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5Welcome to RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch, covering York, Harrogate, Knaresborough, Malton, Market Weighton, Pocklington, Ripon, Selby, Tadcaster, Wetherby and surrounding areas.
We have a close association with RSPCA Bridlington, Driffield and District Branch,
If you want to know more about what is happening in the York, Harrogate branch; sign up here to receive our monthly email newsletter.
Help us deliver kindness at Christmas
Christmas Stall
On Saturday 8th December our charity shop in Acomb will be hosting a Christmas stall to raise money for the York Animal Home. There will be cakes, tombola prizes and a raffle. If you are in the area please come along to support us in looking after the animals in our care over the festive season.
RSPCA York, Harrogate and District Branch Lottery
The latest lottery was drawn on 25th November 2018, at the RSPCA York Animal Home.
The winning numbers are:-
1st Prize - Number 118 - £70
2nd Prize - Number 124 - £30
3rd Prize - Number 036 - £20
4th Prize - Number 142 - £10
Please see our FAQs page for details on how to join this lottery. All proceeds are for the benefit of the animals at the RSPCA York Animal Home.
The Lottery is drawn on the last Sunday of every month.
Voting is open for the JustGiving Charity of the Year 2018. We are a small charity in a big pond so we need everyone we know to vote!
Voting is easy, click link below , then "Vote now”– you’ll be asked to pick your charity – type RSPCA York Animal Home into the box, then "find my charity”. You’ll then have to write a few words about why we are deserving of an award and your contact details. It’s that easy!
Once you’ve voted please share this with everyone you know and ask them to vote too, Facebook would be a great place to start.
I’ve voted, have you?
Animal Adoption Fees
It is now three years since we reviewed the adoption fee for our animals. Sadly, we have had to do so again and we will be increasing two of our fees with effect from 1st September 2018, with the other remaining fees unchanged. The maximum fee we will now be asking for each animal will be:-
Adult Dog - £150 (previously £120)
Puppy – £150. (Unchanged)
Adult Cat - £90. (previously £80)
Kitten - £90. (unchanged)
Rabbit - £25 (unchanged)
Small Animal and Birds – £5 to £15 (unchanged)
If you choose to adopt a second animal of the same species within 6 months, then we will reduce the adoption fee for the second animal by 25%.
2nd Dog or Puppy - £112.50, 2nd Cat or Kitten - £67.50, 2nd Rabbit - £18.75
What do you get for the adoption fee?
Most importantly your new family member(s)!
On adoption your new pet will be neutered (if 5 months or older). Dogs, cats and rabbits will be microchipped and we will change the registration details to your own. They will also have up to date treatments for the vaccinations, de-fleaing and worming, which come as standard. If you are adopting an unneutered puppy or kitten, we issue you with a voucher to pay for neutering when the little one becomes old enough.
Branch Activity 2017
An overview of 2017 by the General Manager
As a branch we continue to support the RSPCA Inspectorate and their work wholeheartedly and have started and will continue to offer animal spaces at the York Animal Home to the Inspectors as a priority and only taking animals from the public, when no inspector animal needs a rescue place. 68% of all animals were taken in to the York Animals Home from the Inspectors.
In 2017 we have proactively dedicated some of our resources in ‘investing in the future of the branch’ and have consequently expanded our management team to provide a proactive presence amongst the communities we serve and volunteers who deserve our thanks and support.
The new roles are:-
Branch Outreach Manager – responsible for running our fostering network and providing our services in the community, such as neutering of owned animals and providing responsible pet ownership lessons to schools in our area.
Branch Fundraiser – principally engaged in the larger fundraising projects with a focus on corporate funding and grant applications, as well bringing some new and innovative fundraising ideas such as providing cream teas etc.
Volunteer Coordinator – started by overhauling our volunteer induction programme and provides support and core induction sessions to new volunteers.
Finance Officer – The decision was made to bring all aspects our bookkeeping and financial management information production in house and the role of Finance Officer was created to support.
Branch Retail Manager (starting 5th January 2018) – Mick will be running our retail network and in time expanding the number of charity shops, earning funds for the branch in our wider branch area
Together with myself, the General Manager and Animal Centre Manager, we now have a formidable Senior Management Team to oversee all aspects of the running of the branch and to support the Strategic Objectives of the Trustee Board.
During the year, the branch rehomed 500 animals, neutered 457 domestic animals, microchipped 407, supported 174 animal visits to our welfare clinic and rehabilitated and released 86 hedgehogs and fledglings through the year.
The York Animal Home staff continue to provide excellent care for the animals in residence and careful matching of adopters to animals is continuing to keep reducing the length of stay of animals to 70 days (2016 – 74 days) for dogs and 60 days (2016 – 71 days) for cats.
We closed our Gillygate shop in March as it was no longer financially viable to keep it open . In August we opened a new charity shop in Acomb and a few months later new shop in Harrogate. Both are now starting to become established venues for the local charity shopper.
Of course, we are part of a larger family and supporters have helped the RSPCA National Society to achieve some notable successes this year:-
• Gaining government commitment that animals will continue to be recognised as sentient beings after Brexit.
• Tougher maximum prison sentences for animal offenders, increasing from just 6 months to 5 years
• Mandatory CCTV in all slaughterhouses across England
• Proposed end to the ivory trade
I am so proud to work with such dedicated, hardworking team of people, who all have one goal: the improvement of the lives of animals who have been abandoned, neglected and cruelly treated, whether this by the expansion of our welfare work with the public or the rehabilitation of those that end up in our animal home.
We are nothing without our supporters – so thank you to all of you.
Angela Hunter, General Manager
You can still keep in touch with our activities by visiting our:-
Website www.rspca-yorkhome.org.uk
Or our Facebook pages:-
Animals For Adoption – York Animals Home
RSPCA York, Harrogate Branch – Harrogate Area
Remember no matter where you live in our area that
‘YORK ANIMALS HOME IS YOUR ANIMAL HOME’
No Appointment Necessary
We have no idea how the rumour started but there seems to be notion out there, that potential adopters have to make an appointment in order to start the adoption process, with us. This may be the case at other rescues but it certainly is not, nor never has been the case at the York Animals Home.
Update January 2017: We have looked into this now and have examined how we explain the adoption process, so that any future adopters are clear that no appointment is needed. We are sorry for those of you who came away thinking that was the case. Please accept our apologies. It is true that potential adopters cannot have a look around the dog blocks but as many dogs as you need to meet, will be brought to you. As for the cats and small animals once you have an idea of who you want to meet, you are guided to the appropriate animal unit by a member of staff, who will talk to you about the cat / small animal, given their experience of the animal. We would like to thank those of you that came forward to comment, as it has helped us clarify the situation and put in place a clearer process.
RSPCA Officers under pressure
Our officers are under increasing pressure
Dermot Murphy, Assistant Director of the RSPCA Inspectorate, said:
"It continues to outrage and sadden me that people can be capable of such deliberate brutality towards animals, but equally it drives me on to ensure that perpetrators of animal cruelty are put before the courts.
I believe that the figures from last year show that we’re not becoming crueler, but that people are simply less willing to stand by and do nothing if they think an animal is suffering.
People are increasingly likely to share images or footage on their social media accounts of animals they believe are not being cared for properly, while many will see material their friends have shared and then contact us about them.
Either way, our officers are under increased pressure having to respond to more calls and investigate more complaints, but it is thanks to their dedication, as well as RSPCA staff and volunteers across England and Wales that we are able to transform the lives of tens of thousands of animals each year."
In 2016 we:
Received 1,153,744 calls to our 24-hour cruelty line (up by 3.15 percent)
Investigated 149,604 complaints of alleged animal cruelty (up by 4.62 percent)
Issued 84,725 advice and improvement notices (up by 3.99 percent)
Successfully prosecuted 744 people (down by 6.53 percent)
Secured 628 disqualification orders following prosecution (down 4.46 percent)
Had a prosecution success rate of 92.5 percent (up by 0.1 percent)
The majority of complaints received by the us in 2016 continued to be about the welfare of dogs (84,994), followed by cats (36,156) and equines (19,530).
Did you know this about the RSPCA Inspectorate?
As a charity the RSPCA National Society is massively under-resourced. They only have 400 inspectors (just one per 142,500 people) and they receive more than 14,000 calls each week - as you can imagine they are often overwhelmed.
As frustrating as it is, they can only act within the law at all times. They are only able to remove an animal with the say so of the police and a vet. Even if conditions are less than ideal there isn’t always a law being broken. So while you might expect that they will rush in and seize the animal(s), this often isn’t possible as it would be against the law as the RSPCA have no legal right to do so.
It may be that the inspectors are working hard behind the scenes with the owner. They often try to improve circumstances for the animal if at all possible, and this can take time.
Breed specific legislation campaign
The RSPCA has recently launched a campaign calling on the UK Government to launch an inquiry into Breed Specific Legislation a law that causes the suffering and destruction of hundreds of innocent dogs every year.
The campaign has received national media coverage. The RSPCA would like to reach 100,000 signatures to put pressure on the UK Government. If you would like to learn more or to add your signature to the campaign please click here.