to be on their fundraising database.

And seriously WTF is with this site being populated by greyhound people at the moment?! You're all just taunting me cos I'm still stuck waiting for a suitable one to come into my local rescue and it's driving me nuts with the waiting!

i only give to charity in tins, i know it means they don't get gift aid but it means i dont get the begging calls constantly. Chuggers who come to my door normally get my standard reply which is 'oh, i already donate to you' they're not able to increase your DD they only get paid for new recruits - works a dream.

Please do consider Dogs Trust instead, I was stopped in the supermarket the other day being asked to set up a DD to them but when I explained to the man I was on mat leave/pay he was more than happy for me to give a one off donation through their website. This was my idea, not his btw, as I wanted to give something to them but couldn't commit monthly. I already have a DD to the Cats Protection League, who are apparently the sister organisation of the DT.

I would not touch RSPCA with a bargepole since 9 yrs ago when they wouldn't let us adopt a cat "because military people leave their animals behind when they move" They hadn't even come to meet us, they said that over the phone. The two cats we got from CPL are still with us after 9 years and 5 moves and are very much a part of our family.

The RSPCA used to ring me constantly as well. However, they will take you off their dialling lists when asked, which is what I did, and the calls did stop. They just send me email updates now. Just mention on the next call that you would prefer no phone contact and can they remove you from their lists.

The only one I regularly donate to now is Greenpeace. They ring me every now and then when they've had a successful campaign, but don't push the donation thing down my throat. Every other charity I've ever donated to did the whole harassing thing and it's very off-putting. I donate by going to charity shops sometimes and donating to the shops too.

DP says that when he was a member of Amnesty International they didn't harass him either. Though that was a few years ago.

I looked in today to see if anyone had any alternative suggestions of how to help my poor dog sat permanently looking out of the window that I or any of my neighbours have never seen walked or even in garden. See my previous post about half a page back. Sorry but I cant move on seeing his sad face every day and RSPCA wont help.

sorry to hijack btw - I too hate the emotional blackmail of some charitiy collectors to answer the original OP. I particularly hate being asked 'Would you like to help starving children ?' when entering a supermarket. I mean what you supposed to say - 'No'

If thats not a loaded question I dont know what is !

Madmn. Are you sure the dog doesnt go in the garden. This means they will have dog mess and wee all over the house.

Well yes sorry - they apparently let it out the back which is a very cramped yard full of junk to do its business - according to the next door neighbour. But the houses opposite are two up two down terraces with the usual small back yards. What I meant was its never seen out in the front garden to play etc - which is a reasonable size and gated. You see the owner in and out but never ever with the dog. The only time anyones ever seen it out was when a man came in a car and took it away (apparently to breed from it) and brought it back a couple of hours later.

madmn - can you have a chat to the owners, maybe offer to take the dog out for a walk? It does sound awful, unless there's some reason (e.g. injury) why he has to be on very restricted exercise?

madmn52, as far as I see it you have 4 choices. One is offer to walk him/get a teenaged DS/DD to do so (use the excuse that they need experience with animals for their forthcoming college course or somesuch if necessary) and take it from there. If you're happy with all else knowing he's being walked, great, if you're not and he ran off one day that would be a great shame, particularly if an identical looking dog turned up in rescue/with a sympathetic rescuer across the other side of the country...

You could offer to buy him/her from the owner.

He could go missing from his house or garden....

You could take out a private prosecution against the owner, which is all the RSPCA can do. One of the requirements of the Animal Welfare Act is that the animal must have the freedom to exhibit normal behaviour so here, just as in so many other cases, the RSPCA are talking bull when they say they can't do anything. What they mean is that wrt a dog not being walked there is AFAIK no precedent in law and they are unwilling to test the grounds.

Personally I'd get the dog out in any which way I could, particularly if he/she is being used as breeding stock. Rescue is stuffed to the gills as it is without a puppy farmer, for that's all this person is, adding to the number of dogs in this country who will inevitably end up killed purely because there aren't enough homes or rescue places to accommodate them.