TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2014
8
TRUSTEES' REPORT
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
1,800
2,000
Horse
Horse
Horse
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
Six examples where real impact has been made
The breadth and scale of work the RSPCA undertakes across very many species of animals is beyond
the scope of this report but we have chosen six examples of where real progress has been made.
Summary of progress
Over the past two years the RSPCA has warned
repeatedly of the growing horse crisis. In 2014,
we received calls about abandoned, neglected
or mistreated horses, ponies and donkeys
involving an incredible 82,886 animals. Many
of these were grazed on private or public
land without permission, a practice known
as 'fly-grazing'. The problem has worsened in
recent years with factors such as the economic
climate, the falling prices of horses at market
and irresponsible ownership all contributing
to horses being left to breed indiscriminately,
often without enough food or the right sort of
care. It is estimated that more than 3,000 horses
were fly-grazed in England and Wales causing
misery for horses, communities and taxpayers.
The RSPCA, alongside other charities,
campaigned throughout 2014 for changes to
the fly-grazing legislation in England to match
the progressive Welsh legislation that was
introduced in early 2014 and which has made an
enormous difference in its first year. We have
made progress to change existing legislation
and hope this will become law in 2015. Whilst
the new law will help in part, we are still faced
with having large numbers of horses in our
care - over 800 at the start of 2014 - and the
number of horse cases we take to court due
to concerns on animal welfare is rising each
year. 2014 saw us step up our efforts to tackle
this crisis with a major integrated rehoming
Horses: increasing rehoming by 16 percent and a new law
Figure 1 Number of horses collected, taken
in and rehomed by the RSPCA 2009-14
Horses collected
Horses taken
into our care
Horses rehomed
campaign and working with other equine charities to deal with horses
on site. As a result we had our most successful horse rehoming year ever
in 2014, increasing the number of horses that we rehomed to 378 - an
increase of 16 percent on 2013.
What we will do in 2015
We will run another rehoming campaign in 2015 to rehome the 150
horses that we currently have available; we will campaign for a change
to the fly-grazing legislation in England to make it easier to tackle horses
being illegally grazed and we will change the way we operate in the field
to solve horse welfare problems in situ. Our goal is to have fewer than
500 horses in our care at the end of the year.
Andrew Forsyth/RSPCA Photolibrary