From the Guardian today, above, and this below:

The BBC presenter Chris Packham and the former Green party leader Caroline Lucas have resigned from the RSPCA animal-welfare charity, accusing the organisation of “legitimising cruelty”. It comes after an undercover investigation from Animal Rising, which campaigns for a plant-based food system, used hidden cameras to reveal animal cruelty at RSPCA-approved abattoirs.

Packham, who was RSPCA president, and Lucas, who was vice-president, criticised the charity’s response to the videos. “I believe the charity has lost sight of its mandate to protect all animals from cruelty and suffering,” Packham said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/21/chris-packham-and-caroline-lucas-accuse-rspca-of-legitimising-cruelty

For decades, I’ve noticed Scots talk of giving to the RSPCA, a charity that does not use those funds in Scotland. Sometimes, I’ve pointed out that they might be better giving instead to the SSPCA.

It’s a long-running matter.

From wikipedia:

The Scottish SPCA is often confused with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Although the two societies both work with animal welfare, the RSPCA operates only in England and Wales while the Scottish SPCA covers Scotland. Both charities are entirely separate from each other. The RSPCA has been criticised by the Scottish SPCA for fund-raising in Scotland and thereby “stealing food from the mouths of animals north of the border by taking donations intended for Scotland”. The RSPCA insists that it does not deliberately advertise in Scotland but that many satellite channels only enabled the organisation to purchase UK-wide advertising.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Society_for_Prevention_of_Cruelty_to_Animals#:~:text=The%20Scottish%20Society%20for%20the,promote%20animal%20welfare%20in%20Scotland.

Returning to RSPCA approval for abattoirs, I searched for ‘Does SSPCA approved abattoirs‘ and got:

RSPCA Assured assesses farms, hauliers and abattoirs to the RSPCA’s strict welfare standards. If they meet every standard, the RSPCA Assured label can be used on their product.

I tried instead ‘Does Scottish SSPCA approve abattoirs’ and got:

Yes, the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Scottish SPCA) approves abattoirs through schemes like the QMS Cattle & Sheep Assurance Scheme. The Scottish SPCA is a charity that promotes animal welfare in Scotland. 

In the link to Quality Meat Scotland, I found:

Animal welfare and wellbeing are of paramount importance in ensuring the highest product quality. The QMS Animal Welfare and Wellbeing Charter recognises the five freedoms of animal welfare and wellbeing and is a guiding principle for all QMS assurance schemes, which are supported and approved by the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Scottish SPCA), Scotland’s independent animal welfare charity. The Scottish SPCA also carry out some joint visits to QMS approved livestock farms along with Food Integrity Assurance (FIA) assessors.

https://qmscotland.co.uk/integrity-assurance/quality-assurance/standards-schemes/cattle-sheep-standards

There is no mention of ‘abattoirs‘ in the above nor does the wikipedia page for the SSPCA refer to that specific role. Perhaps this is a good example of how Google’s AI searches can get it wrong.

I tried then searching for ‘animal cruelty at SSPCA-approved abattoirs‘, getting only further links to RSPCA stories and one investigation by the Ferret in 2017 finding cruelty in Scottish abattoirs but with no mention of the SSPCA in the text. Another AI fail?

I am by no means suggesting a lack of cruelty in Scottish abattoirs but, once more, wish to make it clear that a group in Scotland should be not tarred by the same media brush.

I know, my metaphors are murder.

Remind me, who is the patron of the RSPCA?

Royal RAGE: How Prince Charles was ‘FURIOUS with Tony Blair over fox hunting’: https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1096928/royal-news-prince-charles-tony-blair-cherie-blair-royal-family-spt