RSPCA Tasmania (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Tasmania) is an animal welfare, education and advocacy charitable organisation based in Tasmania, Australia. They run and maintain a shelter facility for the boarding of surrendered and seized animals, as well as operating retail shop fronts for the adoption of pets. They are responsible for the enforcement of state and federal animal welfare laws for domestic animals, and laws relating to non-commercial animal related activities in Tasmania.
History The emergence of an anti-cruelty organisation in Tasmania is partly due to the intellectual currents that developed in England over the maltreatment of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.See Stefan Petrow, "Civilising Mission: Animal Protection in Hobart 1878-1914," Britain and the World 5 (2012): pp 69-95. Sentiments opposing the maltreatment of animals were expressed by social reformers, clergy and politicians in England with early legislative efforts to ban practices such as bull-baiting in the English parliament were made in 1800 and 1809, the former effort led by William Johnstone Pulteney (1729–1805) and the latter by Lord Erskine (1750–1823) but the proposed Bills were defeated.Kathryn Shevelow, For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement (New York: Henry Holt, 2008), pp 201-240.
Creation of England's RSPCA The first successful passage of anti-cruelty legislation in the British parliament occurred in 1822Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822 (3 Geo. 4. c. 71) under the direction of the Irish politician Richard Martin (1754–1834) who was nicknamed by King George IV as "Humanity Dick".Peter Phillips, Humanity Dick The Eccentric Member for Galway: The Story of Richard Martin, Animal Rights Pioneer, 1754-1834 (Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Parapress, 2003), p 146. Around the same time that Martin was drafting his anti-cruelty bill, the Reverend Arthur Broome (1779–1837) had letters published in periodicals in which he canvassed for expressions of interest in forming a voluntary organisation to promote animal welfare and oppose cruelty."To Correspondents" The Kaleidoscope, 6 March 1821 p 288. Also see The Monthly Magazine Vol. 51 April 1, 1821 p 3. "The Brute Species". "Notice" in Morning Post, 17 February 1821, p 3. Similarly see "Cruelty to Animals" The Sporting Magazine Vol. VIII New Series No. XLIII (April 1821), p 33. See comments on these notices in Shevelow, For the Love of Animals, pp 267-268
After the passage of Richard Martin's anti-cruelty to cattle bill in 1822, Broome attempted to form a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals that would bring together the patronage of persons who were of social rank and committed to social reforms. Broome did organise and chair a meeting of sympathisers in November 1822 where it was agreed that a Society should be created and at which Broome was named its Secretary, but the attempt was short-lived.Shevelow, For The Love of Animals, 268; Arthur W. Moss, Valiant Crusade: The History of the RSPCA (London: Cassell, 1961), 22.
Broome made a renewed attempt and distributed invitations so that a number of social reformers gathered on 16 June 1824 at Old Slaughter's Coffee House, London, to create a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.Lewis Gompertz, Fragments in Defence of Animals, and Essays on Morals, Souls and Future State (London: Horsell, 1852), p. 174;Edward G. Fairholme and Wellesley Pain, A Century of Work For Animals: The History of the RSPCA 1824-1934 (London: John Murray, 1934), pp 54-55. The meeting was chaired by Thomas Fowell Buxton MP (1786–1845) and the resolution to establish the Society was voted on. Among others who were present as founding members were Sir James Mackintosh MP, Richard Martin, William Wilberforce, Basil Montagu, John Ashley Warre, Rev. George Bonner (1784–1840), Rev. George Avery Hatch (1757–1837), Sir James Graham, John Gilbert Meymott, William Mudford, and Lewis Gompertz.A complete list of the founder members is recorded in Gompertz, Fragments in Defence of Animals, pp 174-175. Broome was appointed as the Society's first honorary secretary."Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals" Morning Post 28 June 1824 p 2. Queen Victoria in 1840 bestowed the Royal Prefix so that it became known as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.Fairholme and Pain, A Century of Work for Animals, p 89.
Early concerns in Tasmania The earliest piece of colonial legislation that carried penalties for some forms of cruelty toward animals was passed in Tasmania (then called Van Diemen's Land) in 1837.Philip Jamieson, "Animal Welfare: A Movement in Transition,' in Law and History: A Collection of Papers Presented at the 1989 Law and History Conference ed. Suzanne Corcoran (Adelaide: University of Adelaide, 1989), p 24. This piece of legislation, however, lacked the proper infrastructure needed for its enforcement and it was replaced by the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1877 and amended in 1879.Petrow, "Civilising Mission," p 76. In the 1860s, Tasmanian newspapers occasionally published articles concerning animal cruelty issues that were from British newspapers.For example, "Professor Masson on Sentimentalism," The Mercury, Thursday 6 May 1869, p 3. Sentiments about the necessity of passing substantial anti-cruelty laws and creating an organisation similar to England's RSPCA were published in the 1870s.The Mercury, Saturday 31 July 1875, p 2.
The Tasmanian SPCA was created at a public meeting on Friday 19 July 1878 that was chaired by the Governor Frederick Weld (1823–1891) and other prominent figures including Sir James Milne Wilson (1812–1880) and the Anglican Dean of Hobart Rev. Henry B. Bromby (1840–1911)."Prevention of Cruelty to Animals" The Mercury, Saturday 20 July 1878, p 2. The resolution was passed at this meeting "that a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals be established in Tasmania." Rev. Bromby addressed the crowd stating: "They should take high ground in estimating the work of the society, that they should not only deem it as an auxiliary to the existing law for the prevention of cruelty to animals, but that they should deem this prevention to form parts of their Christian duty. For the humane treatment of the brute creation was enjoined by the Bible, and the same had been emphatically laid upon them by our Saviour's words, so that it might be considered to form one of the foundations of Christianity."The Mercury, 20 July 1878, p. 2
Christian influence on SPCA Stefan Petrow's account of the early years of Tasmania's SPCA indicates that there was a close relationship established with England's RSPCA.Petrow, "Civilising Mission", p 79. Petrow notes that "religious motivations were regularly affirmed at annual general meetings."Petrow, "Civilising Mission," p 80. The Society's early efforts included witnesses reporting to the police incidents of cruelty and the publication of literature encouraging children to act kindly toward animals.See letter "Cruelty to Animals," The Mercury, Tuesday 29 November 1892, p 3; also Petrow, "Civilising Mission," pp 81-83.
In the early twentieth century, various churches in Tasmania sponsored an annual Animal Sunday service which had the twin aims of promoting kindness towards animals as well as supporting the SPCA."Tasmania SPCA. The Annual Meeting" The Mercury, Wednesday 17 March 1909, p 6. Johannes Heyer (1872–1945), who served as the minister at St. John's Presbyterian Church, Macquarie Street, Hobart, as well as the moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Tasmania, also served as the secretary of the Hobart branch of the SPCA.See "Obituary. Rev J. Heyer Dies Suddenly in Hobart" The Mercury, Friday 19 October 1945, p 7;Chris Mostert, 'Heyer, Johannes (1872–1945)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, accessed online 26 May 2017.
Later developments During the twentieth century, public concerns in Tasmania were expressed over the maltreatment of horses by youthful cart-drivers."Launceston RSPCA. Boys Driving Horses," The Mercury, Tuesday 9 July 1929, p 5. The society participated in government inquiries concerning the export of animals."Australian Fauna. Export of Specimens," World, [Hobart] Monday 26 November 1923, p 3. The SPCA also asked for further legal amendments concerning the keeping of birds in captivity."New Laws on Animal Cruelty Urged," The Mercury, Wednesday, 27 September 1944, p 4. A branch of the Society was established in Launceston, and it opened up junior members branches for the Society in various Launceston-based schools."Work of RSPCA" Examiner [Launceston] Tuesday, 18 September 1945, p 4. In 1950, the Launceston branch sought funding for an animal hospital."RSPCA Needs Hospital," Advocate [Burnie] Thursday 26 October 1950, p 4.
The Royal Warrant was granted to the Tasmanian SPCA in 1956.Tasmanian Archives In 1980, the Tasmanian RSPCA helped in the formation of the national body known as RSPCA Australia.See details on its registration
During the twenty-first century, the use and abuse of animals across Australia and within Tasmania has stimulated public debates on a range of issues, including intensive agricultural farming, the live export trade,Four Corners "A Bloody Business" 30 May 2011; Bidda Jones and Julian Davies, Backlash: Australia's Conflict of Values Over Live Exports (Braidwood NSW: Finlay Lloyd Book, 2016) unlicensed puppy farms, animals used in circuses and rodeos, and greyhound and horse racing.For general discussions about some of these issues see Richard D. Ryder, Animal Revolution: Changing Attitudes Towards Speciesism, Rev Ed (Oxford; New York: Berg, 2000) . Norm Phelps, The Longest Struggle: Animal Advocacy from Pythagoras to PETA (New York: Lantern, 2007) . Peter Singer Ed. In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave (Malden, Massachusetts; Oxford: Blackwell, 2006) RSPCA Tasmania has invited the public via its website to participate in campaigns that oppose the use of whips in horse racing and calling for government intervention on unlicensed puppy farm breeding.See "Big Issues"
Law enforcement The RSPCA Tasmania inspectorate team has 6 dedicated staff to enforce animal welfare laws in Tasmania. They have a range of powers, including the ability to fine individuals on the spot for violations. The legal powers that authorise Tasmania's RSPCA inspectors to investigate reports of animal cruelty are specified in the Animal Welfare Act 1993.Animal Welfare Act 1993 For more background discussion and description of existing anti-cruelty legislation in Australia, including Tasmania, see Deborah Cao, Animal Law in Australia and New Zealand (Sydney: Thomson Reuters, 2010), and Peter Sankoff & Steven White eds. Animal Law in Australasia (Sydney: Federation Press, 2009).
Criticism RSPCA Tasmania has had some of the heaviest criticism of all RSPCA branches. From 2008 to 2010, criticism of the RSPCA's Tasmanian branch reached the national headlines following a disagreement with Australia's 4th richest woman Jan Cameron, who criticised RSPCA Tasmania on the raising of staff wages, its increased euthanasia rates, its lowered number of accepted animals and for mismanagement of the board, resulting in her withdrawal of millions of dollars of pledged funding. Criticism by a string of former board members also reached the headlines after Susanna Cass, former President of the Tasmanian branch, resigned from the board and then later had her membership revoked because a statement made by Cass in the media "negatively impacted on the society's ability to meet its objectives", according to the RSPCA's official release. She later accused the board of spending money on unrequired bureaucracy instead of animal welfare.