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Dr Doolittle in a cruel town
It would be no exaggeration to describe Bill Stubbs as Wigan's Dr Doolittle. He has worked for a better deal for animals for the last 50 years and even today, he fights cruelty on every level.
Now 59, Bill took up the post of Wigan RSPCA Manager in January this year. But by that time he was no stranger to animal-lovers and those connected with the Society.
He first worked on the local RSPCA in 1976, which was 'Animal Welfare Year', and has first hand knowledge of working in a town once described as the cruellest in the North West.
Bill – who has received top awards for his caring – has happy memories of animals. But threaded through his story are personal accounts of animal cruelty and abuse that have kept him awake at night.
Bill, a lifelong bachelor, recalled his childhood life in Scholes, where he gained a love of all creatures great and small from his mother Sheila, herself a long-time RSPCA worker, and his dad.
His rescued mongrel Toto on his lap, he recalls: "My grandad was a journalist as well as an animal lover. In those days there was a lot of horse whipping – and he was ever trying to stop this. People were cruel to animals without knowing it. So animal-loving is in the blood.
"As a kid we had rabbits, guinea pigs and pigeons and people brought things to us to care for. I used to sit in the garden with all these animals – it was bliss.
"I drifted into a career in biology. It seemed a good idea but gave it up because I couldn't stand seeing laboratory animals living in awful conditions and horses, for example, being kept just to be bled every day. So were rabbits and chickens … it was Cold Comfort Farm. I had to get away from animal exploitation.
"I changed careers – and a job with BT fitted the bill. But even then animals were my first concern and when I joined the Wigan RSPCA Branch in 1976 it was in danger of folding and they advertised for volunteers."
Even now, Bill winces when he talks about coming face-to-face with cruelty to animals, explaining: "I knew straight away I had to be in the forefront and tackle suffering. I saw the raw side and soon realised how shocking cruelty was right here in Wigan. A minority does the cruelty, but what amazed me was how much apathy there was among many people.
"People who, in my view, should have known better just turned their backs on animal cruelty. I recall the red deer that was deliberately shot in the children's zoo at Haigh Hall all those years ago. For God's sake, how did that happen? There were rumours that the deer was shot for venison in the restaurant, but the poor animal was inhumanely shot and thankfully, we exposed it through publicity in the Wigan papers.
"Then there was the fiasco at the Council's Cleansing Department at Frog Lane where dogs were being destroyed by being electrocuted. The electrothanator was inhuman in itself. Dogs would stand in a tray of water and have terminals applied to certain parts of the body. The dog would suffer a massive electric shock which would look humane but I was sad to find out that the dogs often just had massive heart attacks. That was when the machine worked well. Unfortunately the system often didn't work well and the guy using it had to finish dogs off with a hammer. But for the publicity, the whole thing would have been brushed under the carpet. Thankfully it finished after some of us picketed Frog Lane.
"But there was a problem. What would happen to unwanted animals? My mother suggested we take over an empty shop on Greenhough Street and it became the first RSCPA charity shop in the country. But it also had space to house animals waiting for homes. It worked and at nearly 30 I wallowed in looking after all these beautiful animals. Of course, some had to be put to sleep, but this was done properly by the vets at a reduced rate.
"During Wakes Holiday weeks, we were inundated with animals owned by people simply too mean to pay for kennelling. So many animals lodged at the shop – and one night I returned to be confronted by a massive gannet which had been brought by fishermen from Morecambe Bay."
But even in 2006 Wigan is still on the border-line for the title of cruellest town in the north west.
He says: "This year's statistics show cruelty figures are still high and not long ago we had the highest number of prosecutions.
"But the good things about Wigan," adds Bill, "is that the people will speak out if they come across animal cruelty. They are worth their weight in gold. They aren't frightened of either confronting or reporting their neighbours if they don't treat animals kindly.
Ignorance
"I do believe that a lot of cruelty is caused by ignorance and that this can only be changed through education. One of our education officers is now working in America on the proven link between domestic abuse and child abuse and cruelty to animals.
"We know there are cases where a violent partner uses the animal as a bargaining tool.
"I'll never forget one night going to see a bitch with pups. The owner, a slaughterman, had threatened to cut his wife and kids' throats and had started by demonstrating what he would do on the dog. He actually had a good slash at the dog. It was all terribly bloody but to cut a long story short, the wife and children were taken to a place of safety and we took the bitch and pups."
Bill served on the national council of the RSPCA for 15 years – the policy-making body which also controls the way resources are spread across branches like Wigan.
"Really there are four main areas of animal welfare concern: wild animals, farm animals, laboratory animals and domestic animals. The biggest potential for suffering is with farm animals."
Bill tells how wealthy branches of the RSPCA have animal homes and despite the local society not being too badly off thanks to legacies, there isn't enough money to maintain one in Wigan. Here, it's vital to tell local people leaving money to the Wigan RSPCA that they must state in their wills that it is for the Wigan branch, otherwise the money is swallowed up in the national RSPCA coffers.
Wigan RSPCA would like to own premises again similar to those on Greenhough Street which could provide a temporary shelter for unwanted pets. This is vital in Wigan and they are looking for premises.
Bill says Wigan RSPCA as a branch only came about in 1953 and was always very short of money. It was a hand-to-mouth society until around 2000 when the branch was left decent legacies by friends of supporters. But even that money won't last forever.
The branch spends its money in various ways – paying vets' bills for people unable to afford treatment for their pets, maintaining an inspector and van, funding cat spaying, microchipping and housing animals awaiting new homes.
"We live in different days and branches like Wigan have to be closely managed – it's not like in the old days when everything seemed simple."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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