I've had several bad experiences with this horrible organisation, so please excuse the length of this post, but I really want people to know exactly how corrupt they are.
It started about 15yrs ago, with half a dozen local, 11&12yr old hooligans, killing two of my pedigree breeding cats, and when I called the police and rspca about it, the rspca seized the rest of my (very expensive) cats, tried demanding that I provide them with all their pedigree papers and sign them all over to them (evidently, so they could then sell them on at their full value of between £700 and £2,000 each). I refused to provide any papers or to sign them over, so they took me to court and had me banned from keeping cats for several years because I'd allegedly 'not kept the ones that were killed, safe', despite them having been living quite happily in a locked pen, in my garden, that also had a locked gate.
Whilst waiting to go to court, they allowed two of my cats to mate, and when we got into court, they also tried to make me get the resulting 5 kittens registered and to provide pedigree papers for them (with papers, these kittens could fetch as much as £1,000 each).
Thankfully, I was able to explain to the judge that cats are pregnant for 9 weeks, and that the kittens had been born 5 months after my cats had been seized, so the pregnancy had occurred either as a result of the rspca's negligence or it was an illegal mating, so the court ruled against them on that part of the case, although they did impose a ban, so all my cats (14 in all) were awarded to the rspca, but they never did get papers for them, so they were only able to sell them on at a fraction of their actual value.
About 6 months into the ban, I was with a friend walking her dog in the park, and we saw a man carrying a wriggling pillowcase, walking towards the lake.
We were very concerned about what he had in the pillowcase, so we stopped him and I asked what he was carrying and what he planned to do with it. We ended up arguing because he wouldn't tell me, so I snatched it and discovered a very young, pregnant cat.
He threatened to call the police because I'd 'stolen' the cat and pillowcase from him, so I offered to lend him my phone to do so, saying that I'd be explaining what we'd seen and suspected, and why I'd taken it from him, and that HE'D be the one in trouble, not me. He took all of 2 seconds to think about what I'd said, and promptly legged it, leaving me holding the cat.
My friend couldn't take her home with her because of her dog, so I tried to pass her on to the rspca (not interested) and a couple of charities (no space) without success, but I'd done some fostering for Cats Protection a few years earlier, so i was known to their centre and they suggested that my teenage son could look after her until a space could be found. So we kept hold of her, waiting for a call to say they could take her.
Several weeks later, 6 gorgeous kitten's were born and one needed to be bottle and hand-fed for several weeks. We lined up new owners for all the kittens and the young mum but were just waiting until they were old enough to leave her.
At the same time, we had 2 'supposedly stray' cats living locally who my son was also feeding. We'd befriended them and I was eventually able to scan them for microchips and spoke to their registered owner who gave me some cock and bull story about having rehomed them in my area, but didn't know who to, although, I'd spoken to her boyfriend a few hours earlier, and he'd told me that he'd seen them both that morning, in their garden, 9 miles away from my home, 10mins before I'd seen them! So we were also trying to get one of the charities to take these two on, too.
Meanwhile, the mother of one of the 12yr old hooligans, illegally discovered details of my ban, and reported to the rspca that I was 'looking after' the 2 'dumped strays'. We got a visit. Both cats happened to be in my back garden when the inspectors arrived, so they scooped them up to be taken away, and I explained that one of them in particular would need to be handled very carefully because she was very skittish and not very trusting, and I said that the vet would need protective gloves to handle her.
I also explained about the young mum cat and her kittens, and said that they were literally 4 days from going to their new homes, but that I was telling them why we had them because I didn't want to get into trouble for them being in my home.
The kittens were also removed and I explained about the little one who still needed to be hand-fed, but their mum was out on a little wander, so I agreed to trap her in the house when she returned, and to hand her over the next day.
She came back that night and we had a terrible night with her searching for her missing babies, then the inspectors returned the next morning to collect her.
I told them that I would provide the names and contact details of the people lined up to take on the kittens and their mum, but they said they didn't want this info because these people would NOT be given these kittens.
So I contacted everyone myself, told them what had happened and advised them to approach the rspca themselves.
I was, thankfully, advised that no action would be taken against me for breaching the terms of the ban because I'd done 'the wrong thing by taking this young pregnant cat home, but for the right reasons'.
I also asked how they'd got on with the two 'abandoned' cats and was told that the skittish one had been immediately euthanised because she had bitten the vet when she took her out of the cage.
Four days later, a friend who'd been planning to take on the hand-fed kitten, went to the rspca to talk to them about still taking him, and was informed that they'd put him back with his mum but he wasn't suckling or eating independently, so they'd euthanized him.
Another friend went to ask about the remaining older (dumped) cat about a week after they'd been taken, and was told that she'd apparently been pining for her friend and hadn't been eating, so they'd euthanized her too.
Basically, if they think an animal is going to cost them time or money that they won't be able to recoup by selling it on, or if there's no big advertising opportunity that makes them look good, then they really don't seem to care, but if they think they can gain big bucks (like with my pedigree cats) then they'll go all out to maximise the income.