The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) is asking the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) either to cease advertising north of the border or to rebrand itself as what it actually is: The RSPCA for England and Wales.

The general public have not unreasonably assumed that the RSPCA is a charity with UK-wide responsibilitities and that donations given to it benefit animals across the entire UK.

This is not the case. The RSPCA does not contribute at all to the care for animals in Scotland. Only donations to the SSPCA benefit animals here.

People may wish to contribute to both organisations or only to the one caring for animals in their own country but it is helpful to know exactly what their donations support and do not support.

The SSPCA say that the confusion has led to many people naming donations to the RSPCA under wrong assumptions.

The RSPCA say that they have  not deliberately advertised in Scotland and this will be correct. Large organisations contract media managers to run their advertising campaigns and it is more than likely that whichever organisation the RSPCA has employed to do this has not thought to check out the respective territorial responsibilities.

Now that the SSPCA has highlighted the issue, the RSPCA will be able to issue appropriate instructions to its media managers.