RSPCA accused of sending dozens of sheep to their death.

The RSPCA’s campaign to stop live exports came under scrutiny yesterday as a trial began over a dockside calamity that led to 43 sheep being destroyed and three drowning.

Hundreds of sheep bound for export from Ramsgate were ordered off a lorry and herded into an unsuitable area of concrete and shale after the charity became aware that two of the animals on board were injured or lame. Three fell down a manhole and drowned while others, deemed to be hobbling or ill, were killed.

The defence tried to call Gavin Grant, the chief executive of the RSPCA, as a witness, claiming that the disaster had been contrived by the charity as part of its campaign against live exports. District Judge Justin Barron refused the application, which may be renewed as the trial progresses at Dover Magistrates’ Court.

Thomas Lomas, 69, of Kettering, and Channel Livestock, a company of which he is an official, deny causing suffering to animals in a case brought by Kent Trading Standards. Two French lorry drivers, Gerard Andre and Dimitri Dessaud, are being tried in their absence.

The packed court was told that a lorry arriving at Ramsgate in 2012 attracted the attention of a dockside RSPCA inspector because sheep’s legs could be seen sticking out of ventilation grilles. The vehicle was found to contain 548 sheep crammed into three storeys. One sheep had a broken leg and one was considered to be completely lame.

A driver went up a ladder to try to pull the crippled sheep out of a ventilation hole by its ears but was shouted at by the charity official and others to stop.

The lorry “had to be unloaded because we couldn’t get the [unwell] animals off without causing them distress and injury”, Caroline Doe, the RSPCA inspector, told the court.

She added that although the RSPCA was against live exports, her role at the port was to improve animals’ welfare during exportation. She accepted that there were no suitable facilities for penning sheep on the dockside. The defence is expected to argue that the animals’ condition was worsened by being kept on gravel before inspection.

Michael Duck, QC, for Mr Lomas and Channel Livestock, said: “This was an RSPCA-driven day.”

Cyril Adjei, for the RSPCA, said the charity denied the defence’s allegation that it had been involved in a conspiracy. The trial continues.

The defence tried to call Gavin Grant, the chief executive of the RSPCA, as a witness, claiming that the disaster had been contrived by the charity as part of its campaign against live exports. District Judge Justin Barron refused the application, which may be renewed as the trial progresses at Dover Magistrates’ Court


This I would love to see, and yes, he should be accountable for what they do. Did Caroline Doe 'just happen' to be there? I'm against live exports, think it's unnecessary, but it looks like she made matters worse. Bet she still has a job though. Maybe it was a set-up by RSPCA? I wouldn't be surprised at anything they did.

It looks like the RSPCA went on a killing spree yet again (bit like the GSD's) and then used photos of the carcasses to blame it on someone else. This is from the Telegraph.

Over the next hour the RSPCA inspectors, using a bolt gun, despatched the animals one by one.
But the large amount of blood evident in the pictures released the next day by the charity had raised questions over the effectiveness of the slaughter.
Mr Langrish said: “Anyone who knows anything about humane killing devices knows that if you use them properly then you don’t get any blood. They make a single piercing straight through the brain and the animal dies.”
John Onderwater, the Dutch exporter whose firm, Barco de Vapor, had been hired to carry the sheep across the Channel, said: “How on earth was it possible that the pile of sheep, which the RSPCA displayed so proudly on its website, was covered with blood? And how did they get the blood to spray a metre and a half up a wall.”

And this below came from the Daily Mail and from a former RSPCA Acting Chief Veterinary Advisor if you like!!!!

David McDowell, a former RSPCA Acting Chief Veterinary Advisor, was astonished by the charity's behaviour when I talked to him this week. Even if the RSPCA was acting in conjunction with government vets, he said, unloading sheep at the dockside contradicts accepted opinion on animal welfare.

'Unless you have a proper pen to put them in, unloading a large number of sheep somewhere like that is a terrible thing to do,' he said. 'In fact, dropping them off a lorry at those docks is — and you can quote me on this — f****** stupid'.

And this is from someone who knows them well!!

Mr Langrish said: “Anyone who knows anything about humane killing devices knows that if you use them properly then you don’t get any blood. They make a single piercing straight through the brain and the animal dies.”

I am a slaughterman by trade (The shoulders won`t let me do it anymore) and i'd like to take Mr Langrish to task on his statement.
True there should not be any blood when the animal is shot BUT .... a captive bolt only stuns or `renders the animal insensitive to pain` and it is possible for an animal to start breathing again if left and not bled out or pithed so will die a lingering death.
So if these sheep were shot then left then that is the ultimate act of cruelty by the RSPCA.