SSPCA role

Alison Pearson (Letters, 16 August) requested that the Scottish SPCA clarify its remit in animal welfare, which we are, of course, more than happy to do. It is available to anyone via scottishspca.org or via our Animal Helpline on 03000 999 999.

Ms Pearson wrongly associates a change to RSPCA policy with the Scottish SPCA. We are an entirely separate charity that relies entirely on donations and our remit remains as broad as ever. We are not concentrating “solely on cruelty cases” but continuing to help thousands of injured, abandoned and neglected animals across Scotland.

Our workload has increased in the past six years. In 2009 our helpline took 146,000 calls from people wishing to report their concerns about the welfare of an animal. Our inspectors and ambulance drivers attended 42,500 incidents and our animal rescue and re-homing centres cared for more than 14,000 animals.

Ms Pearson raises a concern regarding wildlife; we rescued and cared for 3,484 injured, sick or orphaned wild animals last year, including 1,887 birds, 20 per cent more than the previous year.

We are investing resources in improving services to animals by increasing the number of inspectors and ambulance drivers we have to respond to incidents and, specifically for wildlife, by building a new National Wildlife Rescue Centre in Clackmannanshire, which will increase our capacity to care for wild animals and marine life until they are ready to be released back to the wild.

Cruelty to animals continues to be a major problem in Scotland and our investigations led to 129 cases of animal cruelty being dealt with by the courts last year, but this is by no means our sole purpose. We continue to rescue and re-home defenceless animals across the country and to educate children in particular that animals deserve to be treated with kindness and humanity.

Last year we launched a new, free interactive education programme to teach the next generation of animal carers about why animals deserve to be treated with compassion and respect.

The public are our eyes and ears and we rely on them to contact us with their concerns, regardless of whether that animal’s suffering is a result of injury, sickness, cruelty, abandonment or neglect.

TOM GATHERER

Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Kingseat Road

Dunfermline