Running Cats and Dogs

The big Sunday is here and as I lie around after a power of hard mountain and trail running in an attempt to bring my human Marathon team up to Deerhound fitness - they pound the Streets of Edinburgh at the Edinburgh Marathon. As part of the Hairy Haggis - ‘Running Cats and Dogs’ team.

Yes you may know these ‘commandos’ are in training for serious Highland games and Mountain Running so a Marathon will be a walk in the park for them (hmm? a dogs favourite). But our team run for a reason.

They run in aid of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA), for yes, there are still sad individuals on this earth who would bring harm to we animals.

The target is set for fund raising, so if you wish to sponsor the team click on this link. And don’t worry if Sunday morning has come and gone in your time zone, or by the time you have read this, for we are still open to sponsorship until August 2008.

Read on for the . . .

Scottish SPCA history

At a numerous and highly respectable Public Meeting, held on the 18th day of December, 1839, within the Hopetoun Rooms, Edinburgh, it was resolved that as cruelty to the brute creation is contrary to Scripture and humanity and, as there is no legislative enactment in Scotland adequate to prevent this evil, it is expedient that in Scotland a Society be instituted to be called “The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.”

L.G. Langwill, Secretary and Treasurer of the Society.
Scottish SPCA Report. Centenary Year 1939.

Thus, a Scottish Society to prevent cruelty to animals and promote kindness and humanity in their treatment was born. It was determined that the Society should seek to enlighten those who thought of animals as dumb creatures, good for work and nothing else, and prevent mistreatment through legislation and investigation. The Society’s first priority was to improve the conditions for “shamefully used” horses and donkeys in Edinburgh. (The Scotsman, 25 July 1840)
Collaborating in 1850 with the RSPCA, which served and continues to serve England and Wales only, the Scottish SPCA helped secure legislation protecting animals. Penalties were imposed for ill treatment and over-driving and the use of any place for fighting or baiting any bull, bear, dog, or other domestic or wild animal was prohibited.

The legislation relating to Scotland gave the Society's Inspectors the powers of Police Constables in their localities, a status denied their English colleagues. This was maintained in the Protection of Animals (Scotland) 1912 Act and remained the case until local government reorganisation in the 1970s. The Scottish SPCA is now in the unique position of being a reporting agency to the Procurator Fiscal.

Scottish SPCA committees evolved in the 19th and early 20th centuries, spreading the animal welfare message across the country. In 1875, the Society's Inspector and five Constables conducted 292 investigations. By 1903, the workload exceeded 3500. The turn of the century saw the Society purchase its first ambulance, built to order by John Beggs and Sons of Philadelphia, at a cost of £113.

The Protection of Animals (Scotland) Act 1912 was the principle statute relating to animal welfare until 2006, when the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act was passed. The Scottish SPCA was very proud to play a major role in helping to campaign for and shape the legislation.

Today, the Scottish SPCAs Board Members, Inspectorate, staff and supporters are as determined as their forbarers to see the day when animal cruelty stops.