You cannot see trustees of the RSPCA allowing things to carry on as they are for too much longer. Grappling with mounting running costs which have led to redundancies among its 1500 or so employees, even its most ardent supporters will have looked on aghast as it has frittered away hundreds of thousands of pounds pursuing fatally flawed legal actions. It is a little known fact that the RSPCA is the UK’s biggest private litigant, spending heavily each year on rightly prosecuting those who have mistreated animals. But since the arrival of chief executive, Gavin Grant, at the beginning of 2012, the RSPCA seems to have lost sight of its real purpose bringing with it the accusation that Lib Dem supporter, Grant, a virulent opponent of field sports generally and fox hunting in particular, is pursuing a political agenda; something strictly forbidden under Charity Commission rules.
Last month the latest case to turn sour left the charity with a £100,000 bill after a North Wiltshire court heard that charges against two Vale of Avon huntsmen, relating to alleged breaches the hunting act, were to be dropped. The judge in the case criticised the charity for wasting its time and refused to award costs in its favour. This action follows hard on the heels of £300,000 bill arising from the failed prosecution of the Heythrop Hunt plus whatever the costs accrued from the distinctly unsavoury case of huntsman Brian Nuttall’s dog, Topic. The dog was seized by the RSPCA after Mr Nuttall was accused of interfering with a badger sett. Almost predictably the three RSPCA “witnesses,” each gave differing accounts of the circumstances, with the result that the RSPCA dropped the case. However it then took it more than a year to return Mr Nuttall’s dog.
Never mind the way it squanders money, there is something very distinctly Orwellian about the charity’s behaviour. And clearly others think so too. Reports indicate its income has fallen alarmingly. It can only be a matter of time before Mr Grant is given the opportunity to pursue other interests.