RSPCA Herefordshire Branch
Registered Charity: 223364
To report cases of cruelty, or animals that are injured or suffering, please call the
24-hour Cruelty and Advice Line on 0300 1234 999
Website of the RSPCA Herefordshire Branch
RSPCA Herefordshire Branch
Registered Charity: 223364
To report cases of cruelty, or animals that are injured or suffering, please call the
24-hour Cruelty and Advice Line on 0300 1234 999
Website of the RSPCA Herefordshire Branch
Like all RSPCA Branches, we are an independent charity, but operating in close co-operation with the national society. The national society employs the Inspectors and other field officers who are at the "frontline" of animal welfare, as well as other staff who deal with prosecutions, welfare campaigns, etc. This means that in cases of cruelty or suffering, it is the national society that should be contacted (on 0300 1234 999), not the Branch.
The Branch is essentially self-financing, receiving a small share of things like national subscriptions, but also making a contribution to the national society to help employ the Inspectors, etc. The Branch focuses on finding new homes for animals, especially those rescued by Inspectors and other RSPCA staff. The Branch is run entirely by volunteers, many of whom have full- or part-time jobs, and who form its management committee, fulfil roles such as Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and act as trustees of the charity.
Many of the committee members also do other things such as fostering animals, carrying out home visits for new adoptions and running the website. We do not have enough volunteers to run the Branch on a day to day basis, so we have one paid Administrator who works roughly half-time.
Our only other paid staff are in our shop, where we have a full-time manager and one part-time assistant. We rely on volunteers to provide extra help in the shop, which is a major part of our fund raising and re-homing activity.
We do not have the resources to run an animal shelter of our own, so while in our care animals are housed with volunteer fosterers or placed in a commercial kennel/cattery. Obviously, we would prefer to use fosterers since they provide a home environment - and are less costly! However, we only have a handful of fosterers and would always welcome more.
Even using fosterers as much as possible, having animals in our care and treating them (as well as neutering them) is a costly business, averaging about £500 per cat/dog (smaller animals tend to be cheaper).
In 2011, we rehomed 59 cats, 31 dogs and almost 30 other animals (rabbits, etc). This cost us £80,000: £36,000 in kennelling/fostering, £30,000 in vets' fees and £13,000 in running costs. (The main running costs are our Administrator, auditors' fees and our contribution towards employing RSPCA Inspectors in the county).
In addition, we help people who cannot themselves fully afford to get veterinary treatment for their pets, including neutering. In 2011, we helped 140 people in this way, at a total cost of £10,000 - making our total expenditure almost £90,000.
Inevitably, what we can do is limited by the money we have to spend on various fees and we need to generate as much income as possible. We are also limited by the number of people we have who spend time helping.
We rely heavily on volunteers and are always grateful for extra help, whether it is for fund raising, fostering, home visiting, operating the shop, or managing the Branch. Please contact us if you can lend a hand.
