We told RSPCA we’d take in 11 rescued horses – but they killed them anyway
New fury as volunteers say charity ignored them, held secret cull and lied that animals were still alive
ANIMAL-LOVERS have accused the RSPCA of lying to them over the fate of 11 healthy horses, which The Mail on Sunday revealed were shot by the charity after being ‘rescued’ from a neglectful owner.
They claim the charity made no attempt to rehome many of the animals, and that requests for information were ignored.
The accusations came as the charity launched its own investigation into the case and admitted it needed to improve communications with other rescue organisations.
A group of owners and breeders – all members of the Arab Horse Society (AHS) – set up an action group after learning the RSPCA had raided a farm in Lancashire belonging to project manager Rachelle Peel and removed 31 horses from appalling conditions in 2013.
But within a few weeks, 12 of the horses whose ownership had been ‘signed over’ to the RSPCA were killed – one because it broke its leg in transit.
Unaware of this, for the next two-and-a-half years the action group made repeated efforts to persuade the charity to identify the animals so that they could potentially be reunited with former owners.
But the RSPCA rebuffed them at every turn while continuing to insist that the horses were alive and ‘doing well’, they claim. It was only when The Mail on Sunday published the contents of leaked legal documents last week that the group learned the animals were dead.
Our story also revealed that when Peel was being prosecuted, the RSPCA tried to claim thousands of pounds for stabling expenses and veterinary bills through the courts for animals which had been killed. The claim was later withdrawn. Last night Christine Dickinson, the action group’s spokesman, described the RSPCA as ‘inhuman’.
‘These were top-grade horses bred from precious bloodlines and it would have been the easiest thing in the world to have found them new homes,’ she said.
A statement from the AHS said it had made ‘considerable’ efforts to contact the charity about the res- cued horses. ‘The AHS had offers from members, breeders and former owners of the horses, anxious to rehome them, but the RSPCA did not enter into any discussion,’ it added.
The scandal is the latest in a series to engulf the charity, which critics say has lost sight of its core mission to protect animals. In total, 12 of the 14 horses in the RSPCA’s care were killed after they were rescued from Peel, 56, at her farm near Clitheroe. She was found guilty on two counts of neglect and fined £2,200 with £8,000 costs, and also banned from keeping horses for two years. Mrs Dickinson claimed she asked Kat Hamblin, 36, the RSPCA inspector who led the raid, to give her a list of the seized horses. ‘At no point did she indicate that those horses had been shot months before,’ Mrs Dickinson said. ‘She was telling me as recently as last week that the horses had been rehomed…It makes us wonder how many other horses they’ve shot over the years without people knowing.’
An RSPCA spokesman said that of the 14 horses ‘signed over’ to the charity, 12 were ‘assessed by our equine rehoming experts...and were considered unsuitable for rehoming’. The other two were handed to new owners. The charity added: ‘We were contacted by members of the public asking for details about the horses which had been removed in this investigation. As a matter of policy and legal reasons we do not provide any information of ongoing investigations or prosecutions.’
The spokesman said the charity is conducting a case review: ‘We accept the need for better communications with other rescue organisations.’ Miss Hamblin was said to be abroad and unavailable for comment.
THE Mail on Sunday today reports on two incidents which suggest that we have grown less concerned about animals themselves, while letting ‘rights’ fanaticism grow too strong.
A politicised RSPCA has slaughtered horses it rescued, when it could almost certainly have saved them and found them new homes.
And police have absurdly withdrawn a badger culler’s licence after he was approached by an anti-cull activist, rather than protect him from such approaches as he goes about his lawful business.
The fight against cruelty to animals is a noble one. It is part of our national greatness that we devote so much effort to this cause.
But there is a sharp line between this decent and laudable activity and the growing self-righteousness and fanaticism of some campaigners for animal rights.
And the movement against cruelty has in some cases been hijacked by such people (some of whom have been startlingly unkind to their fellow humans).
To them, an ideological agenda seems to have become more important than the actual animals.
It is time we restored the balance.