All Creatures Great and Small

How about this startling factoid? Here in England, the RSPCA (Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty of Animals) was established 60 years before the NSPCC (National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children). The good people of England have been promoting kindness and preventing cruelty to animals for 180 years. I suppose there was a large demand for kids in the glass factories and textile mills during the heyday of the industrial revolution. Dogs and cats, on the other hand, were fortunate enough to lack opposable thumbs.

Evidence of animal love is everywhere here. Stores have doggie hitching posts available so you can hitch your pup while you grab a pasty and a fizzy drink. Churches offer pet services, a development that would make St Francis of Assisi proud. Generous doggie treat and water bowls adorn the entrances of the Moto Service Stations that flank the M5 motorway. Prominently posted signs warn pet owners of the dangers of leaving dogs in cars in the summer heat. Even some of the Trust castles and manors have designated pet areas.

But perhaps the most compelling evidence of animal appreciation is the RSPCA commercials. These ads are poignant, heart wrenching, and ultimately cut to the bone (no pun intended). One such commercial features a wide-eyed scruffy dog hiding behind a couch in fear and desperation. As his drunk and abusive owner totters through the door, we worry for the pup’s safety. Cut to the RSPCA agent, outside the house, his finger poised to ring the doorbell and save another life.

Then there’s the clip of an older dog tied to a tree in the driving rain of a backyard filled with laundry and rubbish, forgotten like a broken toy in the weeks following Christmas. Enter the RSPCA agent, who gently and graciously wraps a fluffy green towel around the shivering ball of fur.

In 2003, the RSPCA removed 180,000 animals from danger and abuse in the UK alone. The commercials are unforgiving, but they get the job done.