We are RSPCA press officers (and dedicated news hounds) writing about life at one of the world's biggest animal charities.
So read on if you want to know the stories behind the headlines...
Imagine what a wolf looks like. Now conjure up an image of a pug. Very different, aren’t they?
The pug, like every dog, is descended from the wolf.
I think we’re so used to seeing the many breeds of dog available today that we just accept the problems they suffer due to their short legs, long backs, large heads, or other exaggerated feature.
But if you compare these dogs to their ancestors it’s obvious that nature didn’t mean them to have the flattened faces and wrinkled skin that for some reason we humans find so endearing.
We shouldn't be allowing this to happen.
Dogs have been bred for the way they look over many centuries and lots of them – and in particular pedigree dogs – are now vulnerable to unnecessary disease, disability, pain and behavioural problems.
TV presenter and dog trainer from the hit TV show It’s Me or the Dog Victoria Stilwell agrees that dogs shouldn’t be bred solely for the way they look and has recorded a message of support for the RSPCA’s campaign.
I was surprised and pleased to learn that, despite difficult financial times, almost half of shoppers still say that the welfare of animals is extremely or very important when it comes to choosing their groceries.
The future also looks positive, with nearly a third of shoppers saying they expect to purchase more free range and high animal welfare products in the year ahead*.
The figures should be higher, of course, but it is an encouraging figure; although people want a bargain, many are also maintaining their values.
This trend is clearly having an effect on businesses, an increasing number of whom are trying to improve on animal welfare.
I recently helped out at the RSPCA Good Business Awards ceremony, where companies who are already going the extra mile for animals were recognised for their efforts. It’s great to see that some companies are recognising their responsibilities and responding to what consumers want.
The winning companies were clearly very pleased to be recognised by the RSPCA, and will hopefully be encouraged to do even more.
You can find out more about ‘good business’ by watching this film (click on the image below of Farmer Brown in his tractor) which was shown for the first time at the awards ceremony.
Also, take a look at RSPCA Freedom Food’s new Hettie the Hen animation about welfare-friendly shopping (click on the image at the end of this post)!
The winners of the RSPCA Good Business Awards 2011 are……
For the third year running, Co-operative won the most public votes in the People’s Choice award, plus the award for Most Progress. Marks & Spencer received an award for Sustained Excellence, and Sainsbury’s picked up the prize for Excellence in Consumer Communications for its promotion of higher welfare food.
Riverford Organic (farms in Devon, Hampshire, Cambridgeshire and Yorkshire, delivers around the UK) won the Independent Retailer award, while Daylesford Farmshop (Kingham, Gloucestershire) and Edge and Son (New Ferry, Wirral) were highly commended.
Lussmans Fish and Grill Restaurants (St Albans, Hertford, and Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire) won the Independent Restaurant award, while Due South (Brighton) was highly commended.
The Feathers Inn (Hedley on the Hill, Northumberland) won the Pubs category for its commitment to animal welfare, including a food festival and expansion into catering. This is the second time they have won this award. Catering company Eco Cuisine was highly commended.
Both large and small fashion companies are also working hard to improve animal welfare.
High street favourite George at Asda was presented with the Large Company award for its work on traceability, while Beyond Skin scooped the Small Company award for producing desirable, ethical high fashion footwear at an achievable price.
Rapanui was given the Innovation award for its use of QR codes (a type of bar code) on product labels. Customers can scan the tag using a smart phone to view interactive information about the origins of the raw materials in the garment. The judges described the idea as ‘game changing’.
The Best Newcomer award was won by The North Circular and Frank and Faith were highly commended in the Small Company category.
The alleys near the docks were dark, dank, and foul. Robbers lay in wait for sailors stepping ashore from their ships after months, even years, at sea.
Stray cats slithered and mangy dogs prowled. On the wet slippery roads wretched, beaten horses strained and slipped as they tried to pull their loads up the steep hills. Cattle were beaten in the street. This was London, 1824.
In St. Martin's Lane (not far from Piccadilly Circus) stood Old Slaughter's Coffee House. On the evening of June 16 1824, it was busier than usual - because a meeting had been called to discuss ways of protecting animals from cruelty.
Two years previously an Irish member of Parliament, Richard (Humanity Dick) Martin, piloted a Bill through the House of Commons called An Act to prevent the cruel and improper Treatment of Cattle, which made it an offence, punishable by fines up to five pounds or two months imprisonment, to "beat, abuse, or ill-treat any mule, ass, ox, cow, heifer, steer, sheep or other cattle."
But the Act (known as Martin's Act) needed men of vision and courage to ensure the clauses of the bill were put into effect. And one man determined to see that happen - the Reverend Arthur Broome had decided that if he could persuade a few prominent people to support him, he could found a society and employ an inspector to see that Martin's Act was properly enforced.
Humanity Dick himself was at the meeting, as well as a quiet man with a great social conscience called William Wilberforce - the politician who in the 1820’s led the movement to abolish the slave trade.
So, out of this historic assembly the SPCA was born – the world’s first animal welfare charity (The "Royal" was added later). On that night the SPCA declared they would send men to inspect Smithfield Market, where livestock had been sold since the 10th century, as well as slaughterhouses, in order to try and prevent the suffering of farm animals.
What I am trying to demonstrate is that while many people think of the RSPCA as a 'cats and dogs' charity, in fact the Society was founded in 1824 in direct response to witnessing cruelty towards livestock.
Now, nearly 190 years later – through the work of our farm animal science department and the higher welfare food and farming campaigns team - the RSPCA is very much honouring its roots; carrying out this vital work and striving for better welfare standards for all farm animals.
How do we do this? Well, by demonstrating, just as Martin and Wilberforce demonstrated, that improving farm animal welfare begins with the greatest ideas and the smallest actions.
I have worked as the RSPCA press officer for farm animals for three years and am proud of the work these guys do – largely behind the scenes. These are knowledgeable, passionate but pragmatic people, who care very deeply.
That said, it is a huge challenge to try to improve the welfare of such a large number of animals, from chickens kept as pets to pigs and cows on large-scale farms. That’s why we work in a number of different ways to encourage improvements, and always use all available science and practical evidence.
And how can you help? Well it’s easy really...buying just one item of higher welfare food a week, telling just one friend why supporting Freedom Food or Free range can help animals live better lives; or writing just one letter to a supermarket or an MP can help us improve the lives of the 900 million animals farmed in the UK each year.
Many moons ago - long before I entered the world of journalism and even longer before I entered life in the RSPCA press office - I worked for a year between school and university as a structural draughtsman and technician.
As someone who has never been the greatest fan of heights, perhaps the one moment that sticks in my mind was gingerly climbing to the top of a ladder and clinging onto an open bathroom window as if my life depended on it, as I attempted to take a measurement under the eaves of a house somewhere in Shrewsbury.
It was this rather obscure memory that came flooding back to me as I visited RSPCA inspector Richard Abbott recently on the glorious West Wales coast, to record a podcast all about his experiences as a key member of one of our rope rescue teams.
My ‘daredevil’ activities paled in comparison to Richard’s as he regaled me with tales of abseiling down 400ft cliffs above the crashing waves to rescue seabirds, and clambering down steep banks of loose shale with the prospect of being squashed by falling rocks and boulders to reach stranded livestock.
When you mention the RSPCA to most people, they immediately - and understandably - think of the fantastic work done by our rehoming centres, or our inspectors dealing with animals left in poor conditions as so often seen on television shows like Animal 24/7 and Emergency Animal Rescue.
Many don’t realise the vast levels of specialist expertise within the charity, especially in dealing with such potentially dangerous situations as faced by rope rescue teams, like those described to me by Richard.
Like all RSPCA inspectors, most of his time is conducted investigating complaints of cruelty across his patch that stretches out from north Pembrokeshire all the way up to south of Aberystwyth and across into mid Wales.
Due to the landscape of the area he covers though, he is called out to lead rescue operations to reach animals that find themselves stranded on perilous terrain that is often been previously untouched by humans before.
In his career as an RSPCA inspector he’s rescued all manner of animals using his rope rescue skills. From horses to sheep frightened down cliff faces by walkers’ dogs along the coastal paths, to dogs themselves whose over-adventurous nature sometimes finds them stranded.
It was just as I was bringing the interview to an end with Richard that he summed up the whole thing perfectly though. For him it makes no difference whether he has to rescue a hedgehog trapped down a drain or spend hours planning the safe recovery of a sheep stuck on a mountain ledge, bringing in fellow rope rescue trained inspectors from far and wide.
The situation makes no difference to him; the fact remains that they are both animals in danger. They might be worlds apart in terms of size and predicament, but they both need rescuing and that’s exactly what the RSPCA’s inspectorate does. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. 365 days a year.
One of the things that has changed the most – and for the better - since I joined the RSPCA press office 10 years ago is a shift in consumer attitudes to animal welfare.
Consumers now know they can demand products that have been sourced and produced with animal welfare in mind, and companies recognise that animal welfare makes good business sense.
I can remember a time when it just didn’t occur to people to buy free range meat or to find out what the new coat they were buying was made of.
They just picked up a pack of chicken breasts from the supermarket shelf or item of clothing off the rack and were happy not to make the connection between the product they were buying and the fact that it came from a living animal.
Why have things changed? Well, I think TV programmes showing how farm animals are reared and slaughtered have helped raise awareness, and of course the RSPCA Freedom Food label has helped people make a higher welfare choice without having to spend much more on their weekly shop.
Supermarkets now actively advertise their higher welfare and free range products, and there are an increasing number of ethical fashion companies and retailers, with major clothing chains developing impressive ethical and traceability policies.
I think the fact that so many companies, large and small, enter the RSPCA’s Good Business Awards every year shows that they know that animal welfare is good for business and that they’re proud of the work they’re doing.
The awards were set up in recognition of the achievements of companies in the fashion and food industries that achieve higher standards of animal welfare.
Watch out for this year’s winners once they’re announced on 5 October and in the meantime, why not vote for the supermarket you think does the most for animal welfare in the RSPCA People’s Choice Award? The Co-operative, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Whole Foods Market have all been shortlisted.
Of course there’s still a lot that needs to change, from the way businesses operate to the way people shop, but I think we should be pleased with and proud of progress made in the last decade – I certainly am.
One of the hot topics I’ve been working on this week is the use of animals in research and testing.
On Wednesday the Home Office released new statistics showing that the number of scientific procedures using animals has topped 3.7 million in the UK for the first time since the current law regulating lab animal use came into force in 1986.
Here in the RSPCA press office we’ve been speaking journalists about our concerns that despite the fact that the public is consistently told that experiments using animals are only ever undertaken ‘where absolutely necessary’, we’ve seen an astonishing 37 per cent increase in animal use over the last decade. But whilst the numbers of animals used is very important, a really big concern is how much these animals actually suffer.
The story has appeared in lots of newspapers, websites and blogs, which is great news as I think many people don’t realise that animals are used in so many different areas of research and that such a large number of animals are involved.
Those representing science and industry often attempt to reassure the public by claiming that the UK has the ‘strictest regulations in the world’ and that ‘everything is done to the highest possible standards’. So you’d think that they’d want to keep these standards. But some of these same people are now lobbying for many aspects of the law to be watered down to the minimum baseline set by a new European directive on animal experiments.
Whilst these new EU controls will certainly represent a step forward for a number of other European countries, they fall short in many areas of what we have had here in the UK for a number of years.
Despite having the freedom to maintain our standards where they are higher, there is little convincing evidence that the UK Government will choose to do so. It could mean reduced government and local controls on animal use in the UK, lab animals being allowed to suffer ‘long-lasting, unalleviated, severe pain, suffering or distress’ and some animals such as dogs could be kept in even smaller housing.
Because of this, the RSPCA is campaigning for the current UK standards to be maintained at the very least. I’m passionate about this campaign as I think it’s really important for the public to know the facts.
I also think most people expect there to be tough controls on animal experiments, given the suffering they can cause.
I’ve already responded to a Home Office public consultation which is asking people how they think the directive should be implemented in this country.
If you’d like to take part in the consultation or find out more, there’s lots of information and tips on how you can help on the RSPCA’s Give Animals A Voice campaigning website.
Meanwhile, you might like to watch our fantastic new animation and also take a look at my colleague Penny Hawkins being interviewed on CBBC Newsround!
And if you are interested in finding out more about the issue of animals in research and testing more generally, you can find lots of great stuff on the RSPCA website.
