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FUW Deputy President Brian Thomas[/caption]
The Farmers’ Union of Wales has welcomed Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) chief executive Jeremy Cooper’s apology for the charity’s adversarial and highly politicised campaigns – but says many questions remain regarding the organisation’s conduct and that of the Charity Commission, which is responsible for monitoring charities.
Mr Cooper told The Telegraph “Of course we have made mistakes in the past, and we are very sorry about that. We have to be honest and admit the mistakes and acknowledge them.”
The apology comes after years of criticism and negative publicity led to a parliamentary inquiry and an independent report recommending sweeping changes to the charity’s involvement with prosecutions.
Responding to the apology, FUW Deputy President Brian Thomas said: “For more than a decade the FUW repeatedly raised concerns about the conduct of the RSPCA in relation to its overtly political campaigns, and pursued a number of complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority and the Charity Commission, amongst others.”
Mr Thomas said that while the ASA had upheld complaints against the RSPCA by the FUW, the Charity Commission had, over a prolonged period, appeared to take a passive approach to the charity.
“In response to serious complaints against the RSPCA the Charity Commission was generally dismissive and at times appeared to try and brush concerns under the carpet.
“Their passive approach to the RSPCA effectively gave the charity a green light to become more militant and more political, and we would argue that Mr Cooper’s public apology is at least in part a direct consequence of this failure by the Charity Commission,” added Mr Thomas.
In 2012, the then Chief Executive of the RSPCA, Gavin Grant, described the charity as “the oldest law enforcement agency still in existence in this country”, and threatened to campaign to “stop consumers drinking milk”, if supermarkets were unable to differentiate between ‘badger friendly milk’ and milk from English badger cull areas.
Similar, more ominous threats were made during a 2012 BBC Panorama documentary on the English badger cull, during which Mr Grant said that "The spotlight of attention will be turned on those marksmen [employed to cull badgers] and on those who give permission for this cull to take place. They will be named and we will decide as citizens of this country whether they will be shamed."
In 2012, the FUW wrote to the President of the Association of Chief Police Officers expressing major concerns that ten police forces in the UK, including the North Wales and South Wales Forces, had agreements with the RSPCA which allowed the charity to access confidential and sensitive information about individuals contained in police records.
Concerns have also been expressed after the RSPCA tried to claim thousands of pounds for stabling and caring for horses which had been put down by the charity.
“A sinister shadow has been cast over the honourable roots of the RSPCA and the important work done by its employees.
“The only way in which to redeem its reputation is through full transparency, and a full investigation of the role played by the Charity Commission in allowing the organisation to fall into such disrepute,” said Mr Thomas.