An Existential Crisis at the RSPCA

Job One should be to lose the fake police uniform.

Is the corrupt, incompetent, grifting fraud factory know as the RSPCA going to reform itself under new sane leadership?

It's too early to tell, but there appears to be a glimmer of hope.

The new chief of the RSPCA, Jeremy Cooper, has said the animal welfare charity had become "too adversarial" and will now be "a lot less political".

A number of farmers and pet owners prosecuted or investigated by the RSPCA have accused it of being over-zealous in cases going back years. In 2012, it was criticised for spending £330,000 to privately prosecute a hunt.

Mr Cooper told the Daily Telegraph the charity had made "mistakes" in the past and would now focus on "dialogue".

He said all future decisions on illegal fox hunting prosecutions would be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service and it was "very unlikely" the RSPCA would privately prosecute a hunt.

Let us watch, but keep our expectations low. In the past, the RSPCA has allowed direct mail firms to shape campaigns for fundraising purposes, with the idea that the national organization would claim all the good work of the local affiliates while pocketing all the cash for itself. At the same time, RSPCA inspectors have donned store-bought uniforms and tried to bluff their way forward into homes and yards, even though they have no police powers at all.

A real change at the RSPCA will require a change on both fronts, and that's a big lift. Can Jeremy Cooper do it, and still hold on to his job? It's a good question, but so too is the opposite; if it's not done, will the RSPCA wither on the vine as it loses public support and trust?

The RSPCA is truly at an existential crossroads. Let's see which way they turn, and for how long.