The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is a charity operating in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. In 2011, the RSPCA investigated 159,759 cruelty complaints and collected and rescued 119,126 animals. It is the oldest and largest animal welfare organisation in the world and is one of the largest charities in the UK, with 1,505 employees (as of 2008).
The charity's work has inspired the creation of similar groups in other jurisdictions, starting with the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (founded in 1836), and including the Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1839), the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1840), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1866), the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1882), and various groups which eventually came together as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Australia (1981).
The RSPCA is funded entirely by voluntary donations. No state or lottery funding is received. In 2009, total income was £129,251,000, total expenditure was £119,339,000. Its patron is Queen Elizabeth II.
Read more about Royal Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals: History, Current Structure, Mission Statement and Charitable Status
Famous quotes containing the words royal, society, prevention, cruelty and/or animals:
“The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.”
—Sigmund Freud (18561939)
“The best conversation is rare. Society seems to have agreed to treat fictions as realities, and realities as fictions; and the simple lover of truth, especially if on very high grounds, as a religious or intellectual seeker, finds himself a stranger and alien.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“... if this world were anything near what it should be there would be no more need of a Book Week than there would be a of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.”
—Dorothy Parker (18931967)
“I remember the almost daily talks of my mother on the cruelty of slavery. I would say nothing to her, but I was thinking all the time that slavery did not seem so cruel. Master and Mistress Jennings were not mean to my mother. It was she who was mean to them.”
—Cornelia (1844?)
“The saying, The Magyar is much too lazy to be bored, is worth thinking about. Only the most subtle and active animals are capable of boredom.A theme for a great poet would be Gods boredom on the seventh day of creation.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)