Boe, a ferret who belonged to a UK couple, was unnecessarily euthanised 10
minutes after being picked up by a RSPCA officer.  A healthy ferret, who
had the misfortune to be scared by some dogs whilst out with his owner and
ran off, the officer didn't even bother to take him to a centre.  He just
walked out of the police station and put Boe to sleep in the van.
 
It would seem that nobody is really interested about the RSPCA's
mishandling of this affair.  So where can we go from here?  I find this
so disheartening.  The whole image of the RSPCA is to promote the well
being of all animals and they certainly broke their own rules here.
 
It just goes to show that England seems to be just as bad in the
mistreatment of ferrets.  The other thing that has emerged from the
discussions on ferret-UK is the inconsistencies in the policies of each
RSPCA Centre.  I would have expected that such a large Organisation would
have the same basic criteria for taking in animals.  In my own area in
Scotland ferrets are taken in and rehomed if possible.
 
Also, what worries me over the whole sad affair is that the RSPCA say
they give animals 7 days before decisions are made about their future.
10 minutes is a lot different to 7 days.
 
I had my two micro chipped in case they did escape.  After reading about
Boe I wonder if I should have bothered?
 
Jacqui
--
Visit my hiding place at
http://www.btinternet.com/~hobgoblina/selkie
If you are curious about Ferrets enter here.
http://www.btinternet.com/~hobgoblina/ferret_mania
The Ferret site was designed by my daughter, who suffers from
Psuedotumor Cerebri, known in UK as Benign Intercranial Hypertension.
[Posted in FML issue 3044]