This is not just a problem in one area, every RSPCA inspector has one of these guns, which they are trained to use.
I am not out to vilify the RSPCA, i see the good that is done by some of the indepenedent branches and the committed volunteers, but it is very clear that these practices are not made aware to their own volunteers.

I do however have issues with the inspectors and the official RSPCA which i have personal exp and do not seem to have animal welfare at their heart, as is the case with the killing of these dogs and the cover up and censorship they did, when the story broke.

Sylvia has just posted the following, which i think answers your concerns, i would like to hear your thoughts as i can appreciate your concerns:

All over the country dogs are shot. In 2009 the RSPCA shot 65 animals with the captive bolt (a gun that shoots a rod into the brain and then by putting a metal bar in the hole and poking it about the dogs brains are scrambled and death occurs. This method only works if done on the correct place off a dogs head and there are different places for the different skull shapes in dogs. If a dog is anxious, aggressive or fearful first it has to be physically restrained unless a sedative is used. However if sedated then a lethal injection could be easily given - but that costs!!!!

A very sad case happened in Wales recently and we can see that knee jerk reactions can cause a lot of suffering to animals from those people not wishing to be helped or informed. If it was illegal for anyone bar a vet to euthanize a dog (not slaughter one with a bolt gun) I think many would actually get saved and dogs would not suffer. In this country very little study has been done on the realities of the cruelty of using a dead bolt gun on dogs but I am in contact with a lady in Ireland who researched, gathered photographic evidence and made the practice illegal there because of the proof of the suffering the dog incurred before death.



What I hope you will do is:

1.Write a clear letter to your MP saying you wish for it to be made illegal for anyone bar a qualified vet to euthanize a dog. You wish it to be made illegal for any captive bolt gun to be used on a dog or any domestic pet.


1.Click here and print off the form. Call in your vet,and ask him/her to sign alongside all the other vets in the practice and qualified vet nurses. Please ask them to help.

For more information click here.

An Update:

11-01-10 One of our supporter wrote to Alum Streeter at the Welsh Assembly regarding the Bolt Gun issue. Below is his response and mine back to him inviting him to participate in a debate over this on radio or TV if I can arrange this. I am still wating for his response.

Alum Streeter's letter;

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/manytear.../Streeter1.pdf



To read Sylvia's letter;


http://webzoom.freewebs.com/manytear...umStreeter.pdf

The latest update from Many Tears rescue:

12-01-10 The RSPCA have issued a statement which you can read by clicking HERE:
http://webzoom.freewebs.com/manytearsrescue/PDFs/RSPCAStatement.pdf.
I do understand suffering animals that have been hit by cars such as a deer may need to be put out of their pain quickly but I still feel the RSPCA had no business to shoot 10 GSDs - this is a totally different issue. So please get your vet to sign our petitions to say that only a qualified vet should be allowed to put dogs to sleep and not by the use of bolt guns and pithing!!!! Without your support I have no voice, so I am waiting for your vet's signatures please!!!!!

the link does'nt work can i find it at many tears site??

Yes you can but here it is agian, sorry

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/manytear...AStatement.pdf

thanks will get onto this tomorrow

Thank you

Things are starting to happen!

We have vets on board with this.....yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

These are them:

Summer Hill Vets in Newport (the first to sign and support the campaign)
Emerald Vets in Tumble
The Woolpack Vets at Herts

Dawn i just found this account from Sylvia on another forum, which i think answers your concerns about exageration by Sylvia from Mnay Tears, that we were discussing before on this thread,

03 Dec 2009 20:05Vena Cross Posted with permission.
Because of a breeder I pick up from calling me and telling me how Richard Abbott (a local inspector of the RSPCA) boasted to her about shooting dogs; and because of my not believing this and calling him myself and having him tell me the same, and because I looked into the whole truth about these dogs being killed, and because of my sad past, I cannot let this die.

I will put my facts down (note that I have not been legally threatened or told to take these facts off my site because they are un- disputably the truth).
A man died, his wife tried to commit suicide, the son living further away collected the mum and called the RSPCA for help with 10 GSDs. The RSPCA went to a home covered in dog mess, (Richard Abbott´s own words to me were "the family from hell") Then basically the RSPCA told the son to find places for the dogs or they would deal with them. The RSPCA said the son could not find rescue spaces. The RSPCA themselves called no rescue, (Including their own). They deemed these dogs un-homeable and they said the dogs had bad mange ( but never consulted a Vet). They said they were to aggressive to home (having not even tried to assess with a behaviorist). They took these 10 GSDs out individually on a grasper pole and put the muzzle of the bolt gun to the dogs head and stunning them , then placed a screwdriver or rod in the hole and pithed them whilst the dogs paddled and squired as their brain functions were mangled to kill them. The RSPCA have told various people that this is terrible for the inspectors as it is nasty, messy, and smelly. They are telling us the dogs never saw each others bodies, but hey cant dogs smell better than see anyways? Gunpowder, blood and brain matter, perhaps the first did not smell the death, but the others must have. They tell us the inspectors are trained to do this at slaughter houses, but do you know a slaughter house that kills dogs? And, dogs have different skull shapes so experts on this matter are needed. They tell us its not done often, but then they say they are experts.

To me it does not add up, but rather then debate all the various issues - I simply do not feel that the practice of stunning dogs with a captive bolt gun and then sticking a rod through their brains to kill them is an acceptable form of euthanasia for domestic animals.



We tried everything to get them to never do this again, but they feel they are above question or criticism, so now I am asking people who agree with me to help to make it law that the bolt gun is not allowed to be used to kill dogs and that it would become punishable crime if broken. What I need is letters to The Welsh Assembly and Gordon Brown. Please do this for dogs.

Gordon Brown, 10 Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA
Welsh Assembly Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ

I am not trying to shut the RSPCA down or fuel anti RSPCA sentiment. I just do not want dogs stunned with bolt guns followed by having pithed to death by having their brains scrambled


Please continue to support your local RSPCA branches. They are NOT the main HQ who run the inspectors who are the ones who do this terrible crime.
Sylvia Van Atta. ( Many Tears Rescue )