Bulls, bears, dogs, cats and more \u2013 all saved by the work of the RSPCA. James Fair charts the history of the RSCA’s greatest feats <\/p>
A report in the Lichfield Mercury <\/em>in May 1822 describes what is believed to be the last incident of bull baiting in the town. It tells how a bull was brought to \u201cthe Greenhill Wake\u201d, tied to a stake and attacked by a dog.<\/strong><\/p> The terrified animal broke loose, escaped to nearby Rotten Row before being recaptured and finally \u2013 after killing two other dogs that were let loose upon it \u2013 \u201cput out of its misery\u201d.<\/p> Bull and bear-baiting and other blood sports had been rampantly popular in Elizabethan times, but by the late 17th and early 18th centuries there were signs that people were tiring of these primitive pastimes.<\/p> The famous diarist Samual Pepys, for example, wrote in 1666 that he had attended a bull-baiting event at the \u2018Beare-Garden\u2019, which he hadn\u2019t done for many years. While not without enjoyment, \u201cit is a very rude and nasty pleasure,\u201d he admitted.<\/p> Another account by John Evelyn from 1670 tells how he was forced to accompany friends to a day of blood sports. \u201cI\u2019m most heartily weary of this rude and dirty pastime,\u201d he laments, a trifle hypocritically.<\/p> So when a group of men met in Old Slaughter\u2019s Coffee House in St Martin\u2019s Lane, near Leicester Square, on the evening of 16 June 1824 \u2013 200 years ago \u2013 to discuss how to ensure that an animal welfare act passed two years earlier could be enforced, they were beginning a new chapter in humanity\u2019s relationship with our animal brethren.<\/p> The group included the MPs William Wilberforce and Richard Martin, but the key figure that day was the Reverend Arthur Broome, who wrote the minutes for that famous meeting; he also later went to a debtor\u2019s prison on account of the newly formed society being \u00a3300 in debt.<\/p> Nevertheless, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (it didn\u2019t get its royal title until 1840) was born with a mission \u2013 to inspect streets and slaughterhouses to ensure the Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act <\/em>was enforced. This was, environment secretary Lord Benyon told peers while introducing a bill on animal sentience in 2021, a milestone: \u201cThe world\u2019s first animal protection law\u201d.<\/p> As Chris Sherwood, chief executive of the RSPCA in 2024, remarks, the society\u2019s greatest success is the way it forced people to think differently about their relationship with animals. \u201cOur history is changing attitudes, behaviours and laws towards and concerning animals,\u201d he says.<\/p> The RSPCA\u2019s first big success was in 1835, when Parliament passed the Cruelty to Animals Act<\/em>, which \u2013 among other things \u2013 banned \u201cthe running, baiting, or fighting any Bull, Bear, Badger, Dog, or other Animal (whether of domestic of wild Nature or Kind)\u201d, as well as cock-fighting. The penalty for being found guilty of such crimes went from 10 shillings to five pounds.<\/p> The RSPCA employed officers who could uncover legal transgressions \u2013 but it was often dangerous work. In 1838, two inspectors, the society\u2019s secretary and two bodyguards were attacked by a group of seven men who had been planning a cockfight while they waited in The Swan Inn in Hanworth. One of the inspectors, James Piper, died from his injuries <\/p> In 1870, RSPCA secretary John Colam and a police superintendent stopped the last bullfight in England \u2013 and as far as we know, they survived.<\/p> In the 20th century, the work of the RSPCA in caring for animals became increasingly important. In 1911, the Protection of Animals Act <\/em>legislated further against animal cruelty and established the concept of \u201ccausing unnecessary suffering\u201d, though wild animals remained excluded.<\/p> During the First World War<\/a>, the society created a fund for sick and wounded horses, which allowed it to set up 13 animal hospitals, while in the Second World War<\/a>, silver medals were awarded to RSPCA inspectors who risked life and limb rescuing animals from bomb sites.<\/p> \u201c<\/em>In total, an incredible 10,300 animals were saved<\/em>\u201d<\/em><\/p> In February 1953, RSPCA inspectors valiantly rescued livestock and pets from the fatal North Sea flood that hit England\u2019s east coast. A report written by one inspector, who took part in the operation on badly affected Canvey Island, describes how they were equipped with \u201cwaders, food and an odd assortment of warm clothing\u201d and set off in two boats with a number of locals to save anything they could find.<\/p> \u201cThat day we managed somehow \u2013 just how will never be known \u2013 to rescue 260 cattle, 10 horses, four pigs, and got them all to higher ground and made sure they had food and water,\u201d he says. In total, an incredible 10,300 animals were saved, including some hibernating tortoises and a monkey.<\/p> Sherwood points out that the RSPCA continues to play a key role during times of crisis. \u201cOur inspectors and animal welfare officers were still out on the road during Covid,\u201d he says. \u201cOur staff were caring for and rehoming cats and dogs in our animal centres.\u201d<\/p> The beginning of the 21st century has seen a raft of legislation protecting animals, including a ban on wild animals in circuses, an updated Animal Welfare Act<\/em>, extended prison sentences for animal cruelty that increases the maximum term from six months to five years and a law that formally recognises that animals, including crabs, lobsters and octopuses, are sentient beings.<\/p> Perhaps most notably, the RSPCA was heavily involved in the passage of the Hunting Act, which banned fox and deer hunting, as well as hare coursing, in 2004. This has not been without controversy; some rural communities feel they have been marginalised by an aloof metropolitan elite.<\/p> However, Sherwood doesn\u2019t believe there is any going back. \u201cPublic opinion is on the side of animal protection groups like us, that hunting foxes with dogs is not part of a modern society.\u201d A recent victory is the ban on the export of live animals to be fattened up and slaughtered, but the bigger picture, Sherwood says, is that animal welfare issues increasingly transcend national boundaries. <\/p> Post-Brexit trade treaties, for example, can involve doing deals with countries whose animal welfare standards are lower than ours.<\/p> And though the RSPCA has made incredible progress over its 200-year history, it has to face technological or social changes that negatively impact animals.<\/p> \u201cIf our founders were alive today, they wouldn\u2019t recognise the world,\u201d says Sherwood, \u201cbecause factory farming didn\u2019t exist in 1824, animals weren\u2019t tested in laboratories in 1824 and we didn\u2019t have flat-faced brachycephalic dogs that struggle to breathe in 1824.\u201d<\/p> Still, we can confidently say no one is going to be holding a bullfight in the centre of Lichfield today or in future. That surely represents a step or two forward in the history of humanity<\/p> \u2022 The RSPCA received nearly one million calls to its emergency line in 2023, the equivalent of more than 2,500 every day.<\/p> \u2022 The RSPCA received reports of more than 14,000 abandoned dogs and 10,000 cats last year.<\/p> \u2022 The RSPCA operates 45 animal centres and employs 362 frontline inspectors and animal rescue officers.<\/p> \u2022 Since lockdown, rehoming rates of abandoned pets have plummeted by 30% \u2013 in 2019, the RSPCA rehomed nearly 40,000 animals, but only 27,500 in 2022.<\/p> \u2022 The most abandoned dog breed is the Staffordshire bull terrier (1,316) followed by the French bulldog and German shepherd.<\/p> \u2022 In the past decade, the RSPCA has found new homes for more than 400,000 pets and treated 615,000 animals at its hospitals.<\/p> \u2022 It has delivered 1.5 million pet meals through its Pet Food Bank Partnership.<\/p> \u2022 The RSPCA secured the convictions of 783 people in magistrates\u2019 courts in 2022.<\/p> \u2022 The RSPCA has helped to get more than 200 pieces of legislation on to the statute books since it was founded.<\/p> To find out more about the RSPCA, visit rspca.org.uk<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Bulls, bears, dogs, cats and more \u2013 all saved by the work of the RSPCA. James Fair charts the history of the RSCA’s greatest feats <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":39961,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"7"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/08\/how-a-distaste-for-blood-sports-and-a-changing-public-opinion-200-years-ago-launched-the-rspca.jpg",2560,1697,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/08\/how-a-distaste-for-blood-sports-and-a-changing-public-opinion-200-years-ago-launched-the-rspca-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/08\/how-a-distaste-for-blood-sports-and-a-changing-public-opinion-200-years-ago-launched-the-rspca-300x199.jpg",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/08\/how-a-distaste-for-blood-sports-and-a-changing-public-opinion-200-years-ago-launched-the-rspca-768x509.jpg",768,509,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/08\/how-a-distaste-for-blood-sports-and-a-changing-public-opinion-200-years-ago-launched-the-rspca-1024x679.jpg",800,530,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/08\/how-a-distaste-for-blood-sports-and-a-changing-public-opinion-200-years-ago-launched-the-rspca-1536x1018.jpg",1536,1018,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/08\/how-a-distaste-for-blood-sports-and-a-changing-public-opinion-200-years-ago-launched-the-rspca-2048x1358.jpg",2048,1358,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Bulls, bears, dogs, cats and more \u2013 all saved by the work of the RSPCA. James Fair charts the history of the RSCA's greatest feats","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/39960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How did the RSPCA start?<\/h2>
How influential was the RSPCA in its early days?<\/h2>
The RSPCA during the 20th century<\/h2>
The RSPCA today<\/h2>
Fascinating RSPCA facts and figures<\/strong><\/h3>
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