Back in July I wrote a post on a mistreated dog, dubbed Braveheart.
Braveheart was collected by police and passed on to local rescue group SAFE Broome in the middle of June. He was so underweight and neglected, he was almost unrecognisable as the mastiff that he should be.
Understandably, the RSPCA WA was contacted and they are keen to potentially prosecute Braveheart’s ex-owner. However, rather than leave Braveheart in Broome where he has a foster home, a reputable rescue group looking out for his welfare and the support of local pet lovers – the RSPCA WA have this week seized him and flown him to their kennels in Perth.
At the time of his seizure, the local community who’d rallied to save Braveheart were distraught. Not only were they troubled by the RSPCA’s decision to fly him in such an fragile condition, but they were concerned that once Braveheart was in RSPCA care, that his life would be in danger.
Braveheart left Broome on the 3rd of July.
He was held at the Malaga RSPCA facility. Being a criminal case, he was held in the ‘prosecutions’ area, away from the public. None of his original rescuers were permitted to see him.
Braveheart would spend the next six months in RSPCA care.
According to the RSPCA media release from this week Braveheart was suffering from the following conditions;
– Iron deficiency anaemia
Expected in a malnutriton case like this one, and likely to resolve as the dog regains health
– chronic skin disease with juvenile onset demodicosis
– superficial and deep secondary pyoderma
– atopic dermatitis and actinic dermatitis
– mild bilateral otitis externa (ear infections)
These are all terms for basically the same thing – itchy, scaly and allergy prone skin, which culminate in inflamed ears and hotspots. These conditions are treatable, non-life threatening and common in even healthy purebred Dogue de bordeaux dogs.
– blind in his left eye, due to retinal detachment
Untreatable, but not life threatening
But most concerning
– clinical evidence of hip dysplasia, cruciate disease in left stifle and right elbow disease
All this joint disease, combined with Braveheart’s extreme lack of muscle tone, would have meant his condition was significant when seized, and before any RSPCA treatments had commenced. He would have been displaying physical signs like limping, resisting being made walk, a slowed gait. His behaviour may have been negatively impacted if he was in pain – being grumpy with humans and other dogs.
Here is Braveheart the day before he was flown out of Broome:
The vet advised treatment plans for nearly all of the family of any of the ‘joint diseases’ includes appropriate exercise. It would be vital that Braveheart be allowed to build up muscle tone as he slowly regained weight.
In a foster home, Braveheart would have free access to a whole house. He could have followed his carer from room to room. In his backyard he could have practiced going gently up and down steps, and stepping over and around obstacles. And he could have done it all day, every day.
A foster carer could have provided a low-stress home, and a gentle, healing life of recovery.
In contrast, at the RSPCA, Braveheart spent six months in a 1.5m x 4m kennel.
This is the human equivalent of locking someone in the bathroom and only letting them our once or twice a day for a walk. It is not how you build strength and balance.
While kennel staff are well-intentioned, they are caring for 100+ other animals. Braveheart will have been taken for walks, but traditional walks can actually do more harm than good. Dogs who’ve had surgery for joint issues are banned from outside leash-walking for weeks to months. For the rest of the day, he will have been laying or standing without interaction.
For a dog who needed a slow, constant rehabilitation, a large=scale kennel facility was sub-optimum.
This week the RSPCA made an announcement;
Despite being on permanent pain medication, during the past two months Braveheart’s condition has deteriorated to the point that he can no longer enjoy his previously loved walks. The severe discomfort in his hind limbs now causes him to collapse after a five minute walk.
“Due to the significant progression of the disease in Braveheart’s back legs and his poor quality of life, our veterinary team made the very difficult decision to euthanase him on humane grounds” RSPCA’s Chief Inspector Amanda Swift said.
For “two months” or potentially longer, the treatment they had been offering Braveheart was seeing his condition deteriorate. And never once did they ask the community that rescued and cared for him so much, for help. We’d all been told he was getting better.
The RSPCA took a very sick, very starved – but alive – dog, and through their treatment made him sicker. So sick it was deemed he could no longer reasonably live. Braveheart’s recovery should have taken years. It took just months for the RSPCA to end his life. And rather than be in a loving home, Braveheart’s final months were spent locked in a kennel.
We failed you, Braveheart. Because we trusted you were safe. RIP little man.
Thanks again RSPCA for taking a special needs dog away from a loving foster home where he would have received vetting, physio, one on one contact, socialisation, a warm bed, toys, companionship, a good quality and varied diet, love and compassion, and you stick him in a concrete kennel with basic necessities. A dog such as Braveheart requires more than basic necessities, he requires 200% commitment and compassion that an RSPCA shelter is not equipped to provide. For All creatures great and small RSPCA? Would it have caused such problems to your procedures to leave a special needs dog such as Braveheart in a loving foster home instead of feeling the need to take control of him which has resulted in his death? Dogs in Bravehearts condition can be treated and make full recoveries…as a carer of special needs rescue dogs I can say this categorically. Look at all the Bali and Thailand dogs that are rescued in a similar state and make full recoveries…and in Australia the organisation that should care kills him?? RSPCA I’ll be sure to spread the word to everyone I know of this new case where your multi million dollar corporation has destroyed the chance at recovery that Braveheart rightly deserved
The RSPCA’s must be held accountable for their ‘treatment’ of Braveheart and SAFE. Why would any animal rescue group choose a kennel situation over a home environment? There is NO excuse! The reason they gave … ‘prosecution,’ Prosecutions take place in court rooms not kennels. RSPCA must work with other rescues… after all, animals are the main priority. Braveheart is only one sad story of RSPCA’s BS policies that MUST be addressed and every media outlet should be contacted until something is done! What other way is RSPCA going to be held accountable? RIP beautiful angel, Braveheart.
My dog has the same condition. As a puppy she didn’t like walks, she always lay down and never followed us or bounced and played. Eventually she needed our help just to stand up. She’d cry in pain doing it herself. Our vet mentioned putting her down.
Instead, I created an obstacle course from a lying down ladder in my back yard that she had to walk through daily. I walked up and down the house making her sit and stand and sit and stand. Eventually even to lie down and get up. I took her to the beach to swim. We stopped feeding her store bought food and created our own dog food of highly anti-inflammatory foods including sweet potato and oats. We fed her glucosind and fish oil every morning with breakfast. She can run now. And bounce. She follows us around the house and can almost jump up on the big bed but we don’t encourage it.
She was a rescue dog. We always say how lucky she is she didn’t show obvious symptoms before we rescued her. Braveheart should have been given the same chance. It wasn’t expensive. It wasn’t about vet bills and pain drugs. It was about time and love.
I assume the case against the original owners has been ceased they need to have the dog for evidence I believe. Or has the case been tried so now they didn’t need “Breveheart” anymore?
Considering they dismissed the prosecuting Investigating Inspector who collected the dog and evidence ( due to a personality issue with the CI) I wonder how they will prosecute, I hardly think he would want to represent an org that has few scruples. Be interesting to see if they do ANYTHING at all.
Another case of how the RSPCA ‘helps’ dogs in need…. NOT….. A reason I never support the RSPCA… because they seem to always take the high and mighty road and not what is actually right for each individual dog…. This dog should have recovered… not be put down… He was obviously a very loving and trusting dog… and showed no signs of aggression even though he was subjected to horrible autrocities.
Will this be RSPCA’s first “RSPCA does not take euthanasia lightly” cliché of the year? (I had my first “what if the dog bites a child” defence of RSPCA’s kill rate for 2014 on J4M: 8 January for those with a sweepstake entry).
Stories like this just keep coming , I will never support RSPCA again , I donated monthly for years but not one more cent
I agree with Fiona King.
I’m hearing too many bad stories about the RSPCA and will never again support them.
I hope they are ashamed of themselves letting this happen to Braveheart.
VIP Little Darling
xxxxx
RSPCA are a disgrace
I will not support the RSPCA and think it is high time the government intervened and made this so called animal charity accountable for its actions. There are so many terrible experiences connected to this group that more needs to be done. I have seen upper management photographed at the Greyhound races! Heard too many stories of loved pets and dogs able to be rehabilitated being killed. Their extreme lack of willingness to attend an abandoned dog and a poorly treated dog (2 separate cases) which I experienced personally. RSPCA is a business not an animal welfare group. I have spoken with Rangers who have told me in their opinion the RSPCA is not getting their hands dirty but happy to grab the dollars and is a top heavy organisation. I was once a volunteer for them worked for free and watched many others who had done so for years and years, after my experience and hearing all the reported stories I will never give them another cent.
The 19th century notion that a private club can impartially enforce Animal Welfare legislation on behalf of the community has outlived it’s usefulness. It’s time that governments recognised that the RSPCA is a partisan player in the industry and treated it accordingly.
If governments pass legislation that requires enforcement they must ensure that a properly resourced, professional, independent governement Inspectorate is given the task.
Terrible, shame on them. Check out their scam on rspca approved ‘so called’ free range bacon where the pigs were in a living hell. RSPCA – that name means nothing. They are a scam, it’s all about making money for them!
The people working in these high kill shelters, RSPCA, LDH etc, need to find a conscience, why are these so called animal welfare entities refuse to work with rescue groups and why are they killing animals?
Foster home with dedicated rehabilitating V. RSPCA kennels? 6 months later Braveheart had not recovered enough so they killed him. Where was the funds for water/hydrotherapy etc
The actions of RSPCA were not in the best interest of Braveheart? He should have made a full recovery in 6 months in a loving caring foster home environment, instead of being locked in a kennel to languish and deteriorate further.
For all creatures great and small? I think not!
This makes me so so angry. The fact he is a spitting image to our Tank dog just breaks my heart even further. Surely there must be a point where even the most well intentioned rescuer (in this case the RSPCA animal officer) realises that an animal would thrive much better in it’s current rescue environment rather than their alternative. It really is distressing. Poor baby.
Very distressing and so sad :( RIP Braveheart. Yet another statistic for RSPCA WA, they should hang their heads in shame. They are a leading animal welfare agency but yet they do not lead. They do not offer state of the art rehab, they do not offer successful rehoming strategies and they do not offer community support. Yet they sit on their millions, and have media (and mass community) support. Wish people would wake up on a scale big enough to change them into the organisation they should be.
We have a cocker with similar issues. She came us at age 9 weighing 24 kgs. She should have weighed 15-16 kgs. A life of carrying extra weight caused calcification and bone spurs on her knees, her hips were really bad with one popping in and out regularly, and she has arthritis in many of her joints. Over 12 months and she is down to her goal weight, she’s had a femur osteotomy ( removal of head of femur) she is on a healthy diet, and we are adding the usual anti inflammatory supplements. We’ve also done hydrotherapy and acupuncture. She has such a zest for life that she amazes me on a daily basis. Everything we’ve done to get her where she is has been completely worth it. Unfortunately we can’t fix all her ailments ( double knee surgery and a second hip) but we’ve got her to a place where she’s happy, active and comfortable.
So sad
May his death lead to the start of a change where the RSPCA looses their pound contracts with councils!
The RSPCA should be ashamed!
RIP big boy may your life be of some purpose