let justice be done

[matthew spooner]

hi guys, i found out some fantastic news the other day. i work in a magistrates court and was talking to an RSPCA officer who was in filing some summons. they are bringing somebody to court over animal welfare issues as after an inspection, they were found to have alot of badly mis treated pets. They were mostly reptiles but amongst the lot was 8 tarantulas. none of them were looked after properly, with most T tanks having mould in them and there were a couple of tanks with dead Ts in, which looked like they had been deceased for quite a while. She said it would have been tricky to bring the person to court if it was just the ts as invertebrates are not covered by alot of the animal welfare laws but as there were reptiles as well she has easily took the matter to court. The person in question has already been on a ban from keeping pets once before so looks like this ones going to prison, YAY!!! that'll teach the b*s*a*d lol

[Nicola Dolby]

Thanks Matthew, its nice to see the RSPCA getting some credit. It would be good if the law was a little more protective of inverts though!

[James Box]

that is good, if this chap was neglectful and his pets were suffering!

but permit me to play devil's advocate: the issue of mould in tanks is more contraversial then you may think...ie some people think it will destroy all their tarantulas...and others (like me) have never had it harm anything...i put woodlice in to eat it when i can spare a few, but so far...no mould/mushroom-related deaths.
yes i know there may be some strains more virulent then others, but i've not encountered them, though i do try to head them off as well as the benign with cleaner bugs like woodlice or springtails.
also, i've had times when something has died and i've just not had the time to give it a proper burial (ie freezer so scientists can poke it later!) right away. if it's minging, i'll bury it...if it's dry i sometimes leave it for a bit.

it springs to mind that sometimes the law "sticks its nose" where it doesn't belong, and penalises innocent people because other people wrongly anthropomorphise a creature in the care of the first person...ie (ie space issues, amount of feeding, etc etc)...

i've even heard of people who did the best they could for their dogs, but because a neighbour wanted to "get at them", they were reported for a trumped up charge, which was upheld by a pedantic officer...which caused issues for someone innocent, and happy dogs...

hopefully justice will be done, as you say!

[Lisa Baines]

yup I will give the RSPCA 10/10 in the above case.

As James said it's a shame that inverts are almost forgotten or misunderstood in legal matters

[matthew spooner]

i see where your coming from james, but from what i can gather in this case, there were multiple deads. and as stated in original post, the tarantulas are not the issue for which they are taking it to court, it is for the reptiles, which from what i can agther were kept in quite horrific conditions. hopefully he gets what he deserves. will keep you all updated as and when he has been to court and i know anything

[James Box]

that sounds definitely quite bad...i just like playing devil's advocate!
it'd be good for people to realise that reptiles (and inverts, though the law would be hard-pressed to protect them since we eat lobsters that have been cooked live, for example) are living creatures worthy of good care and humane treatment.

[matthew spooner]

i agree james, its just a shame that this is not the case. you would be surprised how many offers i get to house reptiles and inverts because they are not being looked after properly

[Mrs Linda Street]

Good news Matt, nice to see some positive action being taken by the RSPCA