TEXT OF PETITION
TO: MR. ADAM KIMBER, LLB, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
This is the petition created at
http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/stop-rspca-prosecution-scandals-1
Please visit the link and add your name.
Dear Mr. Kimber,
We need you to begin immediately to put pressure on Parliament to withdraw the RSPCA's rights to conduct private prosecutions in this state, and to restore this responsibility to the Department of Public Prosecutions, from which it should never have been delegated. If necessary to this end there should be a Royal Commission into the conduct of RSPCA prosecutions, which will reveal to the general public the true nature of what has been going on. You are best placed to initiate effective action directed to these ends. There is a huge urgency to terminate the shameful regime of terror the RSPCA has waged, state by state, against Australia’s most vulnerable citizens. Let SA begin the dismantling. We have led the way in other matters. Here is a new opportunity to lead, in bringing to an end the manifold destructions and huge quantum of pain which, to no good end whatsoever, the RSPCA generates. I do have a deeply personal interest in the social impact of the RSPCA, since they have effectively ruined my life, and I will outline my story briefly in the next section. But I would like to make clear that I am setting up this petition in order to stress that it is the RSPCA’s social impact, disastrous in every way, and especially in its prosecutions, that should oblige all decent folk to pay attention and to act swiftly, before any more lives lie in tatters, shredded by this ruthless and quite vicious organisation. Two recent SBS programs (September 2012) have at last brought some media focus back to the plight of companion animals who are caught up in the RSPCA's clutches. It was interesting to see how the RSPCA's normally voluble PR firm totally ignored these two hours of TV documentation of the kill rates in RSPCA shelters. Instead of addressing this issue, the RSPCA's response was a totally diversionary attack on selling kittens and puppies in pet shops! But at least now the topic has been so publicly raised, maybe it will get some attention in the policy arena. Until now most criticism has been directed at the RSPCA's protection of factory farming cruelties. Working out exactly what ought to be done about the RSPCA needs to be worked out in much finer detail than is possible to discuss here. The RSPCA can no longer be trusted with the unprecedented powers it has acquired.
The main requirement is crystal clear - it must be removed from the prosecution process, and prevented from preying on the people any longer.
I, AND THE OTHER PETITIONERS WHO HAVE JOINED WITH ME IN THIS PLEA, BEG YOU TO COMMENCE IMMEDIATELY TO DO “WHATEVER IT TAKES” TO DISMANTLE THE RSPCA'S GRIP ON ANIMAL WELFARE PROSECUTIONS, AND TRANSFER THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE RELEVANT LEGISLATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS, WHERE THEY WILL BE UNDER YOUR SCRUTINY AND DIRECTION.
Yours very sincerely, Glynne Sutcliffe, and all other signatories
http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/stop-rspca-prosecution-scandals-1
Please visit the link and add your name.
Dear Mr. Kimber,
We need you to begin immediately to put pressure on Parliament to withdraw the RSPCA's rights to conduct private prosecutions in this state, and to restore this responsibility to the Department of Public Prosecutions, from which it should never have been delegated. If necessary to this end there should be a Royal Commission into the conduct of RSPCA prosecutions, which will reveal to the general public the true nature of what has been going on. You are best placed to initiate effective action directed to these ends. There is a huge urgency to terminate the shameful regime of terror the RSPCA has waged, state by state, against Australia’s most vulnerable citizens. Let SA begin the dismantling. We have led the way in other matters. Here is a new opportunity to lead, in bringing to an end the manifold destructions and huge quantum of pain which, to no good end whatsoever, the RSPCA generates. I do have a deeply personal interest in the social impact of the RSPCA, since they have effectively ruined my life, and I will outline my story briefly in the next section. But I would like to make clear that I am setting up this petition in order to stress that it is the RSPCA’s social impact, disastrous in every way, and especially in its prosecutions, that should oblige all decent folk to pay attention and to act swiftly, before any more lives lie in tatters, shredded by this ruthless and quite vicious organisation. Two recent SBS programs (September 2012) have at last brought some media focus back to the plight of companion animals who are caught up in the RSPCA's clutches. It was interesting to see how the RSPCA's normally voluble PR firm totally ignored these two hours of TV documentation of the kill rates in RSPCA shelters. Instead of addressing this issue, the RSPCA's response was a totally diversionary attack on selling kittens and puppies in pet shops! But at least now the topic has been so publicly raised, maybe it will get some attention in the policy arena. Until now most criticism has been directed at the RSPCA's protection of factory farming cruelties. Working out exactly what ought to be done about the RSPCA needs to be worked out in much finer detail than is possible to discuss here. The RSPCA can no longer be trusted with the unprecedented powers it has acquired.
The main requirement is crystal clear - it must be removed from the prosecution process, and prevented from preying on the people any longer.
I, AND THE OTHER PETITIONERS WHO HAVE JOINED WITH ME IN THIS PLEA, BEG YOU TO COMMENCE IMMEDIATELY TO DO “WHATEVER IT TAKES” TO DISMANTLE THE RSPCA'S GRIP ON ANIMAL WELFARE PROSECUTIONS, AND TRANSFER THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE RELEVANT LEGISLATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS, WHERE THEY WILL BE UNDER YOUR SCRUTINY AND DIRECTION.
Yours very sincerely, Glynne Sutcliffe, and all other signatories
Why is this important?
The RSPCA ravages the Australian population like a wolf let loose on a flock of sheep. It has the same taste for culling the weakest, and the same voracious appetite. It rips into the elderly and the disabled for breakfast, and has wildlife carers, pet shop owners, unaffiliated breeders, sanctuary managers, political enemies and other assorted decent folk for dinner. But like the wolf in the fable, when abroad on the hunt it takes care both to look harmless, and to appear to be doing good. Its charitable mask is provided by a highly paid advertising agency (currently Saatchi and Saatchi) with the skill to spin half truths, and outright lies, into a "constructed narrative" that makes black appear white, green appear purple, and truth disappear. I can claim some professional credentials as a social analyst, from my teaching and lecturing in Sociology departments both here in Adelaide and interstate, as well as from earning useful degrees from the Universities of both Melbourne and Chicago. It is this background that made me try and understand my own experiences by researching the socio-political dimensions of RSPCA prosecutions. My story is far too long to tell here. I will put up a more detailed narrative on the internet. It will begin with observing that when the RSPCA seized my red kelpie back on December 17th 2000, now nearly 12 years ago, they commenced a vendetta. This has included staging an 'anniversary' raid on December 16th 2010, after which they told me that "It wasn't as bad as they'd expected", and departed. The resulting stress dramatically worsened the arthritis in my hip to the point where, by April 7th 2011, I could no longer manage to get across a room without a walking stick. The little kitten in the photo is one of the kittens taken by the RSPCA in the course of multiple raids on my property during 2011 and 2012. I will put videos on the internet so you can see what my place, cats and kittens actually look like. The raid on 2nd September 2011 was in response to an email I sent on the evening of 29th August to a Victorian farmer organising against the RSPCA's "live export" hypocrisies. (How did they know about the email? Illegal hacking is the only possible explanation. Nicola Roxon please pay attention!) At this time they took more than sixty cats and kittens off to their 'shelter' at Lonsdale, adding another sixty cats and kittens in three raids between then and April 24th 2012. Despite the fact that I have a purpose built cattery with indoor and outdoor areas, set on a 30 acre property, they claimed that I had failed to provide adequate facilities for my cats. They are prosecuting me for this, with a trial date set for November this year. The 'delay' in prosecuting is chiefly due to my health problems, including surgery for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and left hip replacement. Enough! I am only mentioning my story here because it is a TYPICAL story of RSPCA practice, which is best understood as abusing the legal system, and gaming the animal welfare legislation for their own financial and political ends, with no detectable benefit and much distress to 99 per cent of the animals they encounter. (The remaining one per cent are the ones on the TV news). The public that has given so generously to support the RSPCA surely intended that the money they donated or willed to them should be used to care for lost and lonely, sad, injured or old animals. It is an abuse of their generosity for the RSPCA to use these donations on persecutory prosecutions. The profile of those who are prosecuted reveals the RSPCA’s conscience-free ruthlessness. It is statistically skewed towards those over sixty and who can be accused of 'neglect' - a very elastic accusation! But it is age, not animal cruelty, that best explains who is selected for prosecution, and the possibility of asset-stripping (most often a home) because in the ‘asset rich, cash poor demographic’ there is no margin for hiring a defence lawyer who will not play the plea bargain game. Thus the primary charge to be laid at the RSPCA's door is the charge of elder abuse. However there are plenty of others. A UK journalist has documented a clear proclivity on the part of the RSPCA to prosecute not only older people but also those who are disabled in one way or another. The way the RSPCA betrays its own mission statement, to prevent cruelty to animals, is already widely known. That the RSPCA is a dangerously vindictive organisation, of which it is wise to keep a wide berth, is also well known. But the extent to which its prosecutions are cynical exercises in exploitation of legislation which the RSPCA helped draft is not so completely understood. Public policy ought not be predicated on predation by the powerful upon the weak.
How it will be delivered.
The petition should be taken to Mr. Kimber for a formal presentation at his office in the Adelaide CBD. There is no reason to suppose that Mr. Kimber would feel in any way threatened by this petition, and he may welcome it as a good reason to do what he probably is fully aware should be done. Newspaper and TV media personnel should be asked along - with the possible exception of Channel 7. COTA and other organisations that represent the interests of older Australians should also be invited.
Please help where you can
Print my leaflet and distribute amongst your family & friends - Let's get everyone involved.