RSPCA Cambridge and District branch covers an area of South
Cambridgeshire stretching from Littleport in the North to Royston in
the South and from Gamlingay in the West to Newmarket in the East. The
branch is responsible for raising funds to run various animal welfare
services within this area. These include:
Users of the RSPCA clinic must bring proof of benefits or paperwork such as a bank-statement which shows that they have a very low income each time they visit the clinic. If you are unable to bring your pet yourself it's fine for a helper to bring them for you, but the helper must show proof that you are in receipt of benefit and needs to have a signed note from you confirming that they are bringing the animal on your behalf.
We need to raise £100,000 per year in order to provide a full
service.
The branch is run by a committee elected by local RSPCA members who are all volunteers.
Diary of a branch telephone helpline volunteer
If you think you might be interested in volunteering to help us, or if you would like to join the RSPCA, please call in at either of our charity shops (188 Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 3LP or 156 High Street, Newmarket CB8 9AQ) and pick up a membership form. You can also become a member by joining the RSPCA via the internet.
The branch takes in a wide variety of animals but normally only has small numbers of any particular type at one time (except for rabbits, which we always have in very large numbers). Cats and dogs are primarily adopted via the private boarding kennels where we keep them, while smaller animals such as guinea-pigs, fancy rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils etc. are kept in individual people's homes. This means that the small animals are rather widely scattered which can make arrangements to view etc. slightly more complicated. You need to be aware that these animals don't have a very long lifespan.
Some of the animals in our care can be seen on this poster. Please print it off and display it if you have a suitable location.
Cat Adoptions and Dog Adoptions: email rspcacambridge@aol.com. We will get back to you if we have a suitable animal
Ferret Adoptions: email Dave (dave_dodds@hotmail.com)
Rabbit Adoptions: email Caroline (rabbit_residence@hotmail.com)
Some of the rabbits in need of homes can be seen on this poster. Please print it off and display it if you have a suitable location.
The Rabbit Residence rabbit rescue where some of our rabbits are fostered is in danger of closing because Caroline has been required to apply for planning permission (for change of use of the area from a pony paddock to rabbit runs). Please sign the petition in favour of planning approval for the Rabbit Residence
Rats and hamsters: email Rosemary (rosemary@rspcacambridge.plus.com) At present we have Roborovski dwarf hamsters and fancy rats looking for homes. The rats are three boys who need to be homed together. Some of the hamsters have been separated from the group because they were being bullied and can be rehomed singly. The rest need to be homed as pairs or small groups.
Rescued (about the work of animal shelters following the Katrina disaster in the USA, but relevant to the problems of animal rescue in the UK)
Dogs have a special position in law which means that responsibility for healthy strays rests with the local authority and we are not allowed to take them in directly. If you find a stray dog which is not in need of immediate veterinary attention, you should contact your local dog warden for help. This page shows a complete list of contact numbers for dog wardens throughout the country.
If you find an injured or sick dog, our control centre should be able to help. Their number is 0300 1234 999. There is a menu system and you will need to select the options for an animal in need of immediate help as this will put your call in the priority queue.
Running our animal welfare activities costs an average of £96,000 each year. This money is spent on keeping animals alive and relieving suffering by paying for veterinary treatments and on boarding unwanted animals until we can rehome them. In an average year we help around 3,000 individual animals. A very large proportion of our welfare work consists of providing low-cost veterinary care for animals whose owners cannot afford the full cost of treatment. There is no National Health Service for animals and without us most of them would either go without treatment or be put to sleep. It is often true that their owners ought to have been more responsible, but we have to deal with society as it is - and unfortunately we are all too often presented with a desperately ill animal and an owner with no money at all. The majority of the animals we take in for rehoming are not simply healthy unwanted animals but are either ill, injured or neglected so they usually require a considerable amount of expensive treatment before they can be rehoused.
Without our veterinary support for low income pet owners it is very likely that even more animals would be dumped or handed over to the local dog warden - and very probably put to sleep. You can view a short video clip about the influence of veterinary costs on animal abandonments via the bbc online archive.
We do not receive funding from the Government and it is comparatively rare for us to be given large donations or legacies, so we have to work hard to earn the money that is needed. Most of our funds are raised by a combination of charity shop sales, annual box collections, and a variety of stalls and events.
We particularly need more helpers at our shops, collectors for RSPCA week and volunteers to help with our annual dog show
Grab this swicki from eurekster.com
(feed from the national site - if this image doesn't load click here)
