Report cruelty to animals by calling the RSPCA’s cruelty hotline
Phone: (02) 9770 7555   or   Fax: (02) 8666 0174

It’s the law!

Owning an animal is a responsibility. By law you must provide basic care for your pet including food, water, shelter and veterinary treatment when necessary. While most people enjoy the company of their pets and met all their responsibilities to them, the RSPCA is there for those animals who are neglected or mistreated or abandoned.

The RSPCA has the State’s biggest squad of law enforcement officers dedicated to policing offences against animals. There are 31 inspectors in NSW who have powers to remove animals from owners who are cruel, neglectful or indifferent to their animal’s suffering. Our inspectors investigate more than 12,000 complaints every year and have the power, under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1979 to prosecute cruel owners.

RSPCA inspectors come from such backgrounds as police, defence, wildlife care, veterinary nursing, zoo keeping, farming, local Government and feral animal control (employment opportunities).
 
RSPCA inspectors investigate complaints against all kinds of animals in all kinds of situations. The most common complaint is about people who don’t feed their animals propertly, do not provide them with veterinary treatment, leave them without water or allow them to suffer extremes of temperature without adequate shelter. Inspectors also investigate pet shops, the treatment of animals at saleyards, people who abandon their animals, the suffering of farm animals during drought, people who have more animals than they can look after (animal hoarders) and those who intentionally harm animals.

Increasingly, the RSPCA’s inspectors are working with police and other organisations on the link between deliberate cruelty to animals and subsequent violent crimes committed against people.

But the RSPCA’s inspectors do more than prosecute cruelty. They are in the frontline in times of emergency – saving animals from floods, bushfires and other natural disasters. In 2002, the RSPCA provided more than $1.5 million in emergency feed to farmers at risk of losing their stock in one of the country’s worst droughts.

Inspectors also have a strong educational role in the community, visiting schools and talking to community groups. Their daily work has a strong emphasis on educating people about responsible pet ownership.

• It costs the RSPCA $250 a day to keep an inspector on the road and can cost over $4,000 a day to prosecute a cruelty offender.
• Last year, we prosecuted 165 people for animal cruelty.
  
• It costs $3.6 million to run the inspectorate.
  
• The money to pay for this essential work comes mostly from donations and bequests. To donate to the RSPCA, phone 1300 RSPCA1 (1300 777 221).

To report cruelty phone (02) 9770 7555

Downloads/Links - Inspectorate

Reporting Cruelty - FAQs 

Inspectors - Information sheet 

Contact your local Inspectorate 

Employment opportunities 

Notification form for animals to be used in a production 

Notification form - Important information