Abstract
Animals are protected under national animal welfare legislation, against intentional acts of cruelty and a failure to act, resulting in neglect and causing an animal to suffer. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) bears the responsibility of investigating and prosecuting the majority of animal welfare offences in England and Wales. In recent years, how they operate has been criticised, and it has been debated whether they should be able to bring private prosecutions, and what their role should actually be. This criticism calls for a change in the way in which the RSPCA approach cases of animal welfare, to strengthen their continuing role in ensuring positive animal welfare is achieved and, where not, prosecuted. This paper outlines the need for a new approach and how it can be managed. Honess and Wolfensohn (Altern Lab Anim 38:205, 2010) have developed an Extended Welfare Assessment Grid (EWAG), a visualisation mapping tool of welfare impact, which has been useful for assessing the welfare of animals used in laboratories. This tool has proven so useful, veterinarians are now using it in veterinary hospitals to help assess whether an animal is likely to further deteriorate, due to disease and illness, and to show any short-term welfare impact on the animal (Williams in UFAW conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2018). This paper will explore the potential for the EWAG to be adapted to assess the welfare of animals when owners are not meeting the welfare needs of their companion animals. RSPCA can use it to support their assessments of the current welfare of an animal under a person’s ownership and whether the animal’s welfare will deteriorate should they remain under that ownership. The EWAG will be a useful tool for those working in animal welfare, such as the RSPCA, to help organisations to intervene earlier, work in partnership with an owner, and support their claims of a risk to animal welfare.
Highlights
In 2018, the RSPCA received over 1 million phone calls to their cruelty line and rescued and collected more than 102,900 animals in England and Wales (RSPCA 2018)
Whilst the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has the duty to investigate and prosecute criminal offences, it will be established in this article that the RSPCA bear most of the responsibility for animal welfare offences, by bringing private prosecutions
The RSPCA contribute greatly to the protection of animals, and ensuring that those who commit animal welfare offences are brought to justice
Summary
In 2018, the RSPCA received over 1 million phone calls to their cruelty line and rescued and collected more than 102,900 animals in England and Wales (RSPCA 2018). This article will begin by providing an overview of the relevant animal welfare law, under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 It will highlight the issues which are faced by the RSPCA at this time, mainly the claims they should not be bringing private prosecutions and the actions that they take should be limited. During the Parliamentary debates of the Animal Welfare Bill 2005, there was much discussion around whether to include a statutory improvement notice Some ministers believed it would restrict relevant authorities from taking immediate action when an animal is suffering, feeling the need to issue an improvement notice first.. Some ministers believed it would restrict relevant authorities from taking immediate action when an animal is suffering, feeling the need to issue an improvement notice first.13 This was not accepted by the Committee, who stated:.
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